Headache: a prospective study

Abstract

A prospective study was done to find out the epidemiology, presentation, type and cause of headache, its relationship with life events and the effects of drugs and relaxation therapy on tension type headache. It was noticed that headache was more common in the second decade of life (47.5%), and more in unmarried (65%) females (62%) and in the education level between matriculation and intermediate level (62.5%).

Mostly, the headache was insidious in onset (55%) and generalized throughout the scalp (62.5). It was described as a general sense of heaviness which started around mid-afternoon and progressed up to late evening. It was of moderate severity and aggravated by mental tension (42.5%) and relieved by rest (45%). There was no significant relation of headache with head position or movement. Most of these cases (87%) had no Eye or ENT problems.

In life events screening, a large bulk of the patients fell in moderate adjustment needed group with marriage, failure in exams, and change in town being the most frequently encountered event in the last 1 yr.

With the help of low-dose tricyclic antidepressants and supportive counseling, noticeable reduction in symptom started in the third week and by the end of sixth week complete symptom removal occurred in 53% of the patients and 33% were better.