Screaming kids, glaring sun, loud noises and even missing a meal can all bring on a headache. This is Headache Awareness Week and Doctor Lynne Geweke, director of the University of Iowa Hospitals’ Headache Clinic, says everybody gets headaches, but only a few of us really need treatment for them.
Dr. Geweke says “Most people can treat them with an aspirin or two Tylenol, then they don’t have a problem with them. What I’m interested in is the ten to 20-percent of the population that has severe headaches” which put them out of commission and interferes with their ability to function at home and at work. She says some headache sufferers are enduring the problem for far too long before seeking treatment.
Geweke says some people won’t think it’s a big deal to have one or two days a month where headaches put them out of commission, but she points out that’s 24 days a year — nearly a month. She says that’s a headache issue that needs to be treated. She says most headaches are -not- caused by some sort of nasty tumor and often the cure is something simple and won’t even require drugs, let alone surgery.
Too much sleep, too little sleep, not eating breakfast, irregular eating patterns — really anything that disturbs the smoothness of your lifestyle can trigger headaches. Obesity can also cause headaches, so she says people can do many things to solve headaches that don’t involve medication.