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What causes a headache and how does it start?

I was watching t.v. and i got a headache so i turned of the t.v. then i wondered what causes a headache?
Also how does it start?

Public Comments

1. I don't know what causes it, but all I know for a fact is that you could definitely get a headache by having stress and depression...

2. The dialation/restriction of blood vessels in the brain..

:)

3. i think i am the headache queen! i have more headaches than anybody i know and even my doctors are amazed at the number of headaches i get. also, even though mine are classified as migraines, they are not all debilitating but there is nothing over the counter that will touch them. i have been suffering from these since childhood so you can imagine how many doctors i've seen and how many tests have been run. so i will share with you what i know.

the headache starts due to a constriction of the blood vessels in the brain, thereby causing less oxygen and blood to flow to the brain. there is no one reason as to what causes these blood vessels to constrict. the best thing to do is keep a diary and everytime you get a headache write down what you were doing, what you ate that day and how much including any salt or other spices, what the weather was like, what events were going on your life, where you had been that day, if you smoked and how much, how much caffiene you had, etc. every detail you can think of. eventually you should begin to see a pattern. mine turned out to be weather related. anytime a low pressure system was headed this way, i'd get a terrible headache about 24 to 48 hours beforehand. sometimes not until the actual system got here and the weather was in the process of changing. i've had debilitating migraines that went away the minute a thunderstorm passed through. there are many foods that can cause headaches as well as stress and of course if you need glasses, the strain on your eyes can cause you to get a headache. once you figure out what the problem is, you can usually avoid it if it's food or drink or smells of places you've been. unfortunately for me and thousands of others, we can't escape a change in the weather. i also seem to get them a lot during the summer becaue of the humidity. and the biggest help is to know that you need to attack the headache the minute you feel it come on. do not wait for it to get bad. as soon as you feel it, go ahead and take whatever seems to work for you. hope i've helped and good luck.