You wake up late, the kids/dogs/husband/wife aren’t interested in moving any faster to help you out. You look at the calendar and realize you haven’t prepared for an important meeting that you had planned on taking care of during the time you just slept through. You get everyone dressed, fed and ready to go, and as you drive to work you realize that it’s 9 am and your head is already pounding. You take a few aspirins with your morning coffee and think nothing of it.
This happens to all of us. Headaches, like jellyfish stings or a mysterious new dent in your car during snowbird season in the Publix parking lot, can come out of nowhere. You may also sense them coming from miles away. For most of us these are just little speedbumps in our day, but how can we tell if what we think of as speed bumps are really spike strips in disguise.
The National Headache Foundation has published a list of signs that your headache may be more serious than you think. Among them:
- Headaches that interfere with the activities of your daily life
- Medicating with pain relievers more than 2 days a week
- Persistent headaches that continue getting worse
- Using headache medication that requires taking more than the recommended dose to alleviate
- Changing characteristics and symptoms of your headaches or migraines
You can find the full list of important headache and migraine signs here
If you meet any of these criteria please do not hesitate to contact your doctor. If your doctor is concerned he or she will put you in contact with a neurologist who will diagnose your particular headache. Once diagnosed they can begin to work with you to determine the next steps in your treatment. The neurologists and pain management specialists at NASA are experts in the diagnosis and treatment of headaches and migraines in the Naples and Ft Myers area. Give us a call with any questions.
Photo Credit: https://pixabay.com/en/brain-biology-abstract-cerebrum-951845/
