TMJ and Headaches Chicago
Almost everyone has experienced occasional headaches. Headaches can affect almost anybody, all ages, all family types, all races. Temporomandibular disorders can contribute to and cause chronic headaches. The correlation is so much that sometimes some patients who actually have headaches, are falsely diagnosed with TMJ disorders (TMD) and vice versa or have both TMD and Headaches.
Mainly, the headache disorders are primarily divided into two groups, primary and secondary.
Primary Headaches
Majority of the headaches are primary. Primary headaches include migraine, tension, and cluster headaches, Paroxysmal hemicrania and Hemicrania continua.
Most commonly known as Tension type headaches, effects about 40% of the population. Tension-type headaches are characterized by generally mild, dull headaches that feel more like a constriction, tight band around the head rather than throbbing. They are not generally accompanied with nausea or vomiting or sensitivity to sound or light.
Other type commonly seen in patient populations is migraine type of headache.
Other conditions, such as TMD, sleep apnea, Myofascial pain could contribute to frequent migraine attacks. It is also important to identify some triggers for the headache and to avoid these triggers by making either lifestyle changes like in diet, sleep patterns, etc.
Secondary Headaches
Secondary headache disorders have an underlying disease such as an infection, tumor, or overuse of pain medication responsible for causing the headache.
Since these type of headaches are often having an underlying medical condition causing the headache, the diagnosis and early management of these conditions is very important. These kind of headaches warrant immediate consultation by an Orofacial pain Specialist or a Neurologist.
Red Flag symptoms for Headaches:
Numbness, paralysis, disorientation, double vision or inability to talk accompanying headaches then please contact your physician to schedule an immediate evaluation.
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