Why is Diagnosis of Secondary Headache very Important?

While headache is perceived as a common ailment affecting quite a few of the general population at some point of time or the other, not all types of headache are frequently seen to affect one and all. While the most commonly seen type is a primary headache that is not associated to any cause, secondary headache is not so frequently seen and this is associated with some underlying cause that many a times can be fatal. Owing to the gravity of the scenario, it is very important that diagnosis of secondary headache be arrived at as quickly as possible and the underlying cause treated.

Some Causes of Secondary Headache

Unlike primary headaches that occur spontaneously without any actual underlying cause, secondary headaches occur due to some kind of underlying cause, sometimes life threatening. Some of these serious causes for secondary headache include brain tumors, trauma to the head causing hematomas (pooling of blood due to rupture of blood vessels in the brain), angina, stroke, meningitis, aneurysm, etc. Some causes classified as not a threat to life but causing secondary headache include vasculitis, glaucoma, hypertension, thyroid deficiencies, caffeine withdrawal, withdrawal symptoms of certain medications, infections like sinusitis, ear infections and tooth and gum infections, etc.

Diagnosis of Secondary headache

While all cases of headache are not suspected to have an underlying cause and classified as secondary headache, doctors face the task of having to differentiate one form of headache from the other and segregate the patients suspected to have headache due to secondary causes and subject them to further testing to arrive at a proper diagnosis. This initial diagnosis is done on the basis of the screening and history taking as well as with the help of the findings in the initial examination of the patient.

While screening and obtaining the history of the patient, the doctor will concentrate on information like age of the person, site at which the headache occurs, any other associated symptoms, history of any trauma to the head, etc as this information will give the doctor more insight into suspecting any headache to be of secondary type.

If the initial diagnosis points toward being secondary type of headache the patient is subjected to a battery of tests that include blood tests to eliminate possibility of infections, thyroid test to check thyroid function, CT scanning and MRI scanning that helps in detecting many of the causes of secondary headache like aneurysms, tumors, hematomas, infections, etc. Lumbar puncture is another test that is recommended to detect the presence of infection or to check for hemorrhages.

While not all kinds of headache are serious and can be relieved by taking some medication to reduce the pain, people suffering from headaches should not constantly resort to taking over-the-counter products to relieve the headache they are facing as it might possibly be due to some underlying cause. Diagnosis of secondary headache is very vital as some of these causes when diagnosed early have the possibility of successful treatment and if left undiagnosed and not treated might even possibly be life threatening.