Hospiten Lanzarote's neurologist, Dr. Javier Ledesma Velázquez, assures that at least half of the population occasionally experiences severe headaches, and a quarter of citizens suffer from them so frequently and intensely that they require medical assistance. These headaches often require medication and abandonment of work and family activities.
The specialist explains that 90% of headaches are tension-type and migraine headaches, the latter affecting up to 12% of the population, specifically the prevalence is 17% in women and 7% in men. Despite being a health problem that can be very limiting, it is not usually caused by serious diseases, but it is advisable to carry out a neurological study to rule them out and to put an adequate treatment that allows improving the quality of life of patients.
"The main aspects that differentiate tension headaches from migraine headaches are: the location, intensity and quality of the pain; oppressive, throbbing, burning, electric, stabbing, etc. In addition, migraines are normally accompanied by symptoms that can produce many limitations, such as extreme discomfort to light, intolerance to noises and bouts of nausea or vomiting produced by normal odors; an air freshener, smell of food, or cologne, for example."
From the Neurology Service of Hospiten Lanzarote it is emphasized that most headaches are not due to a serious illness such as a tumor, intracranial bleeding or stroke. "The mechanism that causes these headaches is not fully understood, but it is known that there is an alteration in the regulation that the nervous system makes of pain," says the specialist.
Among migraines, two types are distinguished: migraines with aura and without aura. The "aura" are symptoms that appear before the pain. Normally they are visual symptoms (flashes, lights or geometric images in movement, among others) that appear between five and thirty minutes before the headache. Migraines can also be classified according to their frequency into episodic, if they occur a few days a month, or chronic if their frequency is very high or daily. In the latter case, it is especially important to go to specialists to try to reverse the situation with specific treatments and avoid complications from inadequate treatments or abuse of anti-inflammatories.
Hospiten specialist Javier Ledesma assures that migraine usually begins in youth, while tension headache does not have a preferred age of onset. He also reports that it is not uncommon for it to coincide with a neurological disease. "It is true that it is more common in patients with epilepsy," he declares.
To reduce the possibility of having headaches, it is recommended to follow a healthy lifestyle: a balanced diet, moderate physical exercise, avoid alcohol and tobacco. "It is also especially important to have regular sleep schedules and avoid stress," the doctor emphasizes.
In addition, he points out that, although some foods can trigger migraines in some people, in general no special diet is recommended, nor to eliminate certain foods to improve migraines. Only if a patient clearly relates a food to their migraines, it is recommended to avoid it. In the same way, he explains that migraines are also not related to the climate, but some patients are susceptible to sudden climatic changes or specific climatological states.
About the Hospiten Group
Hospiten Group is an international healthcare network committed to providing a service of the highest quality, with more than 50 years of experience, which has 20 private medical-hospital centers in Spain, the Dominican Republic, Mexico, Jamaica and Panama, and more than 100 outpatient medical centers, under the Clinic Assist brand. It is chaired by Dr. Pedro Luis Cobiella and annually attends to more than two million patients from all over the world, and has a staff of more than 5,000 people.
