When Headaches Should Worry Us

Headaches are a widespread disease that often has no serious cause, but can also be a symptom of a serious illness!

Most of the time headaches are caused by too little fluid, a sleep deficit, mineral deficiency or other causes that we have to look for in our lifestyle or behavior.

But there are also headaches that are a symptom of serious illnesses. Therefore, today we would like to explain to you when headaches should not be taken lightly!

Causes of Headache

There are many reasons and causes of headaches. Only very rarely is there a serious illness behind it.

If you have frequent headaches, or if your headache is frighteningly severe or accompanied by nausea, you should see your doctor.

You may then have migraines or cluster headaches. If you have intermittent headaches, however, you should think about whether you caused them yourself through your behavior, your diet, or other external circumstances.

Then you can simply “turn them off” and make sure that they don’t even appear!

In principle, however, you should not numb the pain indefinitely if you have a severe headache – especially not if it lasts for a long time and torments you not just for a few hours but for days.

Then you should see your doctor, especially in the following cases:

Headache with fever and chills

If the headache does not appear alone, but in combination with a fever and even chills, it is really high time to see a doctor.

What sounds like a harmless “flu”, that is, a flu-like infection, could in reality be real flu, which can also be life-threatening for immunocompromised people! It can also be any other infection that needs to be diagnosed and treated.

Stiff neck and / or back pain

Headaches that radiate into the neck and make it “stiff” or even affect the entire back, so that you feel tense, stiff, immobile and plagued by pain everywhere.

Then the pain in the head may be a symptom of inflammation – in the worst case, meningitis!

Memory and concentration disorders

If the headache occurs together with impairment of your cognitive abilities  , you should see a doctor immediately, as this can indicate serious problems! Maybe there is an injury or a tumor!

Balance disorders

If dizziness or difficulty walking or nausea in moving objects (car, bus, train, etc.) occurs, the headache could indicate that something is wrong with your sense of balance in your ear.

This should also be clarified by a doctor! Consult your family doctor, who will likely refer you to the ENT doctor.

Intense attacks of pain

We all have headaches from time to time, but these can usually be endured without painkillers.

But if the pain is so severe that it is almost unbearable or that no over-the-counter pain reliever helps, then it is high time to see a doctor!

Such severe pain attacks usually go away by themselves at some point, but that is no reason not to seek medical advice!

Headache despite pain medication

There are headaches that are rare and so severe that an occasional pain reliever will not help.

But there are also headaches that occur while taking painkillers – and in larger doses!

Then your body could have got used to the pain reliever and it is a symptom of drug addiction, in which case we speak of drug overuse headache!

That’s one reason to talk to your doctor right away about how to get out of it before there is further damage to organs like the liver and kidneys because you are constantly on medication!

Even supposedly small amounts of painkillers can be too much. Experts cite 10 painkillers per month as a critical figure. Are you one of them? Reconsider your behavior and recognize the danger!

Dangerous side effects

In summary, we would like to list which side effects of headaches can be a clear warning signal for a potentially life-threatening condition.

Take these signs seriously – statistics show that up to 8% of all headaches are indicative of a serious medical problem!

You should be particularly vigilant and already on the way to the doctor in the event of the following symptoms:

• severe or unusually long-lasting headache
• Neck stiffness
• Decreased consciousness
• Hemiplegia
• Numbness
• Balance disorders
• Incoordination
• nausea
• Visual disturbances
• fever

These symptoms can, but do not have to, indicate tumors, heart attacks, high blood pressure, meningitis and other potentially life-threatening diseases! So don’t always take headaches lightly!