What Are Some Effective Methods of Headache Relief?

According to data released by the National Headache Foundation, over 45 million people in the United States alone suffer from recurring headaches. While there are numerous types of headaches that can be diagnosed, the most common types of headaches fall into the following categories:

Tension-type headaches - These are the most commonly diagnosed form of headache, making up about 90% of all diagnosed headaches. Tension-type headaches generally involve pain that feels like a constant pressure in the head, behind or in the eyes, the neck, in the face or other various muscle groups in the body. These types of headaches can have causes ranging from stress, sleep deprivation, withdrawal from caffeine, bad posture and eyestrain, among other factors.

Migraines - Migraine syndrome is a neurological condition that often causes nausea and perceptual distortions in addition to headaches. Migraine headaches typically last anywhere from 4 to 72 hours and are experienced more often by women than men. Those afflicted by migraine headaches describe them as a pulsating painful sensation on one side of the head. Sufferers may also experience symptoms such as nausea, vomiting and sensitivity to light and sound during or after a migraine headache. While the exact causes of migraine are unknown, a popular theory is that the condition stems from a disorder of the serotonergic system. Migraine has often been observed to run in families and so is suspected to have a genetic component.

Cluster headaches - Cluster headaches are a particularly painful type of headaches that typically emerge on one side of the head and occur in "clusters", happening at the same time each day for several days, weeks, or months or more. These types of headaches may be episodic, coming on suddenly for a time, and then going into remission for months or years, or they can be chronic, where the patient experiences them on a more or less constant basis over a long period of time (the episodic type is more common, however). Pain from cluster headaches has been described by women who had given childbirth as more painful than giving birth, and the extreme pain caused by them has earned them the nickname "suicide headache" among sufferers. No cure currently exists for cluster headaches, but several methods of treatment have proven effective at reducing the symptoms, though results can vary widely from person to person. One potential promising treatment that is being researched is the (currently illegal in the United States) drug psilocybin, which is thought to provide relief from cluster headaches due to its strong chemical similarity to serotonin.

Sinus headaches - Sinus headaches are caused by an inflammation of the sinuses (sinusitis), due to an infection such as the common cold, or other conditions. Sinus headaches can generally be relieved by treating the inflammation of the affected sinus. However, recent studies have shown that many (up to 90%) of sinus headache sufferers are actually suffering from migraine and have simply been diagnosed, due to similarities in symptoms between the two conditions.

While not all headache types can be cured, these four most common varieties have effective treatments that can help ease or eliminate the pain. If you're suffering from headaches, talk to your doctor to find out what solutions are available to you.

Cluster headaches are an extremely painful type of headache that affects approximately 5% of the population (they are more prevalent in men than in women). They have been described as being more painful than giving birth by women who had experienced both cluster headaches and childbirth. Due to the intensity of the pain, they have earned the nickname "suicide headaches" from sufferers.

While the exact causes of cluster headaches are unknown, and the effectiveness of traditional treatments such as oxygen treatment and drugs have shown mixed results, a potentially promising treatment may come in the form of a hallucinogenic substance called psilocybin, which is found in certain species of mushroom.

Dr. R. Andrew Sewell and Dr. John H. Halpern, researchers from Harvard University, are looking into the effects of psilocybin and it's close chemical relative, lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD), on cluster headaches. In one experiment, the researchers found that of 53 study participants, the majority reported that taking psilocybin or LSD aborted cluster attacks, terminated cluster periods or extended the remission period between cluster outbreaks. Furthermore, many participants experienced the theraputic effects from the drugs at dosages below the threshold required for hallucinogenic experiences.

While the study results and ongoing research into these compounds are promising, one must remember that both psilocybin and LSD are illegal in the United States, and the research is not intended to be an endorsement of self-medicating with these substances. However, if the beneficial effects are borne out in further experiments, it may one day be possible to isolate the compounds that are responsible for the theraputic effects and create drugs that treat cluster headache pain without triggering hallucinogenic experiences.

You can read more about the research here:

http://www.helpforheadaches.com/articles/psilocybin.htm