Suggest Treatment For Pain In One Side Of The Head

Brief Answer:
It is possibly 'Migraine'.Eliminate the precipitating factors.

Detailed Answer:
Hi XXXX,
Thanks for being on healthcaremagic.com.
I am Dr.Ajay Panwar,a neurologist,here to answer your query.

If you would have presented to me as an outpatient with this clinical history,I would have told you that you are most likely having Migraine or a Stress headache variant.
Migraine is the most common cause of episodic hemicranial(on one side of head) headache.So yourself, having episodic hemicranial headache with a frequency of around 10 episodes per year is close to the possibility of Migraine.Episodes of migraine headache are typically precipitated by some factors which commonly are:
stress,sunlight,food items like tea,coffee,cheese or chocolates,smoking and alcohol.Infact,precipitating factor can be any;and can vary from individual to individual.Stress,lack of sleep and cold breath are probably acting as precipitating factors for migraine in your case.
Other hallmark features of migraine are-
Nausea,Photophobia(headache increases on exposure to light),phonophobia(headache increases on exposure to sound) or visual aura(seeing flashing zig-zag lights or half alphabets during the headache episode).
Please be observant whether some of these features are present in your case as well.If any of these factors are present,it goes more in favour of migraine.

Stress headache though not typically presents like this,however uncommonly may.So,that is one of the probablility as well,though less common.

Therapeutic steps-
1)Of course,you are aware of your precipitating factors-So,try to avoid them.
2)You don't need to be on regular prophylactic medicines for migraine,rather you need abortive therapy only at the time of acute episode.
Medicines like non-steroidal anti inflammatory drugs(Naproxen,Ibuprofen),Triptans (Rizatriptan,sumatriptan) or Ergot derivatives may be used at the time of headache episode.
3)Mental relaxation exercises like meditation and Yoga needs to be done on regular basis.It will relieve stress(which is a common precipitant for migraine) and hence the stress headache.

Even,if on following the above management steps,you don't show any improvement,then you'll need to undergo a brain imaging like Computerised tomographic scan(CT Scan) of Brain,to see for any intracranial pathology.

Hope I have answered your query.If you have some follow-up questions,I shall be glad to answer else,please close the thread-rate it and write a review.Your rating will be of help to me.

Dr.Ajay Panwar,
MD,DM(Neurology)

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