14 Types of Headaches and How to Treat Them

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Why your head hurts

By Tammy Worth

If you think about it, it’s strange that headaches even exist. The brain itself can’t feel pain, so what gives? Experts now think surrounding tissues, brain chemicals, blood vessels, and nerves produce the pain signals.

“We know a lot more than we did 20 years ago about what causes headaches,” says Charles Flippen, MD, associate professor of neurology at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. “We know what areas of the brain are generating pain, but we don’t have the whole picture.”

That said, here are 14 headache types, their causes, and more importantly—how to make them go away.

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