The effects of headaches on the brain: mental well being and severity - Essay Example

Of a minor consequence to the brain is the occurrence of milder pain in the head commonly known as tension headache. Just the same, headaches and sicknesses are very common indications of an ailing person. An important note also revealed that one in three people with serious complications like brain tumour have gone to the doctor with headache as the original complain. Prevention is the single most important information this paper would want to re-echo. More importantly, all information relating to this presentation does not in any way substitute that of an expert medical prescription.

Keywords: Prevention, symptoms, cure CHRONIC HEADACHES CAN CAUSE BRAIN INJURY 3 Chronic Headaches May Cause Brain Injury and Other Known Risk Factors Include Heart Attack, Stroke A neurologist and member of the American Headache Society, Deborah Friedman, M.D., although not involved in the subject research review of this paper, shared some information about people who get auras with their migraines as having increased risk of vascular problems like heart attack and stroke. Another major complications associated with headaches is brain tumuor.

It has been noted that patients who frequently suffered from migraine headaches generally is not a cause for concern for doctors as far as the diagnosis of brain tumuor is concerned. However, a change in the characteristics of a headache notably location, frequency and such condition that triggers other symptoms can raise a certain degree of concern from doctors. Still, headaches and seizures are the two top common symptoms for people who seek medical attention for the first time. In the meantime, neuroscientists have found new evidences of alteration in the brain due to migraine headache.

In the report published by Science Daily, the scientists involve in the research describe headaches as tiny transient strokes causing severe oxygen deficiency. The study revealed that such condition can make certain parts of the brain starving for oxygen resulting to certain damages. While it has been a common knowledge that recurring migraines result to impaired functionality and declining cognitive abilities, neuroscientists consider it surprising for migraine headaches to have actually been causing damage to the brain.

The study conducted by a team of neuroscientists headed by a professor in the Department of Neurosurgery Maiken Needergard, M.D., Ph.D. in tandem with research assistant professor and original author of the paper Takahiro Takano, Ph.D, have significantly broadened CHRONIC HEADACHES CAN CAUSE BRAIN INJURY 4 knowledge of the effects of headaches in the brain. Needergard and Takahiro explained that migraine-induced expansion of arteries, although it can lead to more supplies of oxygen-rich blood, some parts of the brain still end up undergoing severe oxygen shortage.

This will result to the disintegration of sophisticated brain cells signaling structures similar to a condition when a person has a minor stroke. In the light of these findings, the neuroscientists have strongly advised that prevention should be the main focus rather than just treatment to reduce pain. Discussion In the book, Dealing With Headaches, Murphy (142) suggests that head pain is viewed as a reaction to underlying imbalances involving diet, emotional anxiety, organic