Headaches are very common, when should you see a doctor?

Master, Doctor Chu Van Dung, Department of Internal Medicine - Neurological Resuscitation, Viet Duc Friendship Hospital said that headache is a very common symptom, due to many different causes. According to the World Health Organization, about 50% of adults have at least one headache a year.

Dangerous causes of headaches

Most headaches are mild and not dangerous. However, some headaches are a symptom of life-threatening conditions, including:

Intracranial pathology: cerebrovascular pathology (ischemia, hemorrhagic stroke, vasculitis, vascular malformations, venous sinus thrombosis, etc.). Inflammation due to infection (meningitis, encephalitis, brain abscess, etc.) or non-infectious (autoimmune, cancer, chemical). Traumatic brain injury, brain tumors and mass lesions, increased intracranial pressure syndrome, Chiari malformation type I, etc.

Extracranial pathology: eye pathology, ear, nose and throat pathology, dental pathology, extracranial carotid or vertebral artery disease (arterial dissection).

Systemic diseases: hypertensive crisis, high fever, hypoxemia, hypercapnia, sepsis, viral infection, etc.

Brain MRI to find the cause of headaches.

Signs that you need to see a doctor immediately

Studies show that more than 95% of headaches are benign. Headaches caused by serious illnesses account for a small percentage, but few people can distinguish which cases are serious.

"There are very normal headaches that will go away on their own, but there are some very dangerous headaches that require patients to go to the hospital for immediate examination and treatment ," said Dr. Dung.

There are several warning signs of a headache, including:

- Headaches that occur very suddenly, such as severe headaches, can be caused by a stroke, cerebral hemorrhage, meningeal hemorrhage...

– Neurological symptoms or signs (eg, altered consciousness, numbness and weakness of limbs, diplopia, papilledema, facial distortion, difficulty speaking, difficulty understanding speech…)

- Headache accompanied by symptoms such as increased blood pressure, slower heart rate...

– Headache with stiff neck

– Thunderclap headache (severe headache that peaks within seconds)

– Headache causing seizures, personality changes, confusion or fainting

– Headache increases when coughing or when moving

– Systemic symptoms (e.g. fever, weight loss…)

– Headaches that get worse or headaches that are different in nature than before

– Headache onset after age 50

If the headache is accompanied by any of the above warning signs, the patient should immediately go to a medical facility for a full evaluation by a doctor.

Nguyen Ngoan

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