What is your headache like?
In Kampo, your whole symptom picture, as well as type of headache, is important for determining the best treatment. Typically, patients will experience an improvement in their secondary health concerns while receiving treatment. The following are some examples of headache types. Some people may fit well into one type, others may experience combinations of multiple types.
Migraine
- with nausea
- with mouth dryness and dizziness
- with cold hands and feet and cold sensation
- with being easily tired
- with hypotension and dizziness
Tension headache
- with shoulder and neck stiffness
- with hypertension and worse in the morning
- with loose stool
- with constipation and cold sensation
Cluster headache
- paroxysmal (on/off)
- chronic (continuous)
Other headaches
- worse with stress
- with hypertension and constipation
- with hypertension, red face and hot feeling in the upper body
- associated with menstruation and cold sensation
- with digestive problems such as stuck feeling in chest and/or stomach
- originated from sinus problem
Serious headaches
- Thunderclap headache, sudden, worst headache in life → Please go to emergency room right away. It could be subarachnoid hemorrhage.
- Severe headache with vision problems (severe eye pain and redness, decreased vision, colored halos around lights) → It could be acute angle-closure glaucoma. Please go to emergency room to prevent vision loss.
- Temporal headache with beads-like nodules in the temporal area, jaw easily fatigued with chewing food, sometimes associated with shoulder & hip pain worse in the morning → It could be temporal arteritis. Please see your family doctor as soon as possible to prevent vision loss.
