Coughing Headache!! How long does it last?

A coughing headache is defined by severe head pain follow by a headache when you cough, and not to be associated with a sneeze, strain, stoop or exert headache

Although coughing, and exerting very seldom give you a headache they can aggravate any headache. I've seen my wife hold her head in her hands when she has a migraine, and has to cough.

Sometimes when I have a head cold, and cough, it makes my head throb for a instant.

But a cough "headache" is different.

It is so uncommon that the Mayo Clinic only saw 93 people with a coughing headache in a period of fourteen years. And you can imagine how many thousands of headache/migraine suffers they treat a year.

Here is what a benign cough headache is.

*This headache is a bilateral headache that comes on suddenly upon coughing, and lasts less than a minute, but you may have a dull ache for several hours.

*If you can prevent yourself from coughing (we know how hard this is), you can avoid this headache.

* This headache will have to be diagnosed after a doctor has ruled out anything serious such as a tumor, or cerebral aneurysm.

Although many clinicians put cough headaches, and exertion headaches together since the treatment response is similar, the international headache society classifies the cough headache, the exertion headache, and the headache associated with sexual activity into different groups.

It is thought that this headache may be related to blood flow due to coughing. Cough headaches usually respond to indomethacin which is a medicine to reduce inflammation.

"A bit of advice about this medicine. It is hard on the stomach. You can take a priloset or something similar to help with your stomach".

If you have been experiencing a cough headache, there are two kinds.

This is the reason you will have to be checked by a specialist, to see which one you suffer with.

The first is the benign cough headache, and responds to indomethacin .

But the second is called symptomatic cough headache. If you have double vision, are younger than fifty, and don't respond to indomethacin, you will need a MRI to see what's going on.

We hope this has explained a bit about a cough headache, and if you have just started having these, go have yourself checked out. Don't take chances.

Many have their headaches to "pine" more when they cough, but when a cough gives you a headache it's time to find out why this is happening.

New! Comments