We see patients with all types of headaches, including tension headaches, migraine headaches and cluster headaches. We offer surgical, minimally invasive and non-invasive treatment options to these patients and for patients who suffer from trigeminal neuralgia and ongoing back and neck pain.
Headaches can be debilitating, have a significant impact on the quality of life and are one of the most common reasons people see a doctor.
Types and Symptoms
Tension headache – tension headache is the most common cause of headache. It is a myth that a tension headaches are always associated with stress or muscle tension in the head or neck. The most common symptoms of a tension headache are:
When to Seek Immediate Medical Attention
- The headache is the worst pain ever
- First severe headache
- Worsens over days or weeks
- Associated with fever or weight loss
- Wakes you from sleep or is present upon waking
- Tenderness felt in the temples of the head
- Band-like pain across the front of the head
- Scalp, neck and shoulder tenderness
- Nausea
Cluster headache – Cluster headache is the rarest form of headache. Symptoms of a cluster headache are:
- One-sided deep pain, most often located behind the eyes
- Tearing, runny nose or nasal congestion
- An intense and constant headache
- Night time headaches that may wake you out of your sleep.
- Having a headache at the same time every day for many days. The headaches may disappear for periods of time.
Migraine headache - Migraine is the second most-common type of headache and is more common in women then men. Migraines occur on one-side of the head and are accompanied by nausea, vomiting and sensitivity to light, sound and/or movement. Sufferers of migraine can often identify a trigger or prodome of symptoms prior to the onset of the migraine headache.
Trigeminal neuralgia – In most cases, trigeminal neuralgia is caused by an artery compressing the fifth cranial nerve as it exits the brainstem. The fifth cranial nerve is the nerve that innervates the face. Symptoms include electrical and lancinating pain on one side of the face. The pain is often intermittent and provoked by tactile sensations such as washing your face, brushing your teeth, fabric or a draft of air across your cheeks. A small subset of patients who have trigeminal neuralgia also have multiple sclerosis.
Treatment
Many patients with trigeminal neuralgia can be helped with medications alone. For patients in whom medications do not work, or who have side effects from the medication, interventional therapies can be very effective.
Microvascular decompression is an intervention in which the artery pressing on the trigeminal nerve is moved away from the nerve. This is the only non-destructive intervention for trigeminal neuralgia and affords the longest duration of pain relief.
Precutaneous techniques use a needle to access the trigeminal nerve and blunt the sensation to the trigeminal nerve. These interventions can also provide immediate pain relief in patients for whom a microvascular decompression is not medically appropriate. These techniques include radiofrequency rhizotomy and balloon compression.
Radiosurgery is another treatment option for trigeminal neuralgia. Using the frameless CyberKnife, targeting radiation can be delivered to the trigeminal nerve to relive pain of trigeminal neuralgia.
