Pounding pain from headaches is often debilitating and frequently causes patients to seek treatment, usually pain medication. Headache is the most common reason for Americans to take painkillers, according to Headache Expert, which estimates the market for painkillers in the United States at $2 billion annually. Headaches that cause pounding pain are called vascular headaches because of their connection to abnormal blood flow.
Migraine Headache
Migraines are the second most common type of primary headache and the most common type of vascular headache. According to a 2002 "New England Journal of Medicine" article, 4 percent of children experience migraines, and the incidence rises to 6 percent among men and 18 percent among women in the United States. Patients often describe migraine pain as pounding, throbbing or pulsating. Patients often feel migraines on one side of the head, but the pain can spread to both sides.
Doctors have an incomplete understanding of the cause of migraines. The dominant theory is that pain-sensing nerves in the head overproduce certain chemicals, called neuropeptides, which cause abnormal constriction of blood vessels within the head, according to the Mayo Clinic. This process can cause visual phenomena, such as colorful auras. Shortly thereafter, the blood vessels overcompensate by fully dilating, or opening, which allows too much blood to flow into the head. The pounding pain of a migraine likely arises from this combination of increased pain sensitivity, blood vessel inflammation and abnormal blood flow.
Sinus Headache
Bacterial or viral infections of the frontal and maxillary sinuses cause sinus headaches. Consequently, patients usually feel sinus headache pain in the forehead above the eyes and around the cheeks below the eyes, where these sinuses are located. Patients describe the pain as pounding but also as sharp. The pain of sinus headaches is often worse in the morning and increases with sneezing and bending forward. Sore throat, mild fever and runny nose often accompany sinus infections.
Toxic and Allergic Reactions
Many industrial and household cleaning products contain toxic compounds that can cross from the bloodstream into the brain and cause swelling and pounding head pain. According to Johns Hopkins Medicine, inappropriate use of short-term pain medications can cause toxicity and lead to "rebound headaches" that are frequently pounding in nature. Inappropriate alcohol use can cause toxicity and dehydration, which frequently causes pounding headaches commonly referred to as "hangovers."
Allergies to food, food dyes and food preservatives can also cause swellings in and around the head, leading to pounding headache pain. Common foods that can trigger migraine headaches or allergic reactions include pickled foods, dark chocolate, nuts, sandwich meats, hot dogs, aged cheese and artificial sweeteners.
Temporal Arteritis
Temporal arteritis is a rare condition that involves swelling and injury to smaller arteries in the head that branch off from the large arteries of the neck called the carotid arteries. Medline Plus notes that temporal arteritis typically causes severe throbbing or pounding headache pain that tends to be localized in the temple area of the head. Sensitive scalp, profuse sweating, mild to moderate fever and deterioration of vision can accompany the pounding pain of temporal arteritis.
Other Conditions
Diseases that cause pounding headache pain, often due to increased intracranial pressure, include high blood pressure, kidney disease and glaucoma. Brain tumors, spinal meningitis and brain aneurysms are other, more rare causes of pounding headaches. More common conditions that can cause pounding headache pain include menstruation, moderate to severe dehydration, hypoglycemia, sleep deprivation, strong smells or fumes, strong sun glare, strobe lights and drinking or eating frozen products too quickly.
References
- Headache Expert: Headache Facts
- "New England Journal of Medicine"; Migraine---Current Understanding and Treatment; Peter J. Goadsby, M.D.; 2002
- Mayo Clinic: Migraine Causes
- Johns Hopkins Medicine: Rebound Headache
- Medline Plus: Temporal Arteritis
