Are you getting ready for your first MRI? While they are safe, they can make you nervous if you haven’t had one before. Here’s information that will tell you what to expect from an MRI and hopefully, put your mind at ease.
Neck pain can be a significant feature of many headache types. Migraine and tension-type headaches are often accompanied by neck pain. Some of the more serious types of headaches such as subarachnoid hemorrhage and meningitis often involve severe pain in the head and neck area.
Although headaches can be associated with the above, more serious conditions, most headaches are quite benign. However, if your headaches show a changing pattern in terms of severity or frequency or if your headaches are associated with fever, confusion, or neurologic symptoms, you need to see your doctor quickly.
Headaches that have their actual origin in the neck are called cervicogenic headaches psychogenic headaches. This type of headache syndrome is extremely common and most often goes undiagnosed. Generally, the headache is unilateral but can occasionally affect both sides. Often, the patient can identify an activity or position of the head/neck that can provoke an attack. While most suffers describe the discomfort as a deep, aching pain, some feel a “ shooting” type of discomfort that radiates forward from the back of the head.
The hallmark features of migraine such as nausea and sensitivity to light are rarely present. However, these two types of headaches often coexist. It is quite important to identify this headache syndrome and especially to distinguish it from migraine or tension-type headache as the treatments can be quite different. If your headaches seem to fit this type of pattern, discuss it with your family doctor, chiropractor or neurologist. Good luck in your search.
David B Sudderth MD
Dr. Sudderth is a board-certified neurologist and has subspecialty recognition in headache medicine.
You Might Also Enjoy...
Are you getting ready for your first MRI? While they are safe, they can make you nervous if you haven’t had one before. Here’s information that will tell you what to expect from an MRI and hopefully, put your mind at ease.
A New Tool for Investigating Brain Injuries
TMS or transcranial magnetic stimulation is a type of neuromodulation.
Missing sleep on a chronic basis can inflame the brain, cause mood disorders, impair our safety, and set us up for chronic illnesses.
Numbness in the hand is one of the more frequently encountered symptoms in the medical field.
We are all different. Not just our faces and fingerprints but also our brains, immune system, etc. The list goes on and on. So, of course, our illnesses and response to injury is going to be individualized.