LAHORE, Oct 23: Of all medical conditions causing pain and disability, headaches are the most common, affecting the daily lives of many people worldwide.

A thorough understanding of the types, causes, specific symptoms and management is essential for both the patient and the healthcare provider.

This was stated by Dr Faisal Amin, a researcher from Danish Headache Centre, University of Copenhagen, Denmark, while delivering a lecture at the University of Health Sciences on Tuesday. The lecture was organised jointly by the UHS and the National Academy of Young Scientists.

Dr Amin said headaches without evident cause presented an often puzzling situation with regard to diagnosis, treatment and understanding by both the afflicted individual and the physician.

“These primary headache disorders are often overlooked and misunderstood as ‘acceptable’ frequent maladies which should not affect work,” he said and added that though not life-threatening, these headaches could affect the quality of life.

Explaining the primary headaches, Dr Amin said these types of headaches included migraine, tension and cluster headaches. Tension headaches are the most common type of primary headache and up to 90 per cent of adults have had or would have tension headache, he said. He further said tension headache occurred most commonly among women than men.

Dr Amin said “in this type of headache, one feels like a tight band around his or her head. It usually causes mild to moderate pain on both sides of the head and it may be triggered by stress, neck strain, depression or anxiety. It can last from 30 minutes to seven days.”

These types of headaches can be easily treated with over-the-counter medications like aspirin, ibuprofen, etc., or through meditation or massage.

Migraine affected three times more women than men. It’s accompanied by nausea, vomiting or increased sensitivity to light or sound. It usually affected one side of the head and typically lasted from four to 72 hours, Dr Faisal said. He said its treatment was aimed at relieving symptoms and preventing additional attacks.

A number of postgraduate students and faculty members attended the lecture.