Picture this scenario: you’ve had a hectic afternoon, you haven’t had time to eat since breakfast and your head feels like it’s trapped in a vice that slowly tightens its grip as time passes by. Does this sound familiar? If so, you are one of the many who have suffered with a headache classified as a tension-type headache.
Or perhaps a throbbing pain is engulfing one side of your head, the light and sound in the room feels like it’s amplifying the pain, and you start to feel a rising sense of nausea? These symptoms are typical of another type of headache known as migraine. And while tension-type and migraine account for the vast majority of all headaches, there are many other presentations of this condition too.
Anyone can experience a headache in one form or another. More than 90% of people do at some point during their lifetime, but what can be done about it? For most of us relief can be sought through simple means such as a breath of fresh air, a glass of water, a lie down or a dose or two of simple painkiller medication.
However, headaches are not merely an occasional hindrance for 2–3% of the community. Some people experience headache on a daily or near-daily basis, a condition referred to as “chronic headache”. Increased frequency isn’t the only hallmark of this condition; it also carries with it increased severity of pain and can be associated...
