WHY DOES CRYING MAKE YOUR HEAD HURT

Have you ever wondered why does crying make your head hurt?

Crying is one of the body’s natural responses to severe emotions that may either be mentally or even be physically draining. When a powerful cry triggers a type of headache, there are points an individual can fancy help to lower the physical pain, whether or not the emotional pain remains.

When crying hard enough, many of us will experience:

• Runny nose.
• Bloodshot in eyes.
• Swelling or edema around your eyes and general puffiness within the face.

Also, a robust cry can leave an individual feeling emotionally drained. For a few people, a headache comes after the emotional and physical responses of crying.

CAUSES

MIGRAINE

Migraine is a recurrent headache. The stress not only causes you to cry, but may also trigger your migraine. This only occurs when you cry because of emotional reasons.

Migraine causes moderate to severe pain that is pulsatile or throbbing. Pain is often experienced on one side of the head or what is known as unilateral. There may also be other symptoms such as nausea and weakness. Those who have migraine can be sensitive to light and noise.

Researchers consider that migraine has a genetic cause. There also are a number of things which could cause a migraine. These elements range from individual to individual, and that they include:

• Stress (which is why your head hurts when you cry).
• Anxiety.
• Bright lights.
• Loud noise.
• Smells that are strong.
• Changes in hormone levels (in women).
• Some medicines.
• Not sleeping enough, or sleeping too much.
• Environment changes, or changes in weather that are sudden.
• Having a lot of physical activity, or overexerting.
• Tobacco use.
• Too much caffeine.
• Caffeine withdrawal.
• Skipping meals.
• Prolonged use of medicines taken for migraine itself.

Some human beings have determined that certain meals or components can cause headaches, mainly while they’re mixed with different triggers. These meals and components include:

• Chocolates.
• Dairy products.
• Alcohol.
• Pickles

Migraine affects children and adolescents as well as adults and can go through four stages: prodrome, aura, migraine attack, and post-drome. Not everyone with migraine goes through all stages:

 

Prodome:

It happens a day or two before a migraine attack, and these symptoms might warn you that a migraine attack is coming. The symptoms include:

• Changes in your mood (can be anywhere between depression to euphoria).
• Craving different foods.
• Stiffed neck.
• Increase in urination.
• Yawning very often.
• Irritability

 

Aura:

Some people may have an aura before or during a migraine. Aura consists of a set of reversible symptoms of the nervous system. They are usually visual, but they can also be associated with other disorders. Each symptom usually begins slowly, accumulates over a few minutes, and can last up to 60 minutes. Symptoms of aura include:

• Visual phenomena: this includes seeing different shapes, spots that are bright, or light flashes.
• Loss of vision.
• Sensation of pins and needles in one of your arms or legs.
• Feeling of numbness or weakness in your face, or one side of your body.
• Difficulty while speaking.

 

Migraine attack:

The next phase is called the attack phase. This is the most acute or severe stage of actual migraine pain. For some people, this can overlap or occur during the aura. Symptoms of the attack phase can last from 4 to 72 hours. Symptoms of migraine may vary from person to person.

During a migraine attack what you might experience is:

• Unilateral pain on your head (or pain on one side of head), but it can also be bilateral (on both the sides).
• Pulsatile or throbbing pain in head.
• You might be sensitive to light, smell, touch, or sound.
• Nausea and vomiting.

 

Post-drome:

Mood and emotional changes usually occur at this stage. These can range from euphoria and extreme joy to fatigue and indifference. Mild dull headaches may persist.

The length and intensity of these phases vary greatly from person to person. Phases may be skipped and migraine attacks may occur without causing headaches.

 

Risk Factors

Several factors make you more susceptible to migraine headaches:

• Family history: If you have a family member with migraines, you are more likely to develop migraines as well.
• Age: Migraine headaches can develop at any age, but the first migraine headaches often occur during puberty. Migraine headaches usually peak in the thirties and then gradually become less severe and less frequent in the decades that follow.
• Sex: Females are three times more likely to have migraines than men.
• Hormonal changes: In women with migraine headaches, headaches can occur shortly before or shortly after the onset of menstruation. It can also change during pregnancy and menopause. Migraine headaches generally improve after menopause.

Medications help prevent some migraine headaches and relieve them. Appropriate medications combined with self-care therapies and lifestyle changes can help.

 

TENSION HEADACHE

If you wonder why does crying make your head hurt, you might have something known as tension headache. These kinds of headaches cause a pain that is dull, or a pain that feels like tightness or pressure like thing on your forehead or the back of your head as well as neck. You might feel like a clamp is squeezing your head. Tension headaches are also known and stress headaches. These kinds of headaches are the most common type of headaches in adults.

Tension headaches are grouped into:

• Episodic tension type headaches (these occur less than 15 days a month).
• Chronic tension type headaches (these occur more than 15 days a month).

Tensions headaches usually last anywhere between 30 minutes to some days. These headaches come episodically, and have a gradual onset (start very slowly), usually so in the middle of day.

Chronic tension headaches come and go with a period of time. Pain may worsen or relieve over time, but it is always there.

Even though your headache is severe enough, but tension headaches usually do not keep you away from your daily life and do not affect your eyesight, strength, or balance.

Tension headaches start from the back of head and then spread in forward direction. This headache doesn’t only cause your head to pain but also make your neck, jaw, and shoulder muscles feel sore and very tight.

Symptoms of tension type headaches are:

• Moderate (or mild) pain in your head.
• Headache that starts from mid-day.
• Unable to sleep.
• Exhaustion.
• Irritability.
• Not being able to concentrate.
• Sensitivity to noise or light.
• Tight of sore neck, jaw, or shoulder muscles.

Unlike migraine, there are no other neurological symptoms such as weakness or blurred vision. Also, tension headaches usually do not cause severe hypersensitivity to light, noise, abdominal pain, nausea, or vomiting.

Often these types of headaches are triggered by any stress from friends, relationships, work, school, and family.

These triggers may consist of:

• Not taking enough rest.
• Having a bad posture.
• Emotional stress (which would include crying as well).
• Anxiety issues.
• Fatigue
• Not eating enough.
• Having decreased iron levels.
• Alcohol consumption.
• Caffeine intake.
• Dental problems, or problems related to your jaws.
• Eye strain.
• Dehydration
• Or an infection (cold, flu, and a sinus infection).

 

SINUS HEADACHE

Your eyes, ears, nose, and your throat are connected to each other internally. When you cry, tears not only flow out of your eyes, but also run back to the sinuses. Tears may cause your nose to feel runny while you cry, as well as cause pressure on your sinuses. This is the reason why does crying make your head hurt.

 

Sinus types of headaches are usually caused by sinus infections or what is known as sinusitis. These headaches can also be caused by problems such as inflammation that is chronic, allergies, or any other structural problem (like nasal polyp). Treatment of sinus headaches depend on what is causing the headache, but are usually managed at home.

Sinus headache can be acute (which lasts for less than 4 weeks), subacute (which lasts for 4-8 weeks), chronic (which lasts for more than 8 weeks), or recurrent (which occurs more than three year per year).

 

TREATMENT

Crying induced headaches are usually treated at home, with a mix of remedies which can be done at home and medication if needed.

To relieve yourself of crying induced headache, you may:

• Take enough rest, with lights off.
• Apply packs (heat or cold) on your eyes, forehead, and neck.
• Try OTC (over the counter) pain killer (like ibuprofen, aspirin, or acetaminophen).
• Massage your neck or your shoulders.

 

WHEN TO SEE A DOCTOR

In most cases, you don’t have to worry about headaches caused by emotional crying. After some home treatment and rest, a person usually begins to feel physically better within a few hours.

However, if you have frequent migraine headaches, tension headaches, or sinusitis, consult your doctor. You may have the underlying medical condition that is causing it. For example, a headache can be a sign of depression. If you see any of the following symptoms of depression, always consider seeing your doctor and seek help:

• Feeling worthless.
• Being hopeless.
• Not having enough energy.
• Feeling exhausted all the time.
• Irritability
• Not being able to concentrate or focus on things.
• Sleeping a lot or not much.
• Not eating well, or eating way too much.
• Losing of gaining weight.

 

TAKEAWAY

Many experts believe on the fact that headaches that occur after emotional crying are the result of stress itself. This stress has an emotional effect that makes people cry.

Crying induced headaches can usually be treated at home with simple treatments or as directed by your doctor if you experience headaches not only when crying in particular.

If the headache recurs, you should consult your doctor to determine the cause and prevent the headache in the future.