Headache During Pregnancy - Causes, Treatment

2024 Author: Rachel Wainwright | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 07:39

Headache during pregnancy

Headache during pregnancy occurs quite often. Most often, she torments the expectant mother in the first and third trimesters, but sometimes it happens throughout the entire period of pregnancy.

Before trying to relieve a headache during pregnancy on your own, you should assess the location and nature of the pain, its duration, and also find out the circumstances that contribute to the onset of an attack. The causes of headaches during pregnancy can be very different and sometimes it is very difficult to establish them, but it is quite possible to find out what factors provoke it and try to eliminate them.

Headaches during pregnancy: causes

In pregnant women, headaches often occur due to a neurological disease - migraine. In this case, they are pulsating in nature and are localized only in one half of the head. With a severe attack, nausea, vomiting, and visual impairment may join them. The development of a migraine attack can be triggered by the following factors:

• Food - the use of citrus fruits, dark chocolate, cheese;
• Physical - overwork, lack of sleep, strong odors, noise, flickering light;
• Climatic - a sharp change in weather conditions;
• Stress.

Another cause of pregnancy headaches is tension in the muscles of the head. This pain covers the entire head and is of moderate intensity. Women note that it hurts them to touch their hair, they often have a feeling that their head is as if pulled together with a tight hoop. Such a headache during pregnancy often occurs when a woman is in an uncomfortable position for a long time (for example, when working at a computer), physical and mental fatigue.

A rather severe headache during pregnancy also occurs as a result of low (hypotension) or high (hypertension) blood pressure. Hypotension is usually characteristic of the first trimester of pregnancy, especially if it is accompanied by symptoms of early toxicosis. Hypertension can occur in the second half of pregnancy and is a symptom of gestosis - late toxicosis. Severe headache during pregnancy in the third trimester is often a sign of the development of preeclampsia - a pregnancy complication that is life-threatening to the woman and the fetus, requiring urgent medical care in the intensive care unit.

Other causes of headache during pregnancy are vegetative-vascular dystonia, hormonal changes, and cervical osteochondrosis.

In addition, hormonal changes, vegetative-vascular dystonia, cervical osteochondrosis can be the cause of the headache in the expectant mother.

Headaches during pregnancy: treatment and prevention

Headaches during pregnancy, as we have said, occur in many women. Their treatment should only be prescribed by a doctor, because not all drugs are safe for fetal development.

In most cases, the development of headaches during pregnancy can be prevented using simple methods:

• Observe the daily routine and do not overwork;
• Eat a balanced diet;
• Avoid noisy and stuffy places;
• Drink enough mineral water to avoid mineral and fluid deficiencies;
• When sedentary work, take short breaks every hour, during which you should perform simple gymnastic exercises to relieve excessive tension from the muscles of the head, neck and shoulder girdle;
• Walk outdoors as often as possible and ventilate the area regularly.

Often, headache during pregnancy can be relieved without the use of medication. Get into the most comfortable position for you and try to sleep. The room should be dark and well ventilated. After even a short sleep, the headache usually goes away on its own.

For tension headaches, gentle massage of the scalp and neck helps. For migraines, many pregnant women benefit from a cold compress applied to the frontal or temporal areas of the head.

If the headache during pregnancy is caused by hypotension, then you should drink a glass of hot sweet strong tea to raise blood pressure.

In cases where these methods do not help you or the headache occurs frequently, you should consult a doctor who will prescribe treatment for a headache during pregnancy, taking into account the cause of it.

Headache during pregnancy: when do you need to see a doctor urgently?

There are certain situations when a woman with a headache during pregnancy should definitely see a doctor. These include:

• The nature of the pain attack changes or the pain becomes almost constant;
• Headache occurs in the morning, immediately after a night's sleep;
• Headache occurs against the background of arterial hypotension or hypertension;
• The pain is clearly localized.

Severe headache during pregnancy, especially if it is combined with nausea, vomiting, impaired vision or hearing, skin sensitivity and / or motor functions, requires immediate delivery of the pregnant woman to the maternity hospital, where she can be provided with timely and comprehensive medical care!

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The information is generalized and provided for informational purposes only. At the first sign of illness, see your doctor. Self-medication is hazardous to health!