Headaches and Meningitis Flashcards
What are some causes of headaches?
- Traction or dilation of intracranial or extracranial arteries
- Traction or distension of large extra-cranial veins, dural venous sinuses
- Compression, traction or inflammation of cranial and spinal nerves
- Spasm and trauma to cranial and cervical muscles
- Meningeal irritation and raised ICP
- Disturbance of intra-cerebral serotonergic projections
What are primary headaches vs secondary headaches?
Primary:
- Symptom based
- No organic causes
Secondary:
- Aetiology based
What are the primary headaches?
- Migraine:
- Migraine with aura
- Migraine without aura
- Hemiplegic migraine
- Basilar migraine - Tension type headache
- Trigeminal autonomic cephalgias TACs:
- Cluster headache `
What are some secondary causes of headache?
Head/neck trauma
Cervical or cranial vascular disorders
Substance misuse or withdrawal
Psychiatric disorder related
Arterial HTN related
Non-vascular intra-cranial disorders
Infection
What does a headache worse with standing up and relieved by lying down indicate?
Intracranial hypotension
What does a headache worse with coughing, straining or valsalva indicate?
Raised ICP
What associated symptoms should you ask about?
N/V
Photophobia
Phonophobia
Fever
Blurred vision/loss of vision
Visual scintillation
Double vision
What are the headache red flags?
S2NOOP5/SNOOP
- Systemic symptoms: fever, weight loss
- Secondary risk factors: cancer, HIV, immunocompromised
- Neurological symptoms
- Onset: new onset, worst ever, abrupt
- Older patient: new over 50 (GCA)
- Previous headache different
- Position component (e.g. increases when upright)
- Pulsatile tinnitus (diplopia, transient visual changes)
- Provocative factors (coughing, exercise, sex)
- Pregnancy
When would you do neuro-imaging in a headache presentation?
- Thunderclap or sudden, severe headaches
- New onset of headache
- New pattern of headache
- Headache >50
- Focal signs or symptoms occurring with the headache
- Headache worse with valsalva
- Postural headache
- Headaches associated with fever, vomiting, meningism
- Headache associated with another systemic disease (HIC, vasculitis)
What are some cranial/cervical intravascular causes of secondary headache?
Arterial Dissection
Arteritis
Stroke
ICH
What are some arterial hypertension causes of secondary headache?
Eclampsia
Hypertensive Encephalopathy
What are some non-vascular intracranial causes of secondary headache?
Chiari malformation
Intracranial hypetension
Neoplasms
What are some infectious causes of secondary headache?
Meningitis
Encephalitis
Pain location, character, severity, aggravators and duration: Migraine
Usually unilateral (only 30% are bilateral)
Throbbing/pulsating
Moderate to severe
4hrs to 72 hours
Aggravated by exercise/worse on exertion
Pain location, character, severity and duration: Tension Headache
Bilateral
Pressure/tightening band across the head
Only moderately bad at most
30 mins
Pain location, character, severity, and duration: Cluster headache
Unilateral, peri/retro-orbital
Deep, excruciating
Horribly severe
15 minutes to 3 hours
Associated symptoms: Migraine
Photophobia/phonophobia
Nausea and vomiting
Aura!!
- Precedes the headache
- Starts over 5 minutes, with at least 2 symptoms in succession
- Aura lasts 5-60 minutes
- Headache starts within 60 mins after
- Visual, sensor, speech, motor, retinal