Democratic Sentinel, Volume 20, Number 23, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 12 June 1896 — HEADACHE. [ARTICLE]

HEADACHE.

A Common Disorder—lts Causes, Symptoms and Remedy. Head pain is common in all disordered conditions of the system. It may occur in the progress of almost all acute and chronic diseases, at some time in their course, or it may precede them. The pain may be external or internal, and is due to a variety of influences that affect either the scalp or the contents of the cranium. The determination of the particular tissues involved is extremely difficult; especially because the sufferer is unable to locate definitely the pain. Headache is rarely regarded as a distinct disorder, but is considered rather as a symptom or accompaniment of some other disturbance in the system. Variations in the circulation, with the resultant modifications of the blood-pressure, the presence in the blood of poisonous matters, irritations transmitted to the brain from more or less remote parts of the body, or abnormal or diseased conditions of the digestive organs—all these enter into the production of this most common form of distress. These causes, acting singly or collectively, associated with an oversensitive conditions of the nerves of the brain, and the membranes which envelop it, cause the pain. By far the most common form of headache is that due to a disordered condition of the organs of digestion. Such headaches are the result of indigestion and constipation, as well as of overindulgence in earing or drinking. A disordered stomach or a sluggish condition of the bowels, combined with overwork and too little exercise in the open air, are frequent causes of headache in persons who pursue sedentary and indoor occupations. The remedy in this kind of headache is the exercise of regularity and moderation in eating, with an avoidance of food which is innutritions and difficult of digestion, and attention to the regularity of the bowels. The last point is of especial importance. One variety of headache, the cause of which is sometimes overlooked, results from eye-strain. The provision of proper glasses, and treatment calculated to improve the tone of the muscles of the eyes, have been followed by prompt relief in numberless instances.—Youths’ Companion.