Other symptoms of migraine can include:
What Your Headache Location Tells You
Where your head hurts isn’t a foolproof way to diagnose the cause, but the location of your headache can be a good starting point for figuring out the root of the problem.
Different types of headaches can show up in similar places though, so what it feels like will also help you narrow down a plan for how to deal with your pain and decide when to see a doctor.
Common Headache Types by Location
The headaches people usually get are tension headaches, migraines, and cluster headaches. Cluster headaches don’t happen as often, but men are five times more likely to get them.
Arthritis in your upper spine
Top of your head
Severe hypertension (rare)
Aneurysm or bleeding, called a hemorrhagic stroke (rare)
Behind both eyes
Temporal arteritis (more common in the elderly)
Temporomandibular joint (TMJ) disorder
Temporomandibular joint (TMJ) disorder
Hemicrania continua (rare)
Consider the Type of Pain, Too
A dull, “tightening” feeling that doesn’t throb, or when your head is tender to the touch, is probably a tension headache. These are very common. Many things can set one off, including:
- Stress
- Lack of sleep
- Allergies
- Eyestrain
- Caffeine withdrawal
- Hormones related to your period
- After an injury or trauma
- Exercising hard or for a long time
- Hangover
- Hunger or dehydration
- Brain freeze
- Rebound, after stopping an anti-headache medication
- High altitude you’re not used to
- Temporomandibular joint (TMJ) problems, when your headache comes with a clicking sound or popping in your jaw
Pain that’s throbbing and lasts a while, or that comes with nausea or changes in your vision or other senses, probably means a migraine. Light and noise make it worse. A migraine could hurt on just one side, but not for everyone. It’s not very common, but a migraine might make your nose runny or stuffy and your eyes watery, so you mistake it for a sinus infection. When you get migraines, they’re typically triggered by the same things each time. Recognizing the pattern is key to avoiding them.
Other things that could cause migraine-like symptoms, but are much less likely, are:
- Autoimmune diseases such as arthritis or giant cell arteritis, an autoimmune disease that causes joint pain, facial pain (especially in the forehead) and sometimes difficulty with vision that can be permanent.
- Hemicrania continua, a one-sided headache that doesn’t go away
- Brain tumors
Sharp, searing, one-sided pain that comes on quickly but doesn’t last long is probably a cluster headache, especially if it happens over and over, about the same time for several days. This type tends to run in families. These headaches can also give you a stuffy, runny nose and make you sweat and tear up. You probably won’t be able to sit still.
If your headache comes with cold-like symptoms and pressure or tenderness in your face, you could have a sinus headache. They’re often confused with other types, and they’re not as common as you may think.
Attacks of brief, sharp, “electric shock” jolts that last only a few minutes or seconds could be occipital neuralgia. It’s a chronic disorder caused by pinched or damaged nerves that run from your spinal cord to your scalp.
A stroke, aneurysm, or hemorrhage will typically feel like an intensely painful “thunderclap” — the worst headache of your life. But unless the pain is sudden and very severe, it’s much more likely to be a common headache. If you think it’s a serious condition, you should call 911 right away.
Your doctor will have to help find out the cause of your headache to see what treatment will be best.
Treatment
For tension headaches and migraines, over-the-counter (OTC) pain relief with ingredients such as acetaminophen, aspirin, or ibuprofen can help. Repeated or severe migraines and cluster headaches are harder to treat. If OTC medicines aren’t doing the trick, talk to your doctor about clarifying the diagnoses whether stronger prescription meds are needed as well as preventive treatments. Using OTC products on most days can set you up for overuse headaches, too.
Pain medicines, decongestants, and antihistamines may bring some relief from true sinus headaches, but you’ll need to deal with the infection that brought it on, too.
Your doctor should get involved for causes like nerve pain or autoimmune diseases.
Show Sources
UpToDate: “Patient education: Headache causes and diagnosis in adults (Beyond the Basics),” “Patient education: Migraines in adults (Beyond the Basics),” “Occipital neuralgia.”
Harvard Health Publishing: “Headache: When to worry, what to do,” “5 migraine questions answered.”
National Headache Foundation: “Arthritis.”
Cleveland Clinic: “Headaches: Less Frequent Types,” “Your Jaw May Be to Blame for Your Migraine Headaches.”
Journal of Neurosciences in Rural Practice: “Giant cell arteritis or tension-type headache?: A differential diagnostic dilemma.”
Primary Care: Clinics in Office Practice: “Neurologic Syndromes of the Head and Neck.”
American Migraine Foundation: “Hemicrania Continua,” “Do I Need To Have My Eyes Checked If My Head Hurts?” “Treatment of Cluster Headache.”
Mayo Clinic: “Brain aneurysm: Symptoms & causes,” “Headaches and hormones: What’s the connection?” “Sinus headaches: Symptoms & causes,” “Migraine: Diagnosis & treatment,” “Thunderclap headaches: Symptoms & causes.”
American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology: “Headaches Connected to Allergies and Sinus Problems.”
Sajadi-Ernazarova, K., Hamilton, R., Caffeine, Withdrawal, StatPearls Publishing, 2018.
Johns Hopkins Medicine: “Hangover Headache,” “Headache: Could It Be a Brain Tumor?”
Migraine Trust: “Hypoglycaemia.”
Arthritis Foundation: “Osteoarthritis and Headaches.”
What are the locations and symptoms of different headache types?
A chart showing where a headache occurs may help people understand the cause. For instance, cluster headaches often occur behind or around one eye. Knowing the type of headache can help a person access suitable treatment.
There are many types of headache, and they may require professional care. Sometimes, this is because they stem from an underlying health condition.
Below, learn about the different types of headache, including their causes and other symptoms.
Share on Pinterest Infographic by Diego Sabogal
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), almost half of all adults experience a headache at least once a year.
A headache results from inflammation in pain-sensitive parts of the head and neck. These areas include the:
The International Headache Society classifies more than 150 types of headache. More broadly, doctors recognize two categories: primary and secondary headaches.
When someone has a primary headache, the headache itself is the main concern — it is not a symptom of an underlying problem. A secondary headache results from a different health issue.
These are sometimes called “tension-type” headaches. They result from muscle tension in the shoulders, neck, scalp, or jaw.
Tension headaches are the most common type of primary headache. Globally, around 46–78% of people experience one at some point. They often start during a person’s teenage years.
Symptoms and location
Tension headaches typically involve a pressing, dull pain. People sometimes refer to these as “hatband” headaches because the pain typically occurs around the back of the head, the temples, and the forehead, almost as if a tight hat is squeezing the head.
The pain is usually mild to moderate but not severe. It often comes on without warning, and can last from a few hours to several days .
Tension-type headaches can coexist with migraine, and one may trigger the other.
Causes
Researchers believe that tension headaches may occur in response to both genetic and environmental factors.
The most common cause is stress. Other possible causes include:
- a lack of sleep
- depression
- anxiety
- skipping meals
- alcohol use
Migraine affects approximately 1 billion people worldwide. It can cause a moderate-to-severe primary headache that typically occurs on one side of the head. The pain and other symptoms can keep a person from doing their daily activities.
Migraine is more common among females than males. According to a 2018 report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), women were twice as likely as men to experience migraine or a severe headache in the past 3 months.
Symptoms and location
During a migraine episode, a person may have moderate-to-severe throbbing or pulsing pain on one side of their head. The pain may last 4–72 hours and worsen with physical activity.
Some people experience migraine with aura. An aura is a set of sensory symptoms, which may include:
- seeing bright or flashing lights
- seeing geometric patterns
- having auditory hallucinations
- having numbness or tingling sensations
Other symptoms of migraine can include:
- neck pain and stiffness
- sensitivity to light, sounds, and smells
- nausea and vomiting
- weakness
- insomnia
- unexplained mood changes
Causes
Experts believe that migraine may have a genetic cause, since the condition tends to run in families.
Other factors that could trigger it include:
- stress
- anxiety
- hormone changes in females
- bright or flashing lights
- tobacco use
- caffeine and alcohol consumption
- sleeping too much or too little
- strong smells
- certain foods, such as:
- chocolate
- matured cheeses
- processed meats
Cluster headaches are a less common type of primary headache, affecting fewer than 1 in 1,000 adults, as the WHO reports.
The organization also notes that these headaches are more common in men than women and typically develop in or after a person’s 20s.
Symptoms and location
Cluster headaches typically involve recurrent, boring, burning, or piercing pain, typically behind or around one eye. The pain tends to be severe and may last between 20 minutes and 2 hours. It usually occurs at night.
Cluster headaches can be episodic or chronic. Episodic cluster headaches occur repeatedly over 2 weeks to 3 months. A person may not have another for months or years.
Chronic cluster headaches persist for more than a year without a remission — or with a remission shorter than 3 months.
Other symptoms of cluster headaches include:
- eye redness or watering
- drooping or swelling of the eyelid
- reduced pupil size in one eye
- facial sweating
- a runny or blocked nose
- restlessness
Up to 33% of people with cluster headaches may also experience nerve pain.
Causes
The cause of cluster headaches is not yet clear. However, they may result from dysfunction in a part of the brain called the hypothalamus, which is involved in several physical functions.
Cluster headaches often develop in people who smoke.
This is also called a rebound headache, and it is the most common type of secondary headache.
A medication overuse headache results from the regular use of pain relief medications, such as acetaminophen (Tylenol) and opiates. It typically develops in people who have been taking large doses of pain relievers for at least 3 months.
For someone with a medication overuse headache, the pain is typically dull and constant, occurring on most days. The location of the pain varies from person to person.
Other possible symptoms include:
- nausea
- vomiting
- stomach pain
- diarrhea
- disturbed sleep
- restlessness
The sinuses are a network of air-filled cavities in the skull. The main sinuses sit inside the forehead, cheekbones, and nasal cavity. A sinus headache is a secondary headache, and the pain affects one or more of these areas.
Sinus headaches are usually a symptom of a sinus infection, and this type of infection is often bacterial.
Other possible symptoms of a sinus infection include:
- a runny nose
- green nasal discharge
- tenderness in the area
- painful teeth
- bad breath
- coughing
- a fever
- fatigue
This is a secondary headache that occurs in response to head trauma.
Post-traumatic headaches are the most common acute symptom after a traumatic brain injury. Experts estimate that around 18–58% of people with this type of brain injury experience a post-traumatic headache within the next year. However, the headache usually develops 7 days after the injury.
A post-traumatic headache is often mild to moderate, and the pain may be pressing or dull. It frequently occurs in the:
Less often, the headache may occur at the back and top of the head and around the eyes.
Other possible symptoms include :
- nausea
- vomiting
- sensitivity to light and sound
- impaired cognitive function
- anxiety
- depression
- urinary incontinence
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