I stand behind my desk and stare at the computer screen, anxiously trying to think of something to write with concern to this week’s new topic. What have I always wondered about? I can’t seem to think of anything now. I tire of standing and pull out my chair to sit. As soon as I lower myself, rather quickly, my head jostles just a bit but it’s enough to send a sharp stinging pain across my forehead from one temple to the other. WHAM!

It suddenly strikes me that one thing I’ve never really been sure about is why we get headaches and what they really are.

I must say headaches are very strange things. In fact, with regard to the headaches I have experienced from time to time in my life, I’d say no two are the same. Some of them are wide spread and affect the entire top half of my head, others can be pinpointed at one central spot on the left or the right side of my face behind one of my eyes, some can be felt only when I nod or shake my head while others make their presence known at all times, a persistent throbbing in my brain no matter how still I hold myself. They appear at the most random times and usually at the most inconvenient. Wouldn’t you like to know more about them? …I do.

 According to scientists, we can get three types of headaches: cluster headaches, migraine headaches and tension headaches. Cluster and tension headaches are the less serious ones. While migraines are another story. Tiredness, stress and frustration bring on tension headaches which are irregular in occurance, mild in pain and difficult to pin-point. A cluster headache attacks suddenly and is situated around one eye when it occurs. This headache is sometimes accompanied with the watering of the involved eye and a blocked nose. Migraines however are always a serious matter and are usually accompanied by nausea, sweating, swelling of the face and visual hullucinations. Migrains are extremely excruciating, ranging from intense to intorable and blinding pain. At the start of a migraine, blood vessels in the head constrict and swell, leading to the headache. After learning this I am grateful to say I haven’t ever experienced a migraine and sincerely hope I never will.

I find that closing my eyes for five minutes during the day (which, itself, has been getting busier and busier as the year progresses) reduces the likelihood of me getting a headache later in the evening. If I do get one anyway then I find that sleeping for half an hour usually does the trick and I can continue to work. If all else fails though, I beg my Mom for a Panado (which is like trying to gain access to a high security vault) before calling it a day and retiring to bed for the night.

So I hope you leave this web page happily better informed about that once mysterious phenomenon, the headache. Now you can wonder at other interesting things like why they call seriously weird, out of this world happenings (e.g. UFOs) “supernatural” or “extraordinary” when they couldn’t be further from natural or ordinary… know what I mean. Anyways have a great week, Hipsters, until next time.