TENSION TYPE HEADACHE

Tension headache is the most common of all primary headaches. It is also the most common neurological disease worldwide. In a Danish study, the incidence of frequent episodic tension headache and chronic tension headache was found to be 14.2 per 1000 people. The incidence is 2.6 times higher in women than in men. The lifetime prevalence varies between 44-86%. Risk factors include, in addition to being female, low education level, inadequate sleep, physical and mental fatigue, and depression. It comes after migraine in the order of seeking medical attention. This is because patients with tension headache are less likely to seek medical help. Any secondary headache may meet the diagnostic criteria for tension headache. The location of tension headache is variable. Patients often complain of a pain that wraps around the entire head as if there were a tight band. In contrast, the pain can also be felt in the forehead, back of the head, or neck. Headache is usually bilateral and its character is mostly non-throbbing and compressive, pressing. In most patients, the headache is not relieved with moderate severity, and it is rarely seen to be aggravated by daily physical activities. It is not expected that tension headache will be accompanied by symptoms such as being disturbed by light, nausea and/or vomiting. These reasons are referred to as “asymptomatic headache”. There may be patients who say that they are disturbed by sound during the headache. Tension headache occurring less than 15 days a month is considered episodic, and tension headache occurring 15 or more days a month and continuing for at least 3 months is considered chronic. In some patients diagnosed with episodic tension headache, migraine without aura may be valid, and in some patients diagnosed with chronic tension headache, chronic migraine may be valid. Palpation technique is used to determine pericranial muscle sensitivity, which is important in determining the subcategories. Treatment is divided into drug, non-drug and interventional treatment.

Preventive treatment; o If it occurs more frequently than two days in the patient,
o If the headache lasts longer than 4 hours,
o If it causes limitations in daily life activities,
o If there is excessive use of attack treatment drugs,
o If there is sensitivity or contraindication to the drugs used in the attack, it is necessary.
Tension headache, also known as nervous headache, is felt throughout the head but mostly starts from the nape of the neck, is mild, compressive/blunt, is not accompanied by nausea or vomiting, does not increase with movement, and can last much shorter than migraine pain, or can last for weeks, months and sometimes years without interruption. Tension-type headache and migraine attacks that can be triggered by stress can often be confused. However, it is a type of pain that has a low rate of physician visits.