Headaches – How to tell when they are serious

More than 10 million people in the UK get headaches regularly, making them one of the most common health complaints.

The most common treatment is to take a pain killer.  In previous blog posts I have explored other treatments including

Most headaches aren’t serious and are easily treated.  However it is important that anyone with a headache “that is out of the norm” should see their GP as soon as possible. Particularly if the headache is more likely to be serious i.e.:

  • it occurs suddenly and is very severe – often described as a blinding pain unlike anything experienced before
  • it doesn’t go away and gets worse over time
  • it occurs after a severe head injury
  • it’s triggered suddenly by coughing, laughing, sneezing, changes in posture, or physical exertion
  • you have symptoms suggesting a problem with your brain or nervous system, including weakness, slurred speech, confusion, memory loss, and drowsiness
  • you have additional symptoms, such as a high temperature (fever), a stiff neck, a rash, jaw pain while chewing, vision problems, a sore scalp, or severe pain and redness in one of your eyes

Tension headaches (see headache categorization) are one of the most common complaints we see in the Vitality Therapy treatment rooms, and Seated Acupressure Neck & Shoulder massage is what we recommend. (Book here)

Related Posts

  • Here is why I bang on so much about good posture?

    I know that it may appear that I am getting on my soapbox, when I talk about posture.  So I thought it is worth explaining why. Good posture [...]

  • Tips for a healthy large intestine

    Following on from my bowel health checklist.  I want to focus on the large intestine whose job is to take all the remaining water and nutrients our any any food that comes its way and turn whats left into compact stools.  When things start going wrong with your large intestine, you usually get inflamation and this can lead to a range of symptoms including:

    • Stomach pain
    • Cramps
    • Bloating
    • Flatulence
    • frequent diarrhoea or constipation
    So here are my tips to improve your large intestine: Drink more water and eat more fibre Increasing the amount of water your drink and upping your fibre intake with foods like well cooked brown rice, oatmeal, prunes, kiwi fruit or flaxseeds.  This should produce at least one bowel movment a day and will avoid undigested waste sitting around in your gut. Get Moving A sedetary lifestyle can slow down your bowels. Take slippery elm capsules. A natural way to ease constipation. Minimise stress levels Stress upsets your digestion and reduced your bacteriodetes levels. Eat more vegetables Bacteriodetes love fruits, beans, pulses and fibre so east lots of them.  Where as firmicutes thrive on fat and sugar so eat less sugar! Up your selenium High levels of selenium are linked to low colon cancer risk.  So increase your intake of brazil nuts, slamon, onions, oats and brown rice as they are high in selenium. Eat a wide variety of foods Diversity of foods equals a diversity of gut bacteria. References https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4421088/  

  • So massage is safe for pregnant women, but is it effective?

    Last week we established that massage is safe for pregnant women.  A scientific review of studies of pregnancy in massage fond that pregnant women who received massage had

    • decreased depression
    • decreased anxiety
    • decreased leg and back pain
    In addition pregnant women who received massage had reduced
    • reduced cortisol levels
    • reduced excessive fetal activity
    • lower rate of prematurity (a baby being born before its 37 weeks old)
    For pregnant women who received massage during labour they
    • experienced less pain
    • required less medication
    • had shorter labours (on average 3 hours shorter)
    The study concluded massage is effective for pregnant women. Reference Field T. Pregnancy and labor massage. Expert review of obstetrics & gynecology. 2010;5(2):177-181. doi:10.1586/eog.10.12.