5 ms·

That's spot on. Also known to cause headaches: * Lack of sleep * Lack of magnesium or iron * Too much sugar/fat * Caffeine withdrawal symptom (and the cure

That's spot on. Also known to cause headaches: * Lack of sleep * Lack of magnesium or iron * Too much sugar/fat * Caffeine withdrawal symptom (and the cure isn't more caffeine ;) ) * Bad position (especially in the neck) * Flu, cold, etc.

ColinWright 15y ago
> Flew You mean "Flu", which is actually short for "influenza," and contrary to most people's belief is not simply a bad cold, but can be a life-threatening condition. (Pet peeve - sorry - bad personal experience)
- shin_lao 15y ago
  Yes exactly, fixed that. I got a flu two years ago, indeed it's more than a simple cold but there's nothing a young adult cannot handle.
  - Deadsunrise 15y ago
    ejem: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1918_flu_pandemic http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1918_flu_pandemic Most victims were healthy young adults, in contrast to most influenza outbreaks, which predominantly affect juvenile, elderly, or weakened patients. The pandemic lasted from June 1918 to December 1920, spreading even to the Arctic and remote Pacific islands. Between 50 and 100 million died, making it one of the deadliest natural disasters in human history. Even using the lower estimate of 50 million people, 3% of the world's population (1.86 billion at the time) died of the disease. Some 500 million, or 27% (≈1/4), were infected.
    - gojomo 15y ago
      Pandemic flus are the exception, not the rule. None of us may see one in our lifetimes, even if we have (and recover from) a dozen cases of seasonal flus. Also, some believe the death rates from the 1918 pandemic were more due to concomitant bacterial infections than the flu strain itself.
derefr 15y ago
> Caffeine withdrawal symptom (and the cure isn't more caffeine ;) ) I don't know about that, actually. Caffeine is the active ingredient in (low-power, over-the-counter) migraine medication, because it has anti-inflammatory properties. People who have chronic headaches may be unintentionally self-medicating with caffeine; for them, the caffeine withdrawal period becomes concurrent with their regular headaches returning. More anecdotally, when I don't drink caffeine (and I do go off it for months at a time), I get headaches on and off, about once per week or so. When I do drink caffeine, though, I literally never get headaches.
- shin_lao 15y ago
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Health_effects_of_caffeine#Withdrawal http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Health_effects_of_caffeine#With... If I remember correctly, caffeine's purpose in migraine medication is to accelerate the delivery of the payload.
  - sneak 15y ago
    It was my understanding that it is included because many people taking headache pills don't actually realize that they are caffeine addicts and don't recognize the withdrawal symptoms for what they are. This makes the pills more effective in making that class of headaches go away by eliminating the withdrawal symptoms, sort of how heroin is an effective cure for heroin withdrawal.
    - ordinary 15y ago
      > It was my understanding that it is included because many people taking headache pills don't actually realize that they are caffeine addicts and don't recognize the withdrawal symptoms for what they are. If true, I would find that rather disturbing.
      - sneak 15y ago
        Many things about the OTC drug market in America are rather disturbing. 26k people per year are hospitalized from acetaminophen poisoning, and about two die every day. It's the scumminess of the pharma industry, with less adult supervision.
DanBC 15y ago
Also, analgesics can cause "rebound headache" - you have a headache, you take pain relief for a few days, the headache stops, and you stop taking the pain killer. Then you get a rebound headache. This especially happens with ibuprofen. (http://www.helpforpain.com/arch2000aug.htm http://www.helpforpain.com/arch2000aug.htm) That site says rebound headache are the most common cause of pain referral to doctors, which is a surprise to me. I would have thought back pain was.
- hopeless 15y ago
  According to my doctor, ibuprofen does not not have this rebound property and is preferred over codeine-based drugs like Solpadine which definitely can cause rebound headaches. But, in general, yes headache medications can actually cause headaches. Ask your pharmacist.
WalterBright 15y ago
I used to regularly get headaches on Sundays. I thought it was from sleeping in. I eventually figured out it was because I drank coffee at work, and not on weekends, and it was a weekly caffeine withdrawal effect.
sankara 15y ago
>> Bad position Bad sitting posture, bad chairs and anything that could strain the spinal cord could result in serious issues. A friend was just short of a disk slip because of his sitting posture. He had a bad headache and after a diagnosis that took a month it turned out to be a problem with his spine.
lee 15y ago
Don't forget about dehydration. A big glass of water often cures many headaches.
VMG 15y ago
I'd also put * lack of exercise * smoking near the top > Too much sugar/fat I googled it and found that the underlying reason seems to be high blood pressure, which can be caused by extremely high amounts of triglycerines. Unless you eat insane amounts of fat, I think it is easier to lower your blood pressure in other ways (exercising, quitting smoking, reducing sodium intake)
kreek 15y ago
+1 for the diet suggestions, but I'd add exercise in their too, it has a bonus side effect of increasing your stamina so you'll no longer need caffeine.
gorog 15y ago
* Lack of sunlight
Semiapies 15y ago
Add dental problems to that list. I had increasingly worse headaches for a few years due to a molar that was very, very slowly becoming impacted into the next tooth over. Once it finally actually rose to the level of a toothache and I got it pulled, the change was enormous.

ColinWright 15y ago

> Flew You mean "Flu", which is actually short for "influenza," and contrary to most people's belief is not simply a bad cold, but can be a life-threatening condition. (Pet peeve - sorry - bad personal experience)

shin_lao 15y ago
Yes exactly, fixed that. I got a flu two years ago, indeed it's more than a simple cold but there's nothing a young adult cannot handle.
- Deadsunrise 15y ago
  ejem: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1918_flu_pandemic http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1918_flu_pandemic Most victims were healthy young adults, in contrast to most influenza outbreaks, which predominantly affect juvenile, elderly, or weakened patients. The pandemic lasted from June 1918 to December 1920, spreading even to the Arctic and remote Pacific islands. Between 50 and 100 million died, making it one of the deadliest natural disasters in human history. Even using the lower estimate of 50 million people, 3% of the world's population (1.86 billion at the time) died of the disease. Some 500 million, or 27% (≈1/4), were infected.
  - gojomo 15y ago
    Pandemic flus are the exception, not the rule. None of us may see one in our lifetimes, even if we have (and recover from) a dozen cases of seasonal flus. Also, some believe the death rates from the 1918 pandemic were more due to concomitant bacterial infections than the flu strain itself.

derefr 15y ago

> Caffeine withdrawal symptom (and the cure isn't more caffeine ;) ) I don't know about that, actually. Caffeine is the active ingredient in (low-power, over-the-counter) migraine medication, because it has anti-inflammatory properties. People who have chronic headaches may be unintentionally self-medicating with caffeine; for them, the caffeine withdrawal period becomes concurrent with their regular headaches returning. More anecdotally, when I don't drink caffeine (and I do go off it for months at a time), I get headaches on and off, about once per week or so. When I do drink caffeine, though, I literally never get headaches.

shin_lao 15y ago
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Health_effects_of_caffeine#Withdrawal http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Health_effects_of_caffeine#With... If I remember correctly, caffeine's purpose in migraine medication is to accelerate the delivery of the payload.
- sneak 15y ago
  It was my understanding that it is included because many people taking headache pills don't actually realize that they are caffeine addicts and don't recognize the withdrawal symptoms for what they are. This makes the pills more effective in making that class of headaches go away by eliminating the withdrawal symptoms, sort of how heroin is an effective cure for heroin withdrawal.
  - ordinary 15y ago
    > It was my understanding that it is included because many people taking headache pills don't actually realize that they are caffeine addicts and don't recognize the withdrawal symptoms for what they are. If true, I would find that rather disturbing.
    - sneak 15y ago
      Many things about the OTC drug market in America are rather disturbing. 26k people per year are hospitalized from acetaminophen poisoning, and about two die every day. It's the scumminess of the pharma industry, with less adult supervision.

DanBC 15y ago

Also, analgesics can cause "rebound headache" - you have a headache, you take pain relief for a few days, the headache stops, and you stop taking the pain killer. Then you get a rebound headache. This especially happens with ibuprofen. (http://www.helpforpain.com/arch2000aug.htm http://www.helpforpain.com/arch2000aug.htm) That site says rebound headache are the most common cause of pain referral to doctors, which is a surprise to me. I would have thought back pain was.

hopeless 15y ago
According to my doctor, ibuprofen does not not have this rebound property and is preferred over codeine-based drugs like Solpadine which definitely can cause rebound headaches. But, in general, yes headache medications can actually cause headaches. Ask your pharmacist.

WalterBright 15y ago

I used to regularly get headaches on Sundays. I thought it was from sleeping in. I eventually figured out it was because I drank coffee at work, and not on weekends, and it was a weekly caffeine withdrawal effect.

sankara 15y ago

>> Bad position Bad sitting posture, bad chairs and anything that could strain the spinal cord could result in serious issues. A friend was just short of a disk slip because of his sitting posture. He had a bad headache and after a diagnosis that took a month it turned out to be a problem with his spine.

lee 15y ago

Don't forget about dehydration. A big glass of water often cures many headaches.

VMG 15y ago

I'd also put * lack of exercise * smoking near the top > Too much sugar/fat I googled it and found that the underlying reason seems to be high blood pressure, which can be caused by extremely high amounts of triglycerines. Unless you eat insane amounts of fat, I think it is easier to lower your blood pressure in other ways (exercising, quitting smoking, reducing sodium intake)

kreek 15y ago

+1 for the diet suggestions, but I'd add exercise in their too, it has a bonus side effect of increasing your stamina so you'll no longer need caffeine.

gorog 15y ago

* Lack of sunlight

Semiapies 15y ago

Add dental problems to that list. I had increasingly worse headaches for a few years due to a molar that was very, very slowly becoming impacted into the next tooth over. Once it finally actually rose to the level of a toothache and I got it pulled, the change was enormous.