An occasional headache is familiar to all people, since it can appear as a consequence of ordinary fatigue or the body’s reaction to changes in meteorological conditions. Usually this condition does not require medical intervention and stops on its own, you just need to rest a little or wait for the weather to change. However, constant pain in the temples, forehead or eyes this is a clear reason to think about your own health, since regular headaches (chronic cephalgia) can be one of the symptoms of a serious illness.
Causes of headaches
An excessively stressful rhythm of life, background noise on the streets in cities, stress, and limited time for rest often become causes of chronic pain in the head. If you eliminate the source of discomfort, stressful situations, for a while, the general condition of a person improves significantly. If cephalalgia persists, there is a high risk of the presence of complex pathology that requires medical correction:
- high pressure inside the skull associated with vascular diseases;
- migraine, accompanied by nausea, light and sound sensitivity;
- post-traumatic hematomas in the head;
- tumor formations;
- aneurysms;
- inflammatory foci in brain tissue;
- infectious diseases of the respiratory system, nasal congestion;
- pregnancy period or critical days of the menstrual cycle;
- damage to the trigeminal nerve;
- allergic reactions.
If a person suffers from osteochondrosis of the cervical spine, pain in the head in the forehead and temples also becomes chronic. This is due to irritation or compression of the neck vessels that supply the brain and nerve canals. When the primary disease is eliminated, the patient's condition returns to normal. If no other physiological causes are found, we may be talking about a vegetative-vascular disorder.
Secondary headache and diseases in which it occurs
In general, primary headache, although it disrupts the normal course of life during attacks, does not have serious consequences for a person’s general health. And secondary pain, despite the fact that it occurs much less frequently (in 5% of cases), can be a consequence of a dangerous disease.
Headache is necessarily present among the symptoms of the following diseases:
- vegetative-vascular dystonia (headaches can be combined with dizziness, nausea, fluctuations in blood pressure);
- hypertension (pain is mainly localized in the occipital region, there may be dizziness, noise in the head, spots before the eyes, heat in the head, pain in the heart);
- stroke;
- traumatic brain injury;
- meningitis;
- encephalitis;
- eye diseases (for example, glaucoma);
- diseases of the ear and nasopharynx (otitis media, sinusitis);
- neuralgia;
- diabetes;
- renal failure;
- oncological diseases.
Non-hazardous conditions
Cephalgia is often observed during pregnancy, especially in the first half, when hormonal levels are greatly unbalanced, immune defense drops, and emotional reactions become poorly controlled. At this time, women often catch colds, suffer from long-forgotten chronic diseases, feel pressure surges, and are under moral stress. All these factors affect the development of pain in the forehead and temples, which are of a compressive, aching nature. Triggers such as:
- unhealthy eating behavior (hunger, overeating, consumption of alcohol, citrus fruits, sweets);
- physical stimuli (sharp sounds, smells, bright lighting);
- change of climate zone;
- sleep problems, fatigue.
The appearance of pain can also be associated with everyday situations when a person is forced or deliberately in the open sun in hot or, conversely, cold, windy weather. Irradiation to the forehead or temples also occurs due to mechanical impact on the eyes. If a person wears contact lenses, it can cause dry eyes and headaches. The composition of the diet also affects the patient’s sense of well-being. If you exclude harmful components from the diet (caffeine, alcohol, fast food, processed foods, smoked foods), the discomfort in the head may disappear on its own.
Why does pain occur in the temples?
Physiological reasons
A dull pressing pain in the temples is observed when staying in a stuffy room. If a person cannot go out into the fresh air, the painful sensations increase, sometimes becoming sharp and pulsating. In some people, the symptom is triggered by strong feelings, most often anxiety and fear. May occur against the background of stressful situations. Another possible cause is starvation when trying to quickly lose weight, following strict diets, or eating disorders.
Migraine
The pain is pressing, throbbing, one-sided. The zone of maximum pain is located in the projection of the temple, eye or forehead. Sometimes an aura or prodrome is observed in the form of weakness, impaired ability to concentrate. It is typical for the affected side to change from one attack to another. Migraine symptoms are aggravated by bright light, loud sounds, and any physical activity. Patients try to “lie down” in solitude, silence and darkness.
Cluster headache
Pain occurs during periods of exacerbation, lasting from 2 weeks to 2 months. Appear suddenly, reaching a maximum after 1-3 minutes. The attack lasts from 15 minutes to 1 hour, less often up to 3 hours. Episodes occur at one time, often at night, and can be repeated from one per day to two to four (sometimes eight) during the day. Painful sensations are one-sided, more often on the left.
Localized in the eye, radiating to the temple, ear, cheek and teeth, extremely sharp, unbearable, stabbing or burning. Accompanied by nasal congestion, facial and conjunctival hyperemia. Described by patients as an “eye rupture” or “stabbed in the eye.” Photophobia, nausea and vomiting are observed in 30% of cases. The patient is agitated and rushes about, since physical activity somewhat reduces the intensity of the pain.
Tension headache
The symptom is mild or moderate. The headache is bilateral, non-pulsating, squeezing or squeezing the head with a “hoop”, especially noticeable in the temple area. There is no dependence on physical activity, no nausea or vomiting. The duration of the attack ranges from half an hour to 1 week. Pain increases with strong emotions and decreases with emotional relaxation.
Pain in temples
Primary and symptomatic hypertension
Along with essential hypertension, there are more than 50 diseases that cause high blood pressure. An increase in blood pressure, regardless of etiology, is accompanied by pain in the temples and back of the head. Patients complain of tinnitus, spots before the eyes, shortness of breath, chest pain, restlessness, or a feeling of fear. An external examination may reveal hyperemia of the skin. The symptom is observed in the following pathologies:
- Kidney diseases
: pyelonephritis, glomerulonephritis, hypoplasia, polycystic disease, amyloidosis, urolithiasis, tumors, diabetic nephropathy, renal tuberculosis. - Endocrine disorders
: pheochromocytoma, Cushing's disease and syndrome, primary aldosteronism. - Pathologies of large vessels
: coarctation of the aorta.
Hydrocephalus
Due to an increase in the amount of fluid in the cerebrospinal fluid system with hydrocephalus, intracranial pressure increases. Along with pain in the temples and throughout the head, intracranial hypertension is manifested by disturbances of consciousness, nausea, vomiting, blurred vision, and sometimes convulsive seizures. The symptom is detected in conditions such as:
- developmental defects: Chiari anomaly, Dandy-Walker syndrome, stenosis of the Sylvian aqueduct;
- intrauterine infections and birth injuries;
- traumatic brain injuries;
- inflammatory processes: encephalitis, meningitis, arachnoiditis;
- vascular pathologies: hemorrhagic stroke, intraventricular hemorrhage;
- neoplasms: colloid cysts, intracerebral ganglioneuromas, germinomas, astrocytomas, etc.
Traumatic brain injury
Headache is a constant symptom of TBI and is observed with injuries of any severity. Accompanied by dizziness, nausea, vomiting, amnesia. Impaired consciousness, paresis, decreased sensitivity, and other manifestations are possible. At first, the pain is usually diffuse. During the recovery period, pain in the temporal areas sometimes prevails.
Temporal arteritis
Caused by autoimmune damage to the temporal artery. Often occurs after viral infections. Horton's disease develops in middle-aged and elderly patients. Accompanied first by aching, then by piercing, burning pain in one or both temples, increasing over 2-3 weeks. The symptom worsens with chewing and talking. Complemented by loss of appetite, sweating, hyperthermia, weight loss, sleep disturbances, myalgia, arthralgia.
Intoxication syndrome
Pain in the temples is one of the possible variants of headache with intoxication syndrome against the background of bacterial and viral infections, local purulent processes. It can be dull, squeezing, aching, pulsating. Increased body temperature, weakness, weakness, dizziness, pain in joints and muscles are observed. Other signs are determined by the cause of intoxication.
Trigeminal neuralgia
Prosopalgia is paroxysmal in nature and is a series of intense, shooting, burning pain impulses that resemble an electric shock and spread from the lateral surface to the center of the face. The duration of the episode is up to two minutes, the attacks are repeated several times. When the nerve is completely involved, the entire half of the face suffers; when the second branch is affected, the pain is localized in the temple area, the outer corner of the eye, the adjacent part of the cheek, and the upper lip.
Damage to the temporomandibular joint
TMJ dysfunction is a problem that can be caused by the following factors:
- Dentofacial pathologies
: trauma, malocclusion, dental defects, poor-quality prosthetics, congenital anomalies. - Muscle overstrain
: bruxism, tonic spasm, overload of masticatory muscles, high speech load. - Psychological factors
: prolonged neuropsychic stress.
Typical symptoms include pain in the temples, eyes, ears, prosopalgia, headaches, difficulty and clicking when opening the mouth. Possible dizziness, sleep disorders, dysphagia, glossalgia, sleep apnea syndrome.
Other reasons
Sometimes hormonal changes become a provoking factor. Girls may experience pain in their temples during the onset of menstruation. Some mature women note the onset of symptoms during menopause. Another possible reason is intoxication. Pain in the temple area is observed in a state of alcoholic intoxication, with an overdose of certain medications, or carbon monoxide poisoning.
Dangerous reasons
When a patient first consults a doctor with complaints of headaches, blood pressure (BP) is checked, since this factor ranks first among the possible root causes of cephalgia. Bad habits, stress, long-term drug therapy, lack of sleep, an inactive lifestyle and changes in weather conditions can increase blood pressure.
Soreness always accompanies infectious diseases, including the common cold. The most dangerous pathology caused by infection is meningitis, when the meninges become inflamed when viruses or bacteria penetrate them. Along with bursting pain, fever, severe nausea and vomiting appear, which does not lead to relief. The fever cannot be relieved with conventional painkillers. The disease is treated exclusively in a hospital setting.
Another severe anomaly is a neoplasm in the skull, which can be benign or malignant. As the tumor grows, discomfort in the head always increases, which becomes unbearable at a certain stage. At the first suspicion of a tumor object, a neurological diagnosis is carried out, and then an oncologist is involved in the work.
Causes of headaches
There are primary and secondary headaches. Primary pain is considered to be pain that is not an accompanying symptom, but is an independent disease. In this case, it is the headache that is the main problem. Secondary headache is one of the manifestations of a disease that is not limited to headache. Severe headaches can be accompanied by infectious diseases and poisoning of various natures (both toxic substances entering the body from the outside and those produced inside the body, for example, toxins that are formed as a result of the activity of viruses and pathogenic microbes in the body). A headache can occur as a result of stress, weather changes, hypothermia or overheating of the body, lack of sleep, hunger, overeating, lack of oxygen - the cause can be anything that leads to disruption of the metabolism necessary for brain activity.
So, if you have a headache, it does not necessarily mean that you are sick: it may simply be the result of a random factor. However, if the headache occurs periodically or persists for a long time, then most likely there is some kind of disease. In 95% of such cases, there is a primary headache, and only in 5% of cases is it secondary.
Research methods
Painful manifestations are not an independent pathology, but only one of the symptoms. It is not specific, so it is difficult to make an accurate diagnosis based only on the patient’s complaints. It is necessary to take into account the accompanying manifestations and conduct hardware diagnostics that will identify the root cause of the abnormal condition. The following procedures are prescribed as diagnostic procedures:
- Laboratory blood analysis.
- Cardiogram.
- Blood pressure measurement.
- CT scan of the brain and skull.
- Dopplerography.
- Ultrasound of the vessels of the head and neck.
- MRI of the brain.
Tomographic procedures are recognized as the most informative research methods. Only targeted scanning can provide comprehensive data on the state of internal brain tissue, nerves, and vascular tracts. Only through tomography can tumor formations of any quality and stage, even microscopic, inflammatory foci, meningeal zones be detected. In one short procedure, doctors receive comprehensive information about the pathology and condition of the patient.
Treatment
Restorative procedures depend on the underlying cause of the pain. For chronic fatigue and overstrain, quality rest and a change of environment, fresh air, and taking natural sedatives are recommended. Inflammations and infections require targeted treatment with medications, including antibiotics. Problems with the cervical spine are solved by massage, exercise therapy, and physiotherapy. Cystic and tumor processes are considered individually, the issue of surgical treatment with removal of the pathological object is decided.
Preventive diagnostics
After treatment, especially during surgery, re-diagnosis is required. It is aimed at monitoring the manipulations performed, assessing the quality of the operation performed, and identifying relapses. The safest method of preventive examination is MRI, as it does not cause radiation exposure. You can undergo a scan at any clinic in the city that has the necessary equipment. You can find the nearest tomography centers on our service; just use the search filters. Compare offers, choose the best clinics and sign up for a CT or MRI with discounts from the service.
