How do headaches form?
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Signs, Symptoms & Causes\nSymptoms vary depending on the type of headache.\n\nTension or Muscular Headaches\n\nMost headaches are this type. Signs and symptoms:\n\n A dull ache in your forehead, above your ears, or at the back of your head\n \n Pain in your neck or shoulders that travels to your head\n \n\nTension headaches are caused by tense or tight muscles in the face, neck, or scalp. You can get a tension headache from a number of things:\n\n Not getting enough sleep\n \n Feeling “stressed out”\n \n Reading for long periods of time or eyestrain\n \n Doing repetitive work\n \n Staying in one position for a long time, such as working at a computer\n \n\nMigraine Headaches\n\nMigraine headaches happen when blood vessels in your head open too wide or close too tight. Signs and symptoms are:\n\n Headaches that start on one side of your head and one side of your head hurts more than the other\n \n You feel sick to your stomach or vomit.\n \n You see spots or zigzag flashes of light before the headache.\n \n Light hurts your eyes, noise bothers you, and the headache is worse with activity.\n \n\nAfter the headache, some people have a drained feeling with tired, aching muscles. Others feel great after the headache goes away.\n\nMigraines can occur with or without an aura. An aura is symptoms a person experiences, such as spots or flashing lights, or numbness for 10 to 30 minutes prior to the headache. Ten percent of all migraines are this type; 90% occur without an aura.\n\nMigraine headaches occur more often in females than in males and tend to run in families.\n\nCertain things trigger migraine headaches in susceptible people. They include:\n\n Menstruation in females\n \n Caffeine, alcohol, and/or certain foods, such as aged cheeses, cured meats (hot dogs, ham, etc.)\n \n Stress or changes in sleeping patterns\n \n Strenuous exercise\n \n\nSinus Headaches\n\nA sinus headache occurs when fluids in the nose aren’t able to drain well and a buildup of pressure occurs in the sinuses. A cold, allergies, dirty or polluted water, and airplane travel can cause a sinus headache. Signs and symptoms are:\n\n Pain in your forehead, cheekbones, and nose that is worse in the morning\n \n Increased pain when you bend over or touch your face\n \n Stuffy nose\n \n\nOther Causes of Headaches\n\n Analgesic rebound from regular or repeated use of over-the-counter or prescribed pain relievers\n \n Eating or drinking something very cold, such as ice cream. {Note: To prevent ice cream headaches, warm the ice cream for a few seconds in the front of your mouth.}\n \n Low blood sugar; hunger\n \n Cigarette smoke, or exposure to chemicals, and/or pollution\n \n Uncorrected vision problems, such as near-sightedness\n \n Caffeine withdrawal\n \n Temporomandibular Joint (TMJ) Dysfunction\n \n\nA headache can be a symptom of other health conditions. Examples are allergies, depression (see signs and symptoms of depression), infections, and dental problems.
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Tension Headaches- Tension headaches are caused by muscular strains in the head and neck and/or emotional stress.\nEye strain (poor vision) can trigger frequent tension headaches.\n\nHeadaches can be caused by too much blood flow.
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I suffer from a couple migraines about once every month.\n\nWhile the exact cause of migraine is not known, most experts agree that migraine pain is caused by swollen blood vessels around the brain and certain nerves in the brain. However, certain "triggers" may bring on an attack. The most common are: \n\nFatigue - from too much physical activity, lack of sleep, or too much sleep \n\nStress - periods during or after stressful situations \n\nSome foods and beverages - particularly foods containing nitrites or monosodium glutamate (MSG); foods and beverages containing aspartame, an artificial sweetener; chocolate; aged cheeses; and alcoholic drinks \n\nCaffeine withdrawal - caused by dramatically cutting back or stopping your caffeine intake altogether. Common foods containing caffeine are coffee, tea, and some soft drinks. \n\nMenstruation - relating to changes in hormone levels at the time of a woman's period \n\n\nhttp://www.webmd.com/content/article/96/103883.htm
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This following site discusses pain management of headaches.  Scroll around and look at the various types of Headaches and management of each sort (there is a list on the right hand side of "Types of Pain")\n\nhttp://www.webmd.com/content/article/100/105624.htm\n\nTypes of Headaches (I removed a few to make my answer a little shorter... you can read the complete list via the link):\n\nhttp://www.migrainesurvival.com/causes.html\n\nMuscle Contraction/Tension \nMuscle contractions headaches are often stress related, but can also be due to poor posture, spinal arthritis, TMJ syndrome, or problems with the muscles or bones in the neck, back, or shoulders. \n    \nMigraine \nMigraine headaches are probably hereditary. For migraine sufferers, there is often a "trigger" that brings on the headache. These triggers vary form individual to individual, and can include alcohol, anxiety, bright lights or glare, change in caffeine intake, foods or food additives, hormonal changes, lack of sleep, odors or fumes, skipping meals, smoking, stress, travel, or weather changes. Migraine occurs in women three times as frequently as in men \n    \nOccasional Headache \nMillions of people supper from occasional headaches that are not repetitive or debilitating. They can usually be cured with over-the-counter medications.
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Experts say one of the main causes of headaches is stress, and to get headache relief you have to learn to deal with the stress in your life. Everyone has stress; some stress is good, like a new baby, job, or house, while some is bad, like a failing relationship or a boss that you don't get along with. Here are three tips to help you deal with stress and get some headache relief.\n\nKeep a journal and record what's going on in your life, especially when you get a headache. You'll be able to see what situations cause you the most stress and which cause headaches for you. You'll also feel better when you get things off your chest. You may be able to avoid those situations that are most stressful, or you can find a way to deal with them.\n\nAnother way to get headache relief is to take good care of yourself. Eat a healthy, balanced diet, get enough rest, quit smoking, and limit your alcohol and caffeine intake. All of these actions will help you feel better and make you less likely to get a headache in the first place and more able to handle stress.\n\nSpend time with yourself. Set aside time everyday, even if it's just five minutes, to relax and do whatever you want. Read, soak in a hot tub, or meditate. You'll feel more relaxed, and when you're more relaxed, you're less likely to get a headache.
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Headaches are usually caused by inflammation of the blood vessels in your brain.  The inflammation draws blood to your brain and vascular contraction forces blood out of the blood vessels.  Your head can't expand because your skull is hard.  This puts pressure on your brain and this causes pain.\nThis is why people use antiinflammatory agents for headaches (Aspirin, Ibuprofen, Aleve).  Serotonin is involved in the inflammatory cascade and antimigraine drugs like Imitrex work by modulating this pathway.
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No. But the things that make you prone to headaches are hereditary.\n\nTerry
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Headaches can be caused from many things. I had headaches CONSTANTLY turns out I needed glasses. Have your eyes checked! Even tho I could see prefectly fine they still found out that I have an eye thats weaker then the other and it causes my eyes to strain and causes the headaches!
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Only answering for myself, as I understand that a number of pains are listed under both "headache" and "migraine": a headache is a painful tightening of muscles of the skull and neck that result in pain.  This pain is like other pains such as toothache, bruise, etc., but a migraine feels like you do when you fall hard on the back of your head, like you got smacked with a two-by-four board, only, it doesn't go away in minute but stays and gets worse.
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The standard medical term for this phenomenon is "ice cream headache"--an expression so clear and comprehensible you know this is a topic science has ignored. Here's pretty much all we know.\n\nIce cream headache occurs most frequently after you've worked up a sweat or during very hot weather. Typically it starts when you cram too much cold stuff into the roof of your mouth. It reaches a peak in 25 to 30 seconds that can last from several seconds to a couple minutes.\n\nMost people feel ice cream headache deep in the front of the head, although if the ice cream gets stuck in the vicinity of your tonsils you may feel the pain behind your ears. Cold farther down the throat produces no headache.\n\nThe cause of ice cream headache is far from clear. One plausible explanation is that the cold causes constriction of blood vessels near the point of contact, which in turn causes the blood to back up painfully inside the head.\n\nIce cream headache occurs in maybe a third of the general population but in over 90 percent of migraine sufferers, who feel it in the same place they get migraines. (Many migraine victims take precautions with frozen desserts for that reason.)\n\nResearchers believe migraine and ice cream headache are physiologically similar, the difference being that migraine sufferers are abnormally sensitive to stimuli the rest of us ignore.\n\nAs for what would happen if you applied the cold continuously, I imagine a migraine sufferer could give you a pretty graphic description. I don't expect it'd be fun.
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Migraines and headaches are, of course, two very different things.  A headache can be caused by numerous things.  Migraine disease is a neurological condition with episodes being triggered by a number of causes.\n\nA lot of migraine sufferers, myself included, are often awakened by migraines.  You might want to keep a migraine diary to watch for what triggers you.  There are primary triggers (things that, all by themselves, will set you off), and then there are triggers that build up (things that combine with other things to trip you into a migraine state).  Some things you can avoid...some you can't.\n\nWhile the following are common triggers, they are by no means all of the triggers that are around:\n\nAged cheese \nEggs\nTomatoes\nCitrus fruits\nWheat products\nAlcohol \nMSG \nChocolate \nCaffeine \nNitrites (hot dogs, bacon, lunch meat, etc.)\nAvocado \nFermented or pickled foods \nYeast, protein extracts, freshly baked yeast products\nOnions \nNuts, peanut butter\nDairy products, yogurt, sour cream\nAspartame \nMold and mildew\nBright lights\nPerfumes and strong scents\nSkipping or delaying meals\nMissing sleep\nHormonal Changes (period/menopause)\nOral contraceptives \nHormone replacement therapy \nWeather conditions, barometric changes, cold and/or dry weather\nHigh altitude\nTime or time zone changes/jet lag\n\n\nStress is not a trigger, but in the same way that stress won't cause a cold, it can often be a contributing factor.\n\nYou should get in to see a doctor - preferably a neurologist who specializes in migraines.  Spendy?  Yes!  But these are the folks who have the answers and can truly help!  I have had migraines for over 40 years, and we are just beginning to really get a handle on the (several types of) migraines I deal with more than 2/3 of the month!
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Stress, certain foods, allergies, tramua to your head, and stuff like that can all cause headaches. Back and neck problems can also cause headaches.
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Headaches can be caused by a lot of things. You could have a sinus infection. High blood pressure can cause headaches. Tension, diabetes, too much sun, the list can go on and on. But if you still have a headache and taking over the counter medication doesn't relieve it, then you should seek the advice of a doctor
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the brain tissue itself has no pain sensors, yes....but when you have a headache, its not the brain tissue that hurts...its the vessels within them that are constricted, and THAT causes the pain.
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being 17 and having headaches may be unusual.\nIf you have a family history of headaches then that might be a cause of your headaches.\nEven if you have a family history of headaches you should be checked by a neurologist who specializes in headaches.\nIf you began using birth control pills prior to your headaches they might be a cause of your headache.\nMigraines, Sinusitis or tension headaches could also be causing your problems
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High blood pressure will not cause a migraine but Reserpine, a medication for high blood pressure will.\n\nHowever, hypertension can cause a headache.  A hypertension headache is suffered by people with very high blood pressure. It is usually worse in the morning, the pain seems to "band" the head.
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Depends on what type of headache you get. I tend to get migraines, sinus headaches, and cluster headaches. The migraine will be all over, while the sinuse is centered in the front of my head. Cluster headaches are localized pain in one area, and for some people, such as me, tend to travel from one side to another.