Conclusion: you’re not alone

All in all, many people suffer and have suffered from headaches - ranging from tension-type headaches to cluster headaches and migraines - and people have been suffering these headaches for millennia. The battle against headaches is age-old, and the modern phenomenon of self-medicating with over-the-counter painkillers can be easily explained by looking at the history of headaches.

I hope that by taking you along on this journey it has become clear that it’s perfectly normal to struggle with headaches and sometimes feel a little lost in the battle against them. I myself struggle, some of my friends do, and many people I don’t know do as well. If you’re someone who regularly struggles with headaches, know that you’re not alone. I believe that by spreading more awareness about the severe physical and mental effects of headaches, we can change the stigma around headaches and put them higher on the medical agenda. This way, doctors will be better informed on how to treat headaches, so we don’t have to experiment with all those drugstore pills by ourselves. Also, by treating headaches as a serious health condition, I hope our society will take headache patients more seriously and allow them to rest when they need to.