Once you know the nature and symptoms of your headaches, once you can give your headache a name, you can create a plan of prevention and treatment. For some types of headache, such as tension headaches or minor migraines, an over-the-counter pain medication may be enough.
Others such as cluster headaches, sinus headaches or more severe migraines, may require a prescription medication or special treatments. If you are prescribed medication, make sure to ask your pharmacist questions so your treatment is safe and beneficial.
Stress-related headaches may respond to drug-free, stress-busting methods of treatment and prevention. If you suspect stress could be sparking your headaches, get proactive and preventive by finding simple and surprising ways to control stress in your life.
For example, biofeedback is a therapeutic relaxation method that trains you how to be more sensitive to your own pain signals and teaches you to control your responses to those signals.
Despite your best efforts, now and then the pain of headaches may not respond to treatment. Even worse, the symptoms may be misunderstood or dismissed by medical professionals as "all in your head." Learn about pain clinics and find out if they might be the right choice for your headache treatment.