Accidents are so common that it’s terrifying. For example, fatal highway crashes increased by 18%. Sometimes, accidents are this brutal, though most are minor; you may stumble as you step onto the floor from the last step of the staircase or you accidentally cut yourself when cutting up vegetables for dinner.
Others, such as head injuries, can easily just be one of these minor inconveniences, or they can be life-changing. You’ll find some information on how to handle some of the most common head pains below to keep you prepared for when accidents happen.
Concussion
While minor head trauma may simply cause temporary pain and a goose egg, more serious blows may give you a concussion. These can be incredibly serious and need to be diagnosed quickly so treatment can begin. Many of the symptoms are obvious to those around you, like if you fall unconscious or have pupils that aren’t the size they should be.
Blurry vision, memory loss, light sensitivity and more are all symptoms that you may recognize in yourself. Someone you know may begin asking you simple questions like what your name is, where you are, or what your job is to help determine with even more certainty whether you have a concussion or not.
Headache
Headaches are the bane of many people’s existence because they are incredibly easy to cause. Despite being mostly minor, they are distracting and annoying at best and debilitating at worst. And if you have a migraine, which is like an even more painful headache with other symptoms like light sensitivity attached, then you’re probably down for the count for at least a few hours.
While over-the-counter pain medicines like ibuprofen can help, they aren’t always ideal or even helpful. When this happens, start relaxing and massaging various parts of your head and neck to see if that brings relief, then try cold and warm compresses to see which one brings relief. Also be sure to drink plenty of water because dehydration can also cause headaches.
Skull Fracture
Skull fractures can be quite scary, but at least they are easy to diagnose. Extreme pain or swelling at the site of the hit, bruising in strange places like around the eyes or ears and clear fluid draining from the nose are all symptoms of a skull fracture, though there are plenty more.
Get to a hospital right away if you think your skull has been fractured so they can perform the necessary tests and get a treatment plan in place as soon as possible. Minor fractures may see you observed in the hospital for a while whereas serious ones may require surgery. No matter what treatment is required, the sooner you can get it started, the better you’ll feel.
Sinus Pressure
Sinus headaches can be rough, of course, but they can’t compare to the annoying pain that is roaming sinus pressure. It can easily go from a minor headache to nigh-unbearable cheek pressure in a few moments. The good news is that sinus pressure has many solutions no matter where it sits.
For example, simply sitting in a steamy room like a sauna or a bathroom with the shower on can make the sinuses relax and begin drawing any excess fluid they may hold. Spicy foods can do the same. If these don’t work or are unavailable then you can try over-the-counter sinus medications or hot and cold compresses as well.
You can also gently massage the areas around your sinus cavities if you want because you can convince the stagnant fluids to move, the muscles to relax, or both. Simply gently rub around your temples, cheeks, and nose in small circles for a few minutes and you’ll likely start to feel relief wash over you as the pain recedes.
Eyes, Ears, Teeth, and Neck
The health of one part of your body directly affects the rest of it, and nowhere is this more accurate than with your eyes, ears, teeth and neck and how they impact the health of your head.
Your eyes, for example, can give you headaches if they’re strained. If you had to get glasses as a kid then you understand what this is like. You probably had to move so you could sit right in front of the whiteboard to read what it says and still wound up with a headache because you focused so hard on it. Once you got your glasses, though, those headaches disappeared.
Your ear health isn’t something you think about until something goes wrong, usually an ear infection. An ear infection can easily make you dizzy because the inner ear, which controls your balance, can become inflamed. Luckily, this can be easily treated with antibiotics and rest.
The biggest and most constant causes of head pain, though, are your teeth and neck. This is true even when they’re healthy, which you’ll know if you’ve ever woken up from sleeping in a bad position. Your neck may be stiff and you could have a light headache from the stiffness.
Tense shoulders also tense the neck, which in turn causes tension headaches. Tension headaches can also be caused by clenching your jaw too frequently. Grinding your teeth not only causes various teeth problems but it also can give you even more headaches. And, of course, rotten teeth or infected gums can cause sinus problems, which create pressure and pain in your face and head.
Paying attention, forcing some muscles to relax now and again and seeking a doctor’s advice when you think something is wrong are all ways that you can prevent these other body parts from causing extra problems.
