If something can give you the worst headache, it has to be only a headache. It is not uncommon to see people pressing hard on their temple or at the base of the skull in a desperate effort at getting rid of a very common problem called headache which occur in around 6 to 20 per cent of the general population. Medical experts say that wisdom lies in understanding the cause of headache and not rush to pop in a tablet that can prove disastrous.
Informs Dr Vikas Gupta, Director and HOD, Neurosurgery and Interventional and Endovascular Neurosurgery, BLK Super Speciality Hospital, New Delhi, “Self medication of the over-the-counter available drugs can cause side-effects especially for those suffering from diabetes or kidney problems.” Sometimes a headache can be the manifestation of a more serious problem, which if ignored can lead to a situation where the person either is paralysed or lapses into coma.
Various factors can cause headache and these have to be identified first before resorting to any kind of drugs. “One of the most common causes of headache continues to be secondary to spasm of the neck muscles or migraine. However, certain types of headache can be extremely dangerous and medical attention should be sought at the earliest. If unattended, it can progress to a fatal stroke,” says Dr Vikas Gupta. Not all headaches pose risk to life. Only aneurysm or a tumour-related one is risky. Seek attention when headache is accompanied by nausea and vomiting.
Brain Tumour
Two years ago, Rahul Saxena, 36, was driving home from work when a sharp, mind-numbing headache suddenly hit. A wave of giddiness followed. Brushing it off as a lack of rest, he ignored the episode but the on-and-off headaches, which later intensified, continued plaguing him for the next three months.
An active person Rahul started experiencing blurred vision. As his headaches and vision worsened, so did his professional performance. Initially attributed to stress, turned out to be a brain tumour.“When I first received the diagnosis, I thought the worst would happen to me. We were all shocked and saddened by the news.” Says Rahul
Informs Dr Vikas Gupta, “Symptoms of brain tumours can vary greatly, depending on their type, size and location. Headaches are one of the more common symptoms, leading up to 40 per cent of brain tumour sufferers to seek medical attention” who successfully treated Rahul. A brain tumour can cause headaches when it grows beyond a certain size, increasing pressure within the skull.
Brain-tumour-related headaches tend to be worse in the morning and are often accompanied by nausea and vomiting. Persistent headaches that are accompanied by other symptoms such as nausea, vomiting, blurring of vision, weakness or numbness, seizures and hearing loss require immediate medical attention.
For the majority of primary brain tumours, the cause is unclear. Some known risk factors include inherited genetic conditions.
Aneurysm
46 year old housewife Meena Wadhwa while preparing a dish for her kids felt a weird pain in the back of her head. “I never had anything like that before,” she recalls. Then suddenly, she had to dash to the bathroom to vomit and started seeing double. “The pain in her head accompanied by vomiting and double vision were all warning signs of a brain aneurysm.” says Dr Vikas Gupta. A CT scan confirmed that Mrs Wadhwa had developed an aneurysm. She was successfully operated upon by using modern pin hole procedure to contain the bursting of the aneurysm which is fatal.
A brain aneurysm is a balloon-like bulge in a blood vessel that can potentially burst. Between 1.5 percent and 5 percent of people have or develop a brain aneurysm. Mrs Wadhwa had a history of episodes of migraines, she says. “I would get a couple every month where I would get sick. But all these years no one ordered a scan of my head to find out the exact cause.”
See a doctor immediately if you have any of these symptoms, Dr. Vikas Gupta says, which may mean an aneurysm is pressing on your brain or nerves:
• Headache in one spot
• Pain above or behind your eye
• Dilated pupils
• Blurry or double vision
• Weakness and numbness
• Slurred speech
If the aneurysm ruptures and blood spills into the space around your brain, you could have what you’d consider the worst headache of your life. If you smoke and have an aneurysm, it’s more likely to rupture informs Dr Vikas Gupta.