Depression - An Underlying Cause Of Headaches
Most people who suffer from headaches tend to not go to a doctor for treatment. This is because over-the-counter drugs are usually enough to relieve them from headache pains. It may be time to pay your doctor a visit, though, if you experience headaches every day, you get them right after you wake up and they remain the whole day. These symptoms are a cause for concern especially if you have been having these symptoms for several months.
Depression can be the underlying cause for continuous headaches that occur for no apparent reason. However, depression still has some stigma in society. Thus, a lot of people still find it hard to face the fact that they are unable to cope.
The classic symptoms of depression are slow mobility, sadness and loss of interest in things. However, depressed people are often ashamed of their condition so they tend to hide behind a happy mask in front of others, including their doctors. This makes it hard for doctors to diagnose depression and give proper treatment since depressed people tend to downplay their suffering during their visits.
Aside from the prolonged headaches, people with depression exhibit symptoms such as insufficient sleep, too much sleep, appetite loss, overeating, excessive drinking and smoking, disinterest in activities that were previously enjoyable, and reduced sexual desire.
Tension headaches are the type of headaches that people with depression often complain about. Tension headache, as the name suggests, is triggered by contraction in the muscle. Without realizing it, depressed people are often tense, which causes their neck and jaw muscles to tighten. Prolonged and continuous muscle contraction can cause tiny blood vessels to break. When this happens, blood flow in the affected areas slows down, resulting in severe headache pain.
Depressed people experience headaches whose pain they describe as a vise-like band that's tightening around the head. People who claim that they have been experiencing this kind of headache pains for months or years need to have their medical history examined, as depression headaches have a distinctive pattern. They often occur early mornings or evenings.
Pain medications rarely work for headaches caused by depression. To treat the headaches, the source or cause of the headaches -- depression -- must be treated. Headaches whose underlying cause is depression are best treated with antidepressants, as well as biofeedback.
While headaches can be caused by depression, depression can also be caused by headaches. This is especially true in the case of chronic headache sufferers. These people develop depression because little attention is given to the emotional effects of the headache symptoms.
Headaches can be treated, but it requires attention, time, and cooperation on the part of sufferers.