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Throbbing, pounding, beating...

Excedrin: the promised land for all of us who suffer from migraines.

Most of us know it: that throbbing, pounding, beating pain at the front, back, or temples of the head. The pain can be subtle, almost unnoticeable - yet before you know it, a headache can get so bad it makes you lay in bed all day, head under the covers, hoping you will never have to see sunlight again. Even though headaches can sometimes feel truly unbearable, they are far from uncommon. Many people worldwide are tormented by all kinds of headaches on a regular basis.

According to the World Health Organization, headaches are among the most common nervous system disorders, since almost half of the adult population have had a headache at least once within the last year.World Health Organization Team, ‘Headache disorders’, World Health Organization, https://www.who.int/en/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/headache-disorders, (URL visited on October 20, 2022). Around one in twenty people even suffer from chronic daily headache (CDH), meaning they suffer from headaches more days than not.J. Olesen, et al., ‘New appendix criteria open for a broader concept of chronic migraine’, Cephalalgia, 26:6 (2006), 742-746.

For me, knowing that many people suffer from headaches is a comfort when my head is pounding again. It reminds me that I’m not necessarily doing something wrong, and that it is okay to take some rest or painkillers if needed. If you click to the next page, you will learn more about the different types of headaches people experience. Even though no two headaches are the same and they can feel differently for everyone, we generally distinguish between three main types: cluster headaches, tension-type headaches and migraines. Let’s dive into it!