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DANGEROUS HEADACHES

HOW DO YOU DIFFERENTIATE ACUTE ONSET HEADACHES




Head pain is mediated by mechanical and chemical receptors in the brain. But brain mater itself does not have receptors for the pain. Pain receptors are contained in the covering of the brain and walls of the blood vessels of the brain.

There are six main differential diagnosis can be describe for acute onset headaches.

  1. Trauma
  2. Sub Arachnoid Haemorrhage (SAH)
  3. Intra Cranial Haemorrhage (ICH)
  4. Acute angle closure glucoma
  5. Temporal arteritis
  6. Meningitis 
When we talking about signs of above conditions, In trauma we can see clearly external signs of trauma like wounds, bruises or/and abrasions.

In SAH, Person feels abrupt explosive type pain in the head. It is the worst headache ever he felt. he feels pain in the back of the head(Occipital area). His conscious may be fluctuated between coma and the normal consciousness.Neck stiffness, Photophobia , Unsteadiness and poor memory can be associated with this condition.

In ICH, you can see bit different picture than than the SDH. It also cause nasty type headache. It associated with Body weakness,Sensory impairments( You can not feel different areas of your body),Bladder dysfunction,Bowel dysfunction and Dysarthria( difficulty in talking)

In acute angle closure glucoma, Pressure of the fluid compartment of the eye became high due to blockage of  normal tear draining system. Normally middle aged or people affect from this condition. Recurrent headache in around the eye or/and fore head is a prominent feature. Blurring of vision, discoloration of eyes and halos can be associated.Pain become worse in the dark and with emotions. It is also associated with vomiting.

Temporal arteritis usually occur in old age. Pain is localized to the temporal areas of the head. Most distinguish feature is local tenderness of the temporal area.It means,touching the temporal area cause pain.Jaw claudication (cramping pain in the jaw) is a pathognomonic feature of temporal arterits. Persistent temporal arteritis can be leading to blindness.

Finally Meningitis, Meningitis can be caused due to the bacterial and viral infection of the Centarl Neuron System. You feel neck stiffness( difficulty in move,turn or flex the neck), photophobia and vomiting.High fever is also a feature of meningitis.


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