Headache is one of the greatest complaints presented in primary care. Basically, head pain can range from mild to severe and based on research done in multiple populations, one in seven individuals is afflicted by severe headache and migraine ( Cleveland clinic, 2014 ). Headache can be classified into two including: Primary and secondary disease. The former has no underlying discernible disease while the later has an identifiable underlying organic disease. Effective treatment of headache disorder depends on correct diagnosis of the disease and patient`s factors such as age and genetics.
The types of drugs administered to patient depends on the type of headache they are experiencing. Consequently, a practitioner ought to first rule out a serious case of headache pain or secondary headache and then correctly diagnose the type of primary headache ( Arcangelo & Peterson, 2016 ). Primary disorders include: Migraine, tension- type and cluster headache. For tension-type problem, pain relievers such as acetaminophen, aspirin, and ibuprofen can eliminate the pain ( Arcangelo & Peterson, 2016) . Migraine pain is usually cured by triptans class drug such as eletriptan, naratripan, rizatripan among others ( Cleveland clinic, 2014 ). Aspirin and non-steroidal anti- inflammatory drugs can also reduce the attack. For cluster headache, lidocaine and triptans have been used to cure the illness. Secondary headache are as a result of other conditions such as trauma, cervical vascular disorder, infection among others ( Rosdahl & Kowalski, 2008 ). By treating the cause of secondary headache, the pain goes away or the patient may be prescribed over the counter pain relievers.
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Age is undoubtedly on of the major factors that should be considered when administering drugs. For instance, the use of aspirin should be avoided in children. Aspirin may present other critical disorders such as Reyes syndrome and other side effect such as gastrointestinal bleeding which accelerates the pain instead of curing ( Rosdahl & Kowalski, 2008 ). Essentially, many of the symptomatic relief drugs such as antiemetic should be avoided in youngsters. To manage the negative effects, only recommended drugs such as OTC pain relievers including Acetaminophen and ibuprofen should be used for children ( Rosdahl & Kowalski, 2008 ). Also, the constant use of headache relief drugs should be avoided as this can lead to rebound headache, which may eventually make the painkillers and other medications ineffective in a patient.
To sum it up, headache disease is an inevitable illness, and, thus, effective treatment is key in managing the pain and avoiding further exacerbation of the disorder. Also, a practitioner has to correctly diagnose the type of headache either primary or secondary in order to administer the correct medicine. Finally, age is a prime factor in treating headache in terms of dosage, and type of drugs used because of the negative side effects inherent in each drug.
References
Arcangelo, V. P., & Peterson, A. M. (Eds.). (2016). Pharmacotherapeutics for advanced practice: a practical approach (Vol. 536). Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.
Cleveland clinic. (2014). Headache Medications: Relief & Treatment. Retrieved from https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/drugs/9652-headache-medications
Rosdahl, C. B., & Kowalski, M. T. (2008). Textbook of basic nursing . Philadelphia: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.
