Headache is a common medical problem. There are several reasons behind it and not all are scary. However, it could be a symptom of serious diseases. So, when to worry about it?
These days, people are becoming more health conscious, thanks to internet information that keeps pouring. Hence, they often tend to associate severe headache, especially early morning headache with brain tumour or brain cancer. However, there are other causes for headache and particularly “morning headache”. Therefore, understanding the history of the disease, which includes severity, pattern, frequency and duration, is important to diagnose the real cause.
Warning Sign
If headache persists or recurs, you may think the worst. Fortunately, headache is rarely caused by malignant brain tumour. According to the best cancer hospital in Eastern India, the chance of your headache being caused by brain cancer is remote.
Headache is very common among the general people. In the vast majority of cases, it has nothing to do with brain cancer.
However, oncologists suggest that if anyone experiences a new type of headache, any change in pattern or the problem becomes more frequent, the person should contact a physician at the best cancer hospital in Kolkata to rule out the worst cause.
Early morning headache that wakes you up or if you experience headache after waking in the morning, it could raise an alarm. These problems are often associated with intracranial pressure. Furthermore, if the problem is accompanied by vomiting and papilledema, you should immediately consult a doctor for a proper diagnosis.
However, analgesic medication overuse could be a reason but other benign conditions such as, migraine, epilepsy, depression must not be ignored. Make sure not to rely on over-the-counter drugs as these will give you only temporary relief. The scariest part is the treatment will be delayed if the cause is a serious one.
Other Symptoms
If you visit a doctor with the complaint of headache, he/she will probably ask you about other recent neurological problems including:
- Nausea and vomiting
- Seizures
- Numbing
- Speech impairment
- Swelling of the eye
- Vision problems
- Weakness or paralysis in one side of the body
- Change in personality
Primary Brain Tumours vs Secondary Brain Tumours
If cancer forms in other parts of the body and spreads to brain, it won’t be called brain cancer. For example, Her2 breast cancers have a tendency to metastasize to brain. It will still be called metastatic breast cancer and not brain cancer.
On contrary, primary brain cancers are those that start in brain. An oncologist can make the correct diagnosis from PET-CT Scan if a tumour in brain is actually a primary brain tumour or metastatic invasion from other parts.
Some Important Facts about Brain Cancer
- Adults in the age bracket of 40-60 years are more prone to brain cancer development
- Tumours that form in the brain are less common than those that spread to brain.
- Not all brain tumours cause headache. In case of small tumours, the brain cannot feel the pain. Only when the tumour grows in size and exerts pressure on vessels or nerves, it causes headache.
Final Words
So, you see there is not much to worry if your headache shows a consistent pattern and you don’t have any of the above-mentioned red flags. It could be a symptom of other conditions such as, migraine, cluster headache, tension headache or other health problems. These headaches are painful but not fatal.