Three Main Types of Headaches
Ross Hauser, M.D.

The symptoms of headaches are so prevalent that many physicians dismiss headache patients and label them as emotional or stressed out, which leaves them in even more despair. A good example of this is Marion, who started getting migraine headaches shortly after marrying me! On her one and only visit to the HMO physician, she received a quickly scribbled out prescription for Propranolol, though he wanted to give her an antidepressant. He never even touched her! No examination of the head or neck; just right to the prescription pad for some medications. If he would have bothered to check, her blood pressure was already very low, so Propranolol, an antihypertensive medication, could have caused terrible side effects. She came home and tore up the Propranolol prescription. Obviously once we learned Prolotherapy Marion has chosen that route.
 

Categorizing headache sufferers as being stressed out and that stress is the reason for the headaches is totally unjustified and degrading to the patient. Almost every headache sufferer will give the history (Marion included) that neck pain accompanies the headache or the headache starts with neck pain. When patients are examined, especially if they are in the middle of a headache, they will have tenderness in the back of the head and neck. Often times the tenderness is severe. This shows the patient and the physician that there is something wrong in the back of the head and the neck that is causing the muscle-contraction, migraine, or cluster headaches. Researchers have shown that vascular (migraine-type) and muscle-contraction headache sufferers do in fact have musculoskeletal abnormalities in their necks, compared to people without headaches. This would explain why people like Marion receive such dramatic relief from their headaches after Prolotherapy.
 

Muscle-Contraction Headache
The most common form of headache is the muscle-contraction type. It is described as an achy or tight sensation, pressure, or constriction, especially in the back of the neck which often causes headaches in the back of the head and the temple region. The neck and head pain is increased with tension and stress and often occurs daily. There is a high association of TMJ syndrome with this type of headache. Often times massage therapy or physical therapy is helpful for this condition but does not cure it, whereas Prolotherapy is often curative.
 

Cluster Headache
Cluster headache, unlike the other types of headaches which occur more often in women, occur primarily in males at a ratio of about five to one. The age of onset is typically in the late 20s, but onset has been reported in children as young as one year and people as old as 70.
 

In its classic form, the headache comes in clusters, one or two per year, each lasting for about two to three months. The headache begins abruptly and builds up to a climax in 10 to 15 minutes. The pain is usually excruciating and is felt to be the most severe headache a person can get. The pain is frequently tremendous behind the eyes. The pain usually lasts 45 minutes to one hour. The attacks may come the same time every day for a number of weeks.
 

Besides the severe pain, there are other symptoms: eye tearing in both eyes, red eye, and nasal stuffiness. Sometimes there is facial flushing and/or pallor with facial and scalp tenderness. A decrease in the heart rate may also be noted.
 

Cluster headache sufferers will stop at nothing to get relief. This often includes trips to the emergency room for Demerol or morphine shots. Prescription medications including Ergotamine, Imitrex, Vicodin, and other narcotic drugs are used. Because no headache is due to a Vicodin, ibuprofen, or Imitrex deficiency, these medications will never permanently cure the headaches. At best they give temporary relief, and the headache sufferer is only left to fearfully wait for the next attack. This is not the best approach. A much better approach is to correct the cause of the headache. The treatment to correct the cause is Prolotherapy.
 

Migraine Headache
Migraine headaches are also called vascular headaches, because vascular system abnormalities give the headache its throbbing or pulsatile characteristic. Often times, a prodrome (early headache) and aura precede the headache. This type is called classic migraine.
 

The symptoms that occur before the migraine vary: They may involve the autonomic nervous system, (symptoms of flushing or pounding); the neurological system (numbness, tingling, and even temporary paralysis on one side of the body); or the muscular system (spasm and muscle pain typically in the neck).
 

The migraine headache is pulsatile, or throbbing, which distinguishes it from other types of headaches. It is often one-sided and typically resides behind the eye. For some, the best treatment is to be alone in a room and hope the migraine headache goes away in a short time. Normally this is not the case and the headaches last for several hours.
 

Migraines can be elicited, provoked, or aggravated by changes in the patient's environment, such as menstruation, emotional stress, significant weather changes, lack of sleep, or even the opposite-too much rest (vacation migraine). Alcoholic beverages are also incriminated, as are processed foods containing nitrates, monosodium glutamate, hard cheeses, nuts, herring, chocolate, and caffeine. Allergic foods are also a common culprit.

Autonomic Nervous System
Most functions in the human body occur automatically. They are not under our voluntary control. The autonomic nervous system controls all the bodily processes that occur automatically in the body, including breathing, heart rate, saliva formation, digestion, pain control, and of course, blood flow. The somatic nervous system controls those actions that are under our control, including muscle control, moving our eyes to see something, and decision-making.
 

In regards to headaches and neck pain the sympathetic nervous system has three ganglia, or nerve centers, in the neck region. These are known as the superior, middle, and cervicothoracic (stellate) ganglia.
 

The cervical sympathetic ganglia affect the various glands of the face including the salivary glands which control secretions in the mouth, lacrimal glands (secretions in the eyes), and the nasal, sinus and palatine glands (secretions in the nose and sinuses). One can easily see that if too many secretions were produced by these glands that excessive tearing could result (as in cluster headaches), dizziness/vertigo (by excessive secretions in the inner ear), and sinus headaches (by too many secretions in the sinuses irrespective of allergies). It is also significant that the cervical sympathetic ganglia are one of the controls of the diameter of the blood vessels in the brain. This would account for the aura of migraines (vasoconstriction of blood vessels) and the actual headache itself (vasodilation).
 

Doctors who utilize Prolotherapy and Neural Therapy routinely help patients not only get rid of their pain, but also relieve them of other symptoms, such as muscle weakness, dizziness, ringing in the ears, pins/needles sensation, and fatigue, that are related to a soft tissue injury they suffered during competition.
 

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