A severe headache may be a sign of subarachnoid haemorrhage, which is bleeding in the brain and a medical emergency. Here’s how to tell if it’s just a ‘regular’ headache or something more serious.
We all get headaches at some point in our lives. Sometimes the pain is severe and it is termed as a migraine. Migraines are a type of headache which occur as a result of changes in the brain. The pain is often severe, only on one side of the head and is paired with sensitivity to light, sounds and smells.
Certain symptoms are also associated with migraine. These include eye pain (at the back of the eyeball), nausea, vomiting and of course, severe pain commonly described as pounding. As migraine sufferers know, the pain can be debilitating and can last for hours to days.
Now, migraines aren’t life threatening or uncommon, but there’s a more pernicious condition called subarachnoid haemorrhage (SAH) or basically bleeding in the brain caused by aneurysm (a localized swelling or ballooning of the wall of the artery) rupture. Most symptoms are identical and hard to discern even by doctors. This writer’s friend recently went to the GP for severe migraine and vomiting and was given painkillers and medical leave for four days. He finally went to the emergency department on the fifth day and was subsequently diagnosed with a bleed in the brain.
HOW TO TELL THE DIFFERENCE
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