What is Tension-Type Headache?

Today, many people are affected negatively due to workload, stress and environmental factors. Tension-type headache is also a discomfort that occurs when there is a state of extreme fatigue and when the person feels stressed. In this type of pain, the patient complains of a general pain surrounding the head. These persistent and pressure-inducing pain complaints are quite common.

How Does Tension-Type Headache Occur?

The change in living conditions, the transition to a more difficult lifestyle, the burden of too much responsibility, the disappointment, the struggle with family or financial problems can cause tension-type headaches. Tension-type headache is the result of continuous contraction of the head, face and neck muscles. Constantly sitting in the same position, tenseness and restlessness, or traffic accidents can also cause tension-type headaches. Sleeping less or more than necessary, excessive alcohol use, eating more or less, working with a very intense tempo without resting or other health problems are among the reasons that trigger tension-type headache.

What are the symptoms?

In tension-type headaches, which are extremely uncomfortable for the patient, there is a constant feeling of pressure in the forehead and temple areas. The person feels tenderness on the scalp and experiences discomfort in the shoulder and neck areas. Tension-type headache is generally divided into two. In chronic tension headache, there is a picture of pain that lasts for hours and continues continuously. If a headache persists for at least 3 months and is experienced for at least 15 days within these 3 months, then chronic tension headache can be mentioned. In episodic tension headache, complaints occur less than 15 days in 3 months and can last for 30 minutes to a week. Not only headaches, but also many people may experience burning and stinging sensations in the head and sensitivity to the touch. Conditions such as difficulty concentrating, lack of attention and inability to sleep are among the complaints that indicate tension-type headache. Rarely, mild nausea or vomiting may also occur. In order to determine whether the tension-type headache is chronic, points such as how long the patient's complaints last and how many days it continues are determined. Although tension-type headache is often confused with migraine, there are enough differences to easily distinguish between the two diseases.

Migraine or Tension Type?

Patients with migraine need to constantly seek a quiet and dark place. However, the situation is the opposite in tension-type headache. In other words, these people want to travel and continue their daily activities. In migraine, the pain is usually in a single area of ​​the head, whereas in tension-type headache, there is widespread pain and can last for days or hours. While there are symptoms such as visual impairment or nausea in people who experience migraine pain, such situations are not often encountered in tension-type headaches. In tension-type headache, there is tenderness in the neck, head and shoulder region during examination. Another symptom is that the pain starts from the neck and continues up to the top of the head. The patient feels as if his head is stuck in something. Some patients may have both migraine and tension-type headaches together. Tension-type headache may also occur in a person with migraine over time and may be more prominent. In this case, both the style of the headache, its duration, severity and frequency change.

How is Tension-Type Headache Treated?

The development of medical science and technology has brought many innovations in the treatment of this disease. Painkillers and muscle relaxants take an important place in the presence of tension-type headache. Some additional applications other than drugs are also important in terms of reducing the discomfort and improving the quality of life of the patient. Relaxation trainings aiming to relax the patient psychologically are effective in relieving tension-type headache. With this training, patients are taught how to stay away from stress and what to do to relax. In fact, it is a very useful method for muscle contraction headaches. However, if the patient does not respond positively to both drug therapy and relaxation training, then injections are made to sensitive points in the shoulder, neck and head regions to relax the muscles. In this way, the pain is controlled and the patient feels good.

Minimizing the effects of tension-type headache is partly in the hands of the patient. Regular exercise, healthy eating, regular sleep are extremely effective in reducing complaints. In addition, avoiding stressful environments and engaging in activities that will positively affect the person will reduce the complaints considerably.