They can interfere with a person's quality of life, but most of them are nothing to worry about. Sometimes, a throbbing headache in the back of the head might be a sign of an underlying health condition, such as migraine, IH, or occipital neuralgia.
Headaches felt at the back of the head are usually tension-type headaches. A "back of the head" headache may also stem from an underlying health condition like arthritis or an irritated nerve in your neck or scalp. Once your headache type is diagnosed, treatment is usually fairly simple.
See your provider soon if: Your headaches wake you up from sleep, or your headaches make it difficult for you to fall asleep. A headache lasts more than a few days. Headaches are worse in the morning.
Ease muscle tension
Or apply ice or a cool washcloth to the forehead. Massage also can relieve muscle tension — and sometimes headache pain. Gently massage your temples, scalp, neck and shoulders with your fingertips, or gently stretch your neck.
Headaches that are accompanied by fever, stiff neck, confusion, decreased alertness or memory, or neurological symptoms such as visual disturbances, slurred speech, weakness, numbness, or seizures. Headaches that are accompanied by a painful red eye. Headaches that are accompanied by pain and tenderness near the ...
Tension headaches last at least 30 minutes but they can last much longer, sometimes for several days.
What causes a persistent headache? A persistent headache can result from an injury or a structural problem in the spine, such as arthritis. It can also affect people who have migraine or have had a stroke. The overuse of pain relief drugs can also cause an ongoing headache.
A tension headache is the most common type of headache. It is pain or discomfort in the head, scalp, or neck, and is often associated with muscle tightness in these areas.
Tension headache.
This is the most common type of headache. It happens when the muscles in your scalp and neck tighten. This causes pain on the sides and back of your head.
Depending on where you feel pain, the headache location usually determines what kind of headache you have: Tension headache: Both sides of your head or a band around your head. Migraine headache or hormonal headache: One side of your head. Cluster headache: One side of your head, specifically in or around your eye.
Tension headaches are the most common type of headache. Stress and muscle tension are often factors in these headaches. Tension headaches typically don't cause nausea, vomiting, or sensitivity to light. They do cause a steady ache, rather than a throbbing one, and tend to affect both sides of the head.
A thunderclap headache is an extremely painful headache that comes on suddenly, like a clap of thunder. This type of headache has the most intense pain at its onset. People who have had a thunderclap headache often describe it as the worst headache of their life, unlike any headache they've ever experienced.
Every patient's pain experience is unique, but headaches associated with brain tumors tend to be constant and are worse at night or in the early morning. They are often described as dull, "pressure-type" headaches, though some patients also experience sharp or "stabbing" pain.
Cluster Headaches
These headaches are the most severe. You could have intense burning or piercing pain behind or around one eye. It can be throbbing or constant. The pain can be so bad that most people with cluster headaches can't sit still and will often pace during an attack.
Astrocytomas, Including Glioblastoma Multiforme
They are most common in children between the ages of 5 and 8. The tumors develop from glial cells called astrocytes, most often in the cerebrum (the large upper part of the brain), but also in the cerebellum (the lower back part of the brain).
Some of the most common symptoms of a brain tumor include: headache episodes. seizures. changes in personality.
More than 200,000 people in the United States are diagnosed with a brain tumor each year. Overall, the chance that a person will develop a malignant tumor of the brain or spinal cord in his or her lifetime is less than 1% (about 1 in 150 for men and 1 in 185 for women).
Conditions that might cause nonprimary chronic daily headaches include: Inflammation or other problems with the blood vessels in and around the brain, including stroke. Infections, such as meningitis. Intracranial pressure that's either too high or too low.
You may feel a sensation of tight pressure in your head. Many people describe a dull and aching pain that tends to affect both sides of the head equally. Tension headaches can be related to muscle tension in your head, neck, or shoulders. When your muscles become tense, they can cause pain.
The pain is usually like a dull ache, but it can also be sharp. You may have a throbbing (pounding) headache, or the pain might be constant. The pain might get worse when you bend over, shake your head or move around. Other dehydration symptoms usually occur along with headache pain.
These headaches often cause mild-to-moderate pain around the head, face or neck. They usually don't cause other symptoms (like nausea or vomiting). Healthcare providers generally don't consider tension headaches to be dangerous.