Headaches can be debilitating and interfere with your day’s plans, but most aren’t dangerous and can often be treated with over-the-counter pain medications.
When the pain is more severe, persistent, long-lasting, or the result of an injury or illness, seeking urgent care for headache treatment can help provide fast and effective relief.
What Will Urgent Care Do for Headaches?
At Alamo Urgent Care, we understand some different kinds of headaches and migraines can be difficult to prevent and manage.
Our clinic offers several headache treatment options to help you feel better faster, including IV fluid hydration, anti-inflammatory medications, anti-migraine medications, and nausea relief medications.
Depending on the type of headache you have, its severity, and its underlying cause, we may also administer steroid injections to help relieve your symptoms.
When to Worry About a Headache
Headaches are an annoying but common ailment affecting approximately 45 million Americans each year.
Often, they are nothing to worry about as they can be a symptom of dehydration, lack of proper nutrition, fatigue, stress, eye strain, common cold, flu, sinus infection, depression, hypertension, and more.
However, it’s important to know when to go to urgent care for headache pain. If you experience one or more of the signs below, your condition might be more complicated and require urgent medical attention.
Here are five signs your headache isn’t normal:
1. It Comes on Suddenly and Severely
Sudden and severe headache pain will peak within 60 seconds and fade over the next few hours or weeks. They are regarded as ‘Thunderclap headaches’ and are the worst type of headache.
They can be a symptom of life-threatening problems like brain bleeding and are sometimes accompanied by vomiting or losing consciousness. If you experience a sudden and severe headache, call 9-1-1 or visit your nearest urgent care clinic.
2. Stiff Neck or High Fever
Headaches accompanied by shooting pains, high fever, and a stiff neck can be symptoms of meningitis, a severe condition caused by the inflammation of the membranes covering the brain and spinal cord.
This condition can be life-threatening due to its proximity to the brain and requires immediate medical attention.
In most cases of meningitis, headaches are often severe and may resemble migraines. If you experience these symptoms, seek urgent medical care right away.
3. Vision or Speech Impairment
Headaches that cause changes in vision, difficulty speaking or walking, or weakness on one side of the body could indicate a stroke. A stroke occurs when there is insufficient blood flow to the brain, leading to the death of brain cells.
This is a medical emergency because strokes can result in death or permanent disability. Immediate and urgent care for headache pain with vision or speech impairment is crucial.
4. Your Behavior Changes
Severe headaches accompanied by changes in behavioral patterns could be a sign of a brain tumor. A brain tumor is a collection of abnormal cells in the brain. As the tumor grows, it increases pressure inside the skull, which can cause brain damage and be life-threatening.
If you notice significant behavioral changes along with severe headaches, seek an immediate medical evaluation.
5. Headaches Are Interfering With Daily Life
If severe headaches are preventing you from performing daily activities, it’s time to visit the doctor. Persistent and debilitating headaches can be a warning sign for other serious medical conditions that require immediate attention.
If you are experiencing any type of headache, it’s important to understand the underlying cause. This can help you decide whether urgent care is necessary.
Never ignore headaches that significantly disrupt your daily life.
The Different Types of Headaches
Here is helpful information about ten different types of headaches. Visit Alamo City Urgent Care for high-quality urgent care headache treatment in San Antonio, TX.
Tension Headaches
Tension headaches are probably the most common, especially among adults and teens. They cause mild to moderate pain. In most cases, tension headaches fade on their own without having to take any medication.
Migraine Headaches
Migraines are characterized by pounding and throbbing pain. This pain can last for up to three days, and it can happen up to four times in four weeks. Alongside the throbbing pain, migraine victims experience other symptoms such as nausea, light sensitivity, noise sensitivity, loss of appetite, and stomach upsets. If this happens to you, seek urgent care for headache and migraine pain as soon as possible. We are here for you if you need urgent care services in San Antonio.
Cluster Headaches
Cluster headaches are, by far, the most severe. Victims experience intense pain around and sometimes behind their eyes. The pain is often throbbing and constant. In most cases, cluster pains are too severe that the victim can’t even sit still. Typically, cluster headaches happen in groups, hence the name cluster. For example, some patients get cluster pains two times per day, each lasting for up to three hours.
Sinus Headaches
Most people experience sinus headaches on the forehead, and the pain often extends to the cheekbone or the bridge of a person’s nose. Sinus headaches typically occur if the person’s sinuses in the head are inflamed. Other symptoms include a runny nose, fever, and a swollen face.
Posttraumatic Headaches
If you are involved in an accident, and your head is hit, you are likely going to experience posttraumatic headaches. Typically, these headaches occur two or three days after the trauma. They are characterized by symptoms such as memory problems, tiring quickly, irritability, vertigo, and lightheadedness.
Posttraumatic headaches can last for months but be sure to call your doctor if the headache does not improve within a few weeks. We are here for you if you are looking for urgent care for headache treatment in San Antonio, TX.
Hemicrania Continua
Hemicrania Continua is a chronic headache that often affects one side of the victim’s face and head. It is also characterized by other symptoms such as teary eyes, droopy eyelids, stuffy nose, and nausea. Some people experience these pains daily (chronic), while others experience headaches for six months before they go away for months and come back later (remitting).
Hormone Headaches
Some people experience headaches when their hormones are shifting, for example, during pregnancies, menopause, and periods.
Rebound Headaches
Rebound headaches are sometimes referred to as medication overuse headaches. Individuals who run to the pharmacy with the slightest pain are likely to suffer from this type of headache. If you take painkillers more than ten times a month, you might be setting yourself up for this type of headache. When the medication wears off, the pain returns worse than before. To stop it, you must take more medication.
Caffeine Headaches
Coffee is the most common beverage, but unfortunately, it is quite addictive. The caffeine in it causes addiction, and it affects how your blood flows. If you expose your body to a certain amount of caffeine daily, failure to give it that amount can cause serious headaches.
Exertion Headaches
This type of headache occurs after a period of physical activity, such as running, lifting weights, or sexual activities. It is thought that intense physical activities increase blood flow to the skull, leading to throbbing pain in the victim’s head.
The good news is that exertion headaches don’t last long. Taking painkillers, such as aspirin, should be enough to relieve the pain. Be sure to tell your doctor about the exertion headache, though. It might be a sign of an underlying medical condition.
When To Go to Urgent Care for Headache Pain
If you’re experiencing a complicated headache or migraine and over-the-counter medications aren’t helping, we encourage you to visit us for prompt medical treatment.
We’ll help you identify the underlying cause of your pain and treat it effectively, providing fast, high-quality relief.
Visit Alamo City Urgent Care if you need of urgent care services in Shaenfield or San Antonio, TX. We’ll help alleviate your headache or migraine pain, so you can get back to your daily routine.
For urgent care treatment for headaches, you can book ahead to save time or simply walk in.
