Headache, medically known as cephalgia, is a continuous pain in the head. The pain can be anywhere in the head or neck. As the brain has no pain receptors, headaches are not felt in the brain and the pain is caused by disturbances of the pain sensitive structures around the brain.

 TYPES OF HEADACHES:

• Vascular-caused by blood vessel swelling and increased blood flow (hyperemia), most common type being migraine.
•  Tension headaches caused by tightening of the facial and neck muscles.
•  Traction headaches caused by pulling or stretching pain sensitive parts of the head.
•  Inflammatory headaches-symptoms of the other disorders such as sinus infection, meningitis etc.

Headache is a non-specific symptom; individuals generally don’t prefer to go anywhere when they are attacked with headache. They tend to avoid light, loud sounds etc and prefer to be alone.

 PATHOPHYSIOLOGY OF HEADACHES:

Headache often results from traction to or irritation of the meninges and blood vessels. The receptors may also be stimulated by other factor than head trauma or tumors and cause headaches. It includes stress, dilated blood vessels etc.

 CAUSES OF HEADACHES:

• Stress
• Depression.
• Anxiety.
• Head injury

Tension headaches tend to be on both sides of our head.

Migraine headaches are severe headaches that usually occur with other symptoms such as vision changes or nausea.

 MANAGING HEADACHES OR SHIRAHSHOOLA IN AYURVEDA:

 Improper diet and lifestyle causes vitiation of vata and kapha. Vata gets obstructed by kapha in head region causing headache. As the pain intensifies vata also vitiates pitta which impairs digestion leading to production of digestive impurities known as ama. This ama gets stored in manovahi srotas (mind channels), thereby becoming the cause for headaches.

 The team of doctors in Healing Earth Multispeciality Ayurveda Hospital understands the treatment of headache that depending up on the underlying etiology or cause rather than treating it based on the symptoms which does not give a permanent cure but subsides for the time being.