My head is burning...What headache do you need to see a specialist?

Mar 19, 2025

My head is burning...What headache do you need to see a specialist?
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Headache is a symptom that many people often experience in their daily lives, and it is so common that more than 80% of the population experiences it at least once a year. However, because it is a frequent symptom, it often passes by rather than visiting a hospital. However, if the headache persists or is severe, this can be an important signal from the body. It is important to see a specialist immediately, as ignoring headaches and leaving them unattended can lead to serious illness.

Headaches can be divided into two main categories depending on the cause. The first is a primary headache, which occurs without a specific cause. These include tense headaches, migraines, and cluster headaches. The second is a secondary headache, which is caused by a specific disease. For example, this is caused by certain causes such as cerebrovascular disease, infectious disease, drugs, and alcohol.

◇ Primary headache




Tension headaches are the most common headaches, and can be caused by stress, overwork, or psychological problems. It often occurs when you sit or stand in one position for a long time.

Migraine is a headache accompanied by gastrointestinal symptoms such as nausea, along with a pounding pain like a pulse in the head. It is caused by abnormalities in the central nervous system, and appears mainly paroxysmal and has few symptoms between seizures.

A cluster headache is accompanied by symptoms of the autonomic nervous system with very severe pain in one head, and can last several hours. This headache is rare and is caused by reflex activation of the trigeminal and autonomic nervous systems.




◇ secondary headache

Secondary headache is a headache with a clear cause, and treatment of the causative disease improves the headache. For example, stroke (brain infarction, cerebral hemorrhage) is a serious headache caused by clogged or damaged blood vessels in the brain. In this case, a headache may be accompanied by speech disorders, sensory abnormalities, and unilateral paralysis. In addition, accumulating chronic fatigue can cause headaches, and neck discs are also the cause of headaches, which are caused by compression of nerves due to cervical problems.

It is dangerous to leave a headache because it is light. If the headache persists or worsens, it is important to see a specialist. If left unattended, diseases such as cerebral hemorrhage, brain tumors, and brain parasites can be found. Meningitis or meningitis may not appear early on CT or MRI, so if necessary, the exact cause should be identified through cerebrospinal fluid examination or cerebral artery imaging.




Ahn Joon-sung, director of the Department of Neurology at Good Culture Hospital, stressed that `Light headaches naturally improve over time, but if they persist for no specific reason, there is a high possibility that the body will have a problem, so it is very important to visit a specialist early on to find and treat the causative disease.'

My head is burning...What headache do you need to see a specialist?
Good Culture Hospital neurologist Ahn Joon-sung shows the results of the test to a headache patient and explains.


This article was translated by Naver AI translator.