A severe headache in the temples and behind the eyes often points to tension headaches, migraines, or cluster headaches, but could also signal serious issues like temporal arteritis, needing urgent care. Common causes include stress, eyestrain, or sinus pressure, but look for intense, one-sided pain (cluster/migraine), tenderness (temporal arteritis), or redness/tearing (cluster) for clues. Temporal arteritis (swollen artery) and angle-closure glaucoma (eye pressure) are medical emergencies, so see a doctor for severe, persistent, or new headaches, especially with vision changes or jaw pain.
Several types of headaches can cause pain behind the eyes, including tension headaches, migraines, cluster headaches, and sinus headaches. Eyestrain can also cause this type of headache. You can prevent these headaches by avoiding things that trigger them, and you can treat them with medication or home remedies.
Throbbing pain in the temples, especially on just one side of your head, is a common symptom of migraine pain. But when throbbing turns into a constant headache, and it's accompanied by pain when you touch your temples, it may be a sign of temporal arteritis.
This condition is also called temporal arteritis. GCA causes a dull, throbbing headache on one side of the head around the eye or near the temple. Sometimes the pain feels like stabbing or burning.
Headaches can sometimes be linked to blood pressure problems in pregnancy. If they are lasting or severe and happen after 20 weeks of pregnancy, let your healthcare provider know. Strokes during pregnancy are rare. But migraines can increase a pregnant person's risk for them.
Symptoms of Preeclampsia
A dull, throbbing, migraine-like headache that won't go away, especially when the headache is accompanied by sensitivity to light. Nausea or vomiting that shows up suddenly after the midpoint of pregnancy. Pain in the belly (abdomen), right shoulder or under the ribs on the right side.
Five key warning signs during pregnancy needing immediate medical attention include vaginal bleeding, severe headaches with vision changes, decreased baby movement, severe abdominal pain/cramping, and signs of preterm labor like regular contractions or fluid leakage, as these can signal serious issues like miscarriage, preeclampsia, placental problems, or infection. Always contact your healthcare provider or seek emergency care for these symptoms.
The pain from a ruptured brain aneurysm is often described as the worst headache of a person's life. The pain comes on more suddenly and is more severe than any previous headaches or migraines. In contrast, migraine headaches usually come on gradually.
The typical presentation of STA aneurysms is a compressible pulsatile mass on the temporal area with recent history of minor head trauma. The usual onset is approximately 2 to 6 weeks after head injury. Although some patients have had headache, pulsations, and ear discomfort, most have had no symptoms.
Symptoms include intense throbbing or severe pulsing, which usually happens on one side of the brain. When having a vascular headache, you may also find yourself sensitive to light and sound, experience nausea, and, sometimes, even visual impairment. The exact cause of vascular headaches isn't known.
Seek emergency care if:
Headache medication does not relieve chronic or excruciating pain. Head pain prevents eating or drinking, making one susceptible to dehydration or malnutrition. You experience major side effects to medication, such as severe drowsiness, sedation or nausea and vomiting.
Unfortunately, the symptoms and clinical signs of temporal arteritis mimic those of a number of other conditions including angle-closure glaucoma, hypertension, migraine, trigeminal neuralgia, temporomandibular joint syndrome, carotid artery occlusive disease, Foster-Kennedy syndrome, and nonarteritic AION.
A thunderclap headache feels like a sudden, severe headache that comes on within less than a minute. This extremely abrupt onset and head pain unlike any you've experienced before can be a terrifying experience, and most often requires urgent medical attention.
Temple headaches are common and can be caused by anything from stress to eye strain or even more serious issues.
They can be localized to a specific area or generalized. They can be made worse with coughing, sneezing or straining. A headache caused by a tumor may respond to over-the-counter medications early in treatment but may become more resistant to medication over time.
Symptoms that may suggest a more serious headache include:
Symptoms of temporal arteritis
frequent, severe headaches. pain or tenderness at the side of your head (temples) or on the scalp. jaw pain while eating or talking. vision problems, such as double vision or loss of vision in 1 or both eyes.
A brain aneurysm is a weakened, bulging area in the wall of a brain blood vessel that can potentially rupture. The most critical warning sign of a ruptured brain aneurysm is an extremely severe headache, often described as the worst headache of one's life.
The “temporal artery” is the name of a specific artery located on each side of the head. In the condition known as temporal arteritis, there is inflammation of numerous blood vessels, but the temporal arteries are almost always affected.
The "5 Cs of Migraine" typically refer to common dietary triggers: Cheese, Chocolate, Coffee, Cola (soda), and Citrus fruits, though evidence suggests cravings might cause them, not the other way around. Another set of 5 Cs describes migraine symptoms: Crescendo (building pain), Crushing (severe), Cranial (head-focused), Consistent (long-lasting), and Cyclical (repeating patterns). A third interpretation focuses on management: Caffeine, Cold, Comfort, Calm, and Control.
If you have a larger aneurysm, you may get symptoms such as: a headache. pain above or around your eye. changes in your vision, such as double vision.
The most common symptom of a brain bleed is a sudden onset headache, which most patients describe as the worst headache of their life. “Even people with migraines tell you this headache is worse than any migraine,” he says. Even some stroke patients will describe having a bad headache.
The "3-2-1 Rule" in pregnancy is a guideline for first-time mothers to know when to call their midwife or doctor for active labor: consistent contractions every 3 minutes, lasting 2 minutes each (or 1 minute long for some variations), for over 1 hour. It helps differentiate true labor from false labor (Braxton Hicks), signaling it's time to head to the birthing center, while subsequent pregnancies often follow the faster 5-1-1 rule.
Most pregnancy symptoms don't start until four to six weeks after conception. While many of the symptoms are common, it's possible to experience no symptoms during the first trimester of pregnancy. The most common early symptoms include a missed period, light bleeding, breast changes or tenderness, and fatigue.
You may experience sudden or sharp pain, cramping or tenderness in your lower pelvic region or back during a placental abruption. You could also feel the fetus move less.