• Question: What are headaches?

    Asked by marshmallow11 to Edd, Jess, Zara on 23 Jun 2011.
    • Photo: Zara Gladman

      Zara Gladman answered on 23 Jun 2011:

      Hey marshmallow11!

      This isn’t my research area… but there are many different kinds of headaches, which can be caused by different things. Sinus headaches, for example, are different from migraines, which are different from tension headaches… but all of them involve pain in the head!

      Sinus headaches happen when your sinuses (which occur in your nose, eyes and cheeks) swell up. If you have a cold and you’re a bit clogged up then this can lead to a sinus headache. I often get sinus headaches when I get a flight (which is even worse if you have a cold!), it’s very painful! During the flight, the pressure difference causes the lining of the sinuses to swell up. The same thing can occur if you’re climbing to high altitude or scuba diving (which is one of the reasons I’m a bit scared of diving, although I’d love to try it!).

      As for migraines… I don’t think anybody knows for sure what causes them, although a chemical called serotonin may be involved. My friend has migraines sometimes and as well as getting an excruciating pain in her head, she tends to throw up. Horrible 🙁

      About to go into a chat now but will answer more later! EDIT: OK Edd has added a bit more too, so no need 🙂

    • Photo: Edward Codling

      Edward Codling answered on 23 Jun 2011:

      I don’t know what the answer is here – Zara gave some good explanations. Clearly a headache has something to do with some sort of pain or pressure affecting the head – what brought this on could be down to lots of things though – a blow to the head, pressure from illness or high blood pressure, etc.

      I sometimes get migraines – often after I have played sport and got really hot, dehydrated and overheated. I often then get an ‘ocular migraine’ – where I get white spots in my eyes and can’t see:
      http://www.allaboutvision.com/conditions/ocular-migraine.htm

      If you get a persitent headache or migraine that doesn’t go away after a day or so then you should definitely go to the doctor to get it checked.

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