Minor Headaches: What Should You Do About Them?

If you suffer from minor headaches, you may wonder if it's okay to treat your head pain at home. If you suffer from infrequent, mild headaches, you may be able to relieve them naturally. However, if the pain impairs your vision or causes other serious problems, you may need to see an urgent care doctor for treatment. Learn more about your headaches and how you should really treat them below.

What Type of Headaches Do You Have?

About 150 types of headaches can affect adults over time, including sinus headaches, tension headaches, and migraines. Some headaches develop when you don't receive enough sleep at night or when you stare at an electronic screen for long periods of time. The severity and type of headache you have may affect whether or not you can treat it at home.

For instance, headaches that cause vision impairment, vomiting, nausea, and other severe symptoms are generally caused by migraines. Migraines generally require medical care to treat. Certain medical and health conditions can also trigger severe head pain, including meningitis and high blood sugar. If you attempt to treat the symptoms of a severe headache at home, you may inadvertently make them worse.

If you don't have any of the severe symptoms above or a medical condition that triggers them, you can try the following things to alleviate your pain:

• rest or take a nap to refresh your body
• eat something light, such as a piece of fruit or snack
• drink a glass of water to rehydrate your system

If the suggestions above don't help you, consult the doctors at an urgent medical care center.

What Should You Really Do About Your Headaches?

An urgent care doctor or nurse can check your blood sugar levels to see if they're responsible for your headaches. Some people develop small headaches when they're blood sugar levels decrease. If a doctor determines that low blood sugar is the cause of your headaches, they may provide treatment to manage and control it.

If dehydration is the cause of your headaches, an urgent care specialist may increase your water intake. People who don't drink enough water during the daytime can develop tension headaches and other types of head pain over time. Drinking a glass of water may not be sufficient enough to keep your pain at bay. In this case, you may need to consume a specific amount of liquids during the day to stay properly hydrated.

Dehydration may trigger migraines in some adults. So, be sure to follow your urgent care doctor's orders completely to avoid this issue.

For more details about your minor headaches, contact an urgent medical care service provider soon.