Headaches are one of the most common types of ailments that we can experience each day. They surface due a variety of factors that can end up impacting their strength and longevity. Each kind of headache can strike you in a different way. Knowing the cause and how to address is it generally the start of being able to apply appropriate treatment. Truthfully, your best option is typically prevention and creating an environment that is not conducive to headaches. This is somewhat simpler for those of us who aren’t headache prone, but for those of us who are it can be a headache-inducing free-for-all just to hope to pin down even a handful of factors responsible for their headaches. We can’t let this stand in our way of attempting to get and keep headaches under control though. Learning effective strategies to counter the most common types of headaches will help ensure we’re able to be present in and enjoy more parts of our lives.

Sinus Headaches
Most of us have had these more than we’d like to remember. Sinus headaches tend to be focused towards the forward of our heads with the pain centering around the area immediately above the eyes. One of the sinus cavities is located roughly there. Technically these headaches are typically a symptom of an infection much of the time, but they can also occur independent of most other symptoms. A sinus headache is, mercifully, fairly easy to both prevent and counteract providing you have the appropriate medications on hand. Preventing them is typically relatively easy if you remember to routinely take an antihistamine during allergy seasons to help ward of unexpected issues from pollen count. If everything gets past this defense, you’ll want to look into getting decongestants and normal pain killers. These will help clear out the sinus pressure at the same time that they address the pain. Once pressure begins to let off your should see a fairly rapid decrease in the headache.

Tension Headaches
This kind of headache is probably the single most common type out there. That’s due to the sheer number of potential things that can trigger them. Heritage, environment, stress, and even potentially eating the wrong thing can end up setting off a tension headache. Tension headaches are the name for the general headaches you’ve likely had where your entire head seems to ache. There’s little to no localization of the pain even if there are a few spots that seem a bit more painful than the rest. Most of the time this will be around the neck, but sometimes it can end up around the temples as well. The sheer commonality of tension headaches means that they, like sinus headaches, are easily addressed. Most over-the-counter pain killers will work just fine for helping to soothe or eliminate a tension headache. Follow the directions on the bottle and most headaches will go away. There are a few exceptions to this rule though that may require talking to a doctor.

Migraine Headaches
Most people have heard about migraines, but not everyone has the dubious pleasure of experiencing one. This is a particular kind of headache that is both extra strong and typically tied to one’s heritage. A history of migraines in the family is a fairly clearly predictor of whether or not someone will experience them regularly, or at all, in one’s lifetime. Additionally, anyone with higher estrogen levels has a further elevated risk of experiencing a migraine. Migraine pain can be crippling and sometimes ends up being a comparatively localized form of pain. The sufferer frequently experiences sensitivity to light and sound while the migraine is happening as well. Unless you also get an aura, a precursor visual distortion that can happen up to two hours before a migraine, there will be no way to tell the migraine is coming until it has already begun. Migraines can be treated with extra strength over-the-counter medications, but these are seldom particularly effective. Prescribed medications are available that can help reduce the pain though.

No one likes to get a headache. It tends to throw off our day and make it difficult to engage with people when your head is pounding pain. You can take steps to alleviate most headaches easily enough unless they are a particularly potent kind of headache. Prevention is possible by avoiding things that you know trigger your headaches and minimizing potential exposure to problems that can cause headaches, but most of the time you’ll be treating the pain. All of this just means it makes even more sense to keep a few painkillers around the places you typically are each day to ensure you can stop a headache when it starts.