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Series Code: UP
Program Code: UP000084A
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00:01 The following program presents principles designed
00:02 to promote good health 00:04 and is not intended to take the place 00:05 of personalized professional care. 00:07 The opinions and ideas expressed 00:09 are those of the speaker. 00:10 Viewers are encouraged to draw their own conclusions 00:13 about the information presented. 00:16 Have you ever had a pounding headache 00:18 that just didn't go away? 00:20 Headaches can be caused by a number of different variables 00:22 ranging from something as simple as dehydration 00:25 to serious conditions such as intracranial bleeding 00:27 or even cancer. 00:28 If you were someone you love 00:30 frequently deals with headaches, 00:31 you are going to want to stay and watch today's program. 00:34 I'm Dr. James Marcum. 00:36 Are you interested in discovering the reason why? 00:40 You want solutions to your health care problem. 00:43 Are you tired of taking medications? 00:45 Well, you are about to be given the Ultimate Prescription. 00:51 There are many different ways that modern medicine offers 00:54 to combat headaches that many of us experience. 00:57 But the headaches continue to return time after time. 01:00 You need to make sure and get that checked out 01:01 and see what's causing them. 01:03 Today we turn to board certified cardiologist, 01:04 Dr. James Marcum to learn the important points 01:07 about recurring headaches. 01:09 Dr. Marcum, welcome. 01:10 We've been covering the series on pain. 01:12 And tell us why is pain 01:14 such an important thing to discuss. 01:16 Yeah, pain is very important because pain is a signal 01:19 that something's wrong with our health. 01:20 Right. 01:22 And if you have pain 01:23 and you don't know what it's from, 01:25 you need to get it checked out. 01:26 And I guess that's the bottom-line. 01:27 If you are having pain, get it evaluated. 01:30 See if you can find out the reason why. 01:33 Some pain can be very dangerous, 01:36 even life threatening. 01:38 Head pain is one of those. 01:40 So you have to have that evaluated, 01:41 you have to know what you are dealing with. 01:43 We talked about chest pains. 01:45 How dangerous that can be if that's not evaluated. 01:47 We talked about skin, 01:48 which is not as dangerous of a situation 01:50 but still a concerning situation. 01:52 Right. 01:53 Foot pain, usually not too devastating, 01:55 but it's important that people understand about pain 01:58 that something is not right. 02:01 Pain that's lasting more than six months 02:03 or doesn't have an explanation, we term that chronic pain. 02:08 Not that something is not causing it, 02:10 something it just can't be identified. 02:13 There are lots of people have pain 02:15 or the body is so complicated, the way our brain interacts 02:18 that we don't know what's causing the pain, 02:20 but if we can always find out the reason why, 02:22 we're in a much better a position to treat it. 02:26 But headache is one of those that can be life threatening. 02:29 And so, you need to have the headache pain, evaluated, 02:32 especially if you don't know what it's from. 02:35 Now, I don't know... 02:36 There's very few people that I know 02:38 that have never had a headache, you know. 02:39 Yeah, right. 02:41 And, you know, some of the more common causes of headaches 02:43 are simple things like not drinking enough water. 02:46 That's probably the number one cause of headache 02:48 in the world right now. 02:50 Another big cause of headache nowadays is lack of sleep. 02:54 Yeah. Yeah. 02:55 And if you think, when I think about a person 02:57 that comes in and evaluates a headache, 02:59 the first thing I want to know is, 03:01 do I think the headache's caused by chemical imbalances, 03:04 okay? 03:05 What do I mean by that? 03:07 The nerves and the blood vessels 03:09 being out of whack, 03:11 muscles in the neck. 03:12 If there are chemical imbalances, 03:14 we call that primary headaches, okay? 03:17 Now, if there are bigger problems, 03:20 we call that secondary 03:21 and that's usually structural problems in the brain. 03:24 Those can be life threatening. 03:27 For instance, some of the structural problems 03:29 that you might have in the brain 03:30 if you had an aneurysm, okay? 03:32 Or if you had a intracerebral bleed, 03:34 that could be life threatening if not treated right away. 03:38 I mean, we're gonna talk a little bit 03:39 about how you might know that 03:41 that's type of your headache. 03:42 So there's basically two big types of headaches 03:44 and a lot of it you can find out 03:45 without even testing at all. 03:47 You can just ask the patient lots of questions. 03:51 Some of the common causes of primary headaches are, 03:54 the most common is tension headaches, okay? 03:57 And tension headache is when the muscles 03:59 of the head get tight. 04:02 You know, if the muscles in your arm get tight, 04:04 it can cause pain, okay? 04:06 If it gets, you know, we got a charley horse. 04:07 Kind of a cramp in the leg. 04:09 Yeah, you have the charley horse, 04:10 you don't worry about that 'cause you know, 04:11 it's the muscles in the legs. 04:13 Right. 04:14 Occasionally we have cramping in the muscles of the chest 04:15 and people should get worried 04:17 'cause it could feel like a heart attack. 04:18 Well, the muscles of the head can also get tight too. 04:21 In this world, we are under so much stress. 04:24 We make the stress chemistries, adrenaline, the cytokines. 04:28 It can make muscles tight. 04:30 I mean, you can have what we call tension headaches. 04:33 Typically, tension headaches are usually headaches. 04:36 If you talk to the patients, they say, 04:37 oh, it's behind their eyes 04:39 or at the base of their neck, okay? 04:41 Those are characteristic places for tension headaches, 04:44 especially behind the eyes. 04:46 So that's a type of primary headache. 04:48 Another type of primary headache might occur like this. 04:51 You have a headache behind the eye, 04:54 usually one eye that awakens you 04:56 in the middle of night. 04:57 And that can be termed a cluster headache, okay? 05:01 And that can be very devastating. 05:03 Sometimes there's triggers for cluster headaches. 05:06 Some triggers might be alcohol, cigarettes, 05:08 they might trigger these headaches. 05:10 It disrupts the vessels 05:11 in the internal functioning of the brain enough, 05:14 so you have this severe pain. 05:16 Another type of headache 05:18 that almost everyone has heard of is migraine headaches. 05:21 Yeah, right. 05:22 And that's still a... 05:24 one of these headaches that are, you know, 05:26 they are not caused by structural problem, 05:28 they are more of the chemistry of the brain. 05:30 And a migraine headache, usually they might have it 05:32 or you might feel it coming before it does. 05:35 You might, you might have some numbness in your tongue, 05:37 in your fingers. 05:39 Sometimes it has triggers too. 05:42 Sometimes the light can trigger it. 05:44 Sometimes dehydration, 05:45 certain foods with nitrates can trigger it. 05:48 Lack of sleep can trigger these headaches 05:50 and they are very devastating too. 05:52 Some of the treatments of these types of headaches 05:55 are medicinal to relieve the pain. 05:57 If we can, we want, of course, get at the cause. 06:00 Getting at the cause is the key if possible, 06:03 'cause they devastate... 06:05 You remember, chronic pain 06:07 turns on chronic stress chemistry 06:08 which damages other parts of the body 06:10 including the higher parts of the brain 06:12 which does our thinking. 06:14 So that's one big type of headaches, okay? 06:17 When would a headache be life threatening, okay? 06:21 What are some things I should worry about? 06:23 Well, if the headache's chronic every single day, 06:26 never goes away, that might be serious. 06:28 You need to get to see someone about that. 06:30 The doctor that specializes in headaches 06:32 is called a neurologist. 06:34 They specialize in headaches. 06:36 If a headache comes after a cough, 06:38 that might be dangerous. 06:40 If it's a worse headache in your life, 06:43 that might be dangerous. 06:44 Headaches usually have to have relationships. 06:47 That can be a dangerous signal for dangerous headaches. 06:50 And all these headaches need to be evaluated right away. 06:52 And the way we sort of tell if it's a serious headache 06:55 is with a scan. 06:56 We look at the structure, 06:58 the structures of the brain that they look okay, 07:00 we can know it's not a serious headache. 07:02 And sometimes, a patient will come into the emergency room 07:05 and they have the worst headache of their life. 07:07 We'll do the scan and first we say, 07:08 "Oh, it's not dangerous." 07:10 It must be one of these other primary types of headaches, 07:13 the tensions, the clusters or the migraine. 07:15 We can symptomatically help that with medications, 07:18 get you over the hump 07:19 and then help you educate on the cause of the brain 07:22 to prevent it from happening long term. 07:25 But the structural problems, we can't do a whole lot about. 07:28 You know, a lot of us are born with, you know, 07:30 if you have an aneurysm, that's a weak spot, 07:33 the blood vessel if it bleeds in the brain. 07:36 Sometimes you can't do too much about that 07:37 other than control the blood pressure before. 07:40 But for primary headaches, 07:41 anything that improves brain health 07:44 will lower your risk of that. 07:46 What would improve brain health? 07:47 Drinking water, getting rest and eating the right foods. 07:52 Some of the chemicals, you know, you've heard of MSG, 07:55 some of those chemicals can adversely affect your brain. 07:59 Low blood sugar can give you a headache. 08:01 High blood sugar can give you headache. 08:03 So anything that interferes with the normal function 08:06 of the brain can cause the brain to malfunction 08:09 that could create the nerves in the brain saying, 08:11 "Hey, things aren't right. 08:12 I'm going to cause a headache. 08:14 I'm going to get Nick's attention." 08:15 And then Nick says, "I have a headache. 08:16 I don't feel so good." 08:18 And then he's going to figure it out. 08:19 You know, and if it's not serious, 08:21 you know, you've to make sure you, 08:22 you know, slept it off, drank some water. 08:24 If it's something more serious, you'll get help right away. 08:28 There's all sorts of structural type of headaches too 08:31 that we need to sort of talk a few minutes about. 08:33 Sinuses. 08:35 Sinuses that get infected or you have allergies, 08:38 those are frequently cause of headaches. 08:41 Those type of headaches are usually associated 08:43 when that hurts when you press over the sinuses. 08:45 You might have a green drainage, 08:47 something like that might be happening. 08:50 Of course, you can have headaches 08:51 if you have a concussion. 08:53 If you bang your head, you know. 08:54 You are playing football and have a lot of... 08:55 Mental trauma? Yes. 08:57 So if you are having headaches after you bang your head, 08:59 that could be a structural problem. 09:01 So that would need a more thorough evaluation. 09:05 You know, you heard of concussions. 09:06 And almost all the gentlemen 09:08 that have concussions have headaches. 09:10 Some of them have bleeds, some of them don't have bleeds 09:13 and it's just chronic damage to the brain 09:14 but that would be something we need to look into. 09:18 Sometimes if you have a headache 09:20 and a fever or a rash, 09:22 that could be a sign of infection, 09:24 especially if you had a stiff neck 09:27 and a rash and a fever, 09:29 that could be meningitis, 09:31 that could be due to an infection. 09:32 That's a potentially serious structural problem 09:36 in the brain. 09:37 There's lots of toxins 09:39 that can really hurt the brain really quick. 09:41 We think of some of the ones we mentioned, 09:43 MSG but carbon monoxide, 09:45 frequently that can hurt the brain 09:46 cause you to have these headaches. 09:49 Other types of headaches that are more structurally 09:51 are visual problems. 09:53 You know, if you have a bad vision, 09:55 if you can't see where your vision is changing. 09:57 Something's damaged your vision. 09:58 Sometimes the left and the right eye aren't right, 10:00 sometimes that put stress on the system, 10:03 that can create headache-type pains too. 10:05 If your eyes are straining a lot, 10:06 that can cause it. 10:08 Looking at the computer screen hour after hour, 10:11 watching television many hours. 10:13 You know, not giving your eyes some rest like they should. 10:16 That can cause chronic headaches as well. 10:20 Hangovers, you know, 10:21 a lot of people drink alcohol nowadays. 10:24 They drink too much, they develop hangovers. 10:27 That can cause problems. 10:28 A lot of people don't realize it 10:30 but certain medications can also cause headaches. 10:33 The overuse of pain medications. 10:36 You wouldn't think it can cause a headache 10:37 but the overuse of pain medications 10:39 can actually cause headaches. 10:41 So when a person comes in with a headache 10:43 and if you want to look at all the different possible causes, 10:46 from the eyes to the sinuses, 10:48 to structural problems to muscles, 10:50 to the ingestions they put in, 10:52 whether they are sleeping enough, 10:53 whether they've been having some trauma, 10:55 whether they are drinking enough water. 10:57 So it's really a very complex evaluation 11:00 but it needs to be done 'cause it could, 11:01 you know, occasionally, 11:03 a person has a bleed or a bad concussion 11:06 leading to a seizure, 11:07 those could all be life threatening. 11:09 So let's talk a little bit more about the chemical imbalance. 11:13 Are we talking about like maybe not drinking enough water 11:15 and so there's not the right chemicals in the brain, 11:18 or if you are drinking alcohol, 11:19 that's causing imbalance of chemicals in the brain? 11:21 Yes, it does that. 11:22 And remember, 80 to 85 percent of the brain is water, okay? 11:26 And usually when people drink alcohol, you know, 11:28 it affects the way the brain works, okay? 11:31 Not only does it water 11:32 but it affects actually the way the brain works, 11:34 the brain doesn't think as clear, okay? 11:36 But a lot of drugs do that, okay? 11:38 Cocaine, methamphetamines, LSD, 11:41 which is a big one that affect the way the brain works. 11:44 So any of those could potentially 11:46 lead to brain problems. 11:47 We want to stay away from all of those. 11:51 Some people, Nick, that have high blood pressure. 11:54 If the blood pressure's high all the time, 11:55 that can led to chronic headache, 11:57 so you always want to check their blood pressure. 12:00 You know, after some procedures that people get done, you know, 12:03 have you ever heard of a spinal tap? 12:05 You know, when they do those? 12:07 Some people after that can have headaches. 12:09 You know, they call it a spinal headache. 12:11 Some people, I've seen a couple of this through years 12:13 that they wear goggles when they either swim or bike, 12:17 the goggles are too tight. 12:18 It's from the pressure. Yes, the pressure. 12:20 That can also cause that. 12:21 Dental problems can sometimes cause pressure on the nerves 12:26 and that can also cause chronic headaches. 12:28 Some people if they change temperatures too quickly, 12:31 get out in the cold, that can cause headaches. 12:34 So I guess what I'm trying to say here is the key 12:37 to understanding headaches is to talk to the patient, 12:40 understanding why it's happening 12:41 and also make sure it's not a serious problem. 12:44 Now, a lot of headaches now more than anything else 12:48 are caused by the stress of this world. 12:51 This world is under more stress than ever before, Nick. 12:55 And just by lowering stress 12:57 that takes pressure off the muscle, 12:59 getting back to the way God designed us 13:01 also helped a lot, whether it be diet, 13:03 rest or doing the things in our original design. 13:06 That always going to help us 13:08 to lower the risk of having headaches. 13:10 Well, you know, you mentioned a lot more sources of headaches 13:13 than I realized that they were out there. 13:15 Yeah, there's a lot. All right. 13:17 Well, we're going to be back in just a moment 13:18 after the break. 13:20 And if you have a question, 13:21 visit our website at heartwiseministries.org 13:22 where you can ask your question 13:24 and we'll be back in just a moment 13:26 with Dr. James Marcum to talk about prevention and treatment 13:28 for headaches. |
Revised 2016-04-21