For many people, headaches are minor annoyances, easily relieved with over-the-counter pain medicine; for others, they're frequent and severe. In fact, migraines and other headaches can be debilitating. At Chronic Pain Relief in Dallas, pain management specialists Basem Abdelfattah, MD, and Ali Tareen, MD, offer a variety of treatments for headache relief. To start living pain-free again, call or use the online booking tool to schedule your headache consultation today.
Several issues affecting the blood vessels, nerves, or muscles in your head and neck can cause headaches. Though the pain occurs in the same general part of the body, the causes and treatments vary greatly.
Dr. Abdelfattah primarily treats three types of headaches:
Cluster headaches occur in patterns, or clusters, for weeks or months at a time before disappearing. Cluster headaches can be excruciating and accompanied by other symptoms like nausea, sensitivity to light, and auras.
Migraines are among the most debilitating headaches. Migraines may cause moderate to severe steady or pulsating pain, nausea, and sensitivity to light or sound. They last anywhere from a few hours to several days.
Tension headaches are more common than migraines and are also more easily treated. Stress, anxiety, depression, and sleeplessness can all cause tension headaches. Tension headache pain is located in a band around the head and lasts anywhere from an hour to a week.
Sometimes, headaches are a symptom of an unpreventable underlying disease or condition. In many cases, however, avoiding triggers is the most effective way to prevent headaches.
Alcohol, caffeine, stress, and allergens are common migraine triggers. Making lifestyle changes to address the underlying issues causing tension headaches — stress, anxiety, or depression — can reduce their frequency.
Dr. Abdelfattah determines your treatment plan based on these aspects of your headache:
Most headache treatment plans involve a balanced medication regimen to relieve symptoms, physical therapy to strengthen the back and neck muscles, and interventions including pain relief and anti-inflammatory injections.
Because headache research and clinical trials offer new options every day, Dr. Abdelfattah consults UpToDateⓇ, an invaluable physician resource used by more than a million physicians in over 150 countries. UpToDate allows Dr. Abdelfattah to provide the most advanced and effective pain relief therapies currently available.
You don’t have to miss out on life because of painful headaches. Help is available. Call or book your appointment online today.
