Beware of the dangers of severe headaches

Chi Mei HospitalNeurologyChief physician Lin Gaozhang said that migraines are usually related to internal physical constitution, and some external triggering factors suddenly occur. In fact, the probability of finding brain lesions is not high. However, some severe and even life-threatening headaches still require vigilance:
① The characteristics of the headache suddenly change: for example, the pain becomes more frequent or more severe than before.
② Any sudden headache: explosive pain, unbearable, never felt this painful before. It may be a ruptured aneurysm causing subarachnoid hemorrhage or a lacerated blood vessel, so you should go to the emergency room immediately.
③ Headache when waking up in the middle of the night or in the morning: It may be a brain tumor or high blood pressure.
④ Headache accompanied by diplopia (multiple images), limb weakness or numbness: It may be a stroke or brain tumor, and you should go to the emergency room immediately.
⑤ Headache accompanied by fever and stiff neck: may be meningitis.
⑥Headache with confusion: encephalitis,brain tumorOr epilepsy.
⑦ Headache and sudden loss of vision: This may be glaucoma or a ruptured aneurysm, and you should go to the emergency room immediately.
⑧ Headache caused by taking birth control pills: It may be an autoimmune disease or vasculitis.
⑨Pain after head trauma (such as falling and hitting the head, car accident): It may be a subdural hematoma. This type of headache does not necessarily occur immediately after the trauma, but may occur several weeks or even months later.
Lin Zhiming, attending physician at the Department of Neurology at Changhua Christian Hospital, reminds that elderly people should be especially careful when they have headaches, as they may be suffering from life-threatening illnesses such as stroke, ruptured aneurysm, or the autoimmune disease temporal arteritis.
Brain tumors usually have more than just headaches as a symptom
Many people suspect they have a brain tumor when they have a headache. "Generally, headaches are rarely caused by brain tumors. But about half of brain tumor patients experience headaches," said Wang Shujun, director of the Neurological Medicine Center at Taipei Veterans General Hospital.
Headaches in people with brain tumors often have these symptoms:
● Like a tightening headache, you feel a tight, dull pain. A few people may have sudden severe pain.
● Often wake up in pain during sleep, vomit, or have headaches due to coughing or straining.
●Headache is accompanied by other neurological symptoms: such as weakness in the hands and feet and paresthesia.
●Aneurysm: The arterial wall is subjected to uneven pressure due to long-term impact of blood flow, forming a balloon-like local protrusion. It may grow in arteries anywhere in the body, most commonly in the brain, chest and abdomen, especially at the bends of blood vessels.
●Arachnoid mater and dura mater: The meninges protect the soft brain tissue and can be divided into three layers from the outside to the inside: dura mater, arachnoid mater and pia mater (see the picture above).
●Temporal arteritis: The temporal artery is near the temple. The temporal artery of patients with temporal arteritis will be significantly swollen, causing continuous pain like being grabbed and throbbing. In severe cases, blindness may occur.
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※Editor’s note: This article was published in 2018. The background of the people, events and things in the article may have been adjusted or changed. We apologize for any inconvenience caused.
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