What is a headache ? We're not talking about the common headache that can affect anyone, the classic "ringing in the head," but rather a debilitating condition that compromises work, social, and family life.

"Headaches remind me that I have a head." Roberto Gervaso

Daily negative aspects

Headaches are classified as primary, such as migraine, tension-type headache and cluster headache; and secondary, resulting from other diseases. Inmigraine, the pain is pulsating, unilateral and nausea appears; in migraine with aura there are focal neurological symptoms of varying duration such as the vision of bright spots that widen, bright parallel zigzag lines; in tension-type headache, the pain is compressive-constrictive and bilateral; in cluster headache periods of malaise and well-being alternate, the pain is piercing-stabbing, unilateral and also affects the ocular area; finally the chronic headache It is present for at least 15 days a month for at least three months and is often associated with anxiety e trough (www.malditesta-aic.it). In general, symptoms include: severe pain, sensitivity to light (photophobia), sensitivity to noise (phonophobia), dizziness, temporary loss of vision, numbness; therefore, it is inevitable that it will have negative consequences on daily life. Just as stress. aggravates the symptoms listed.

A social pathology

According to the World Health Organization, headaches are classified as tenth place for disabling diseases and according to the data of the Global Burden of Diseases Survey 2013 reported in the magazine The Lancet, they are the third leading cause of disability in the worldThey affect 26 million Italians, 6 million of whom suffer from the most disabling forms; in Europe, 53% of adults suffer from headaches and 15% from migraines (source: WHO). Recently, in Italy, a bill was presented to recognize headaches as social disease, providing for its inclusion in the Essential Levels of Care (i.e., free treatment) for those who have suffered from it in a disabling manner for at least 12 months, certified by a medical diagnosis. To be defined as a social disease, a disease must meet certain requirements: widespread prevalence in the population (high incidence, or having a certain statistical significance), continuous high frequency (stability over time), and serious socioeconomic repercussions (both on the individual's work capacity and on the community, which must provide treatment and assistance) (Marsella, 1998). To read the list of social diseases, consult the Official Journal of March 18, 2017, no. 65, Ordinary Supplement no. 15.

The head that explodes

Often we limit ourselves to self-medication and resignation to the worsening of our health conditions; in fact several international studies have highlighted thedrug abuse over-the-counter medications that influence the chronicity of the problem; but it is necessary to know that almost every region has centers specialized in the treatment of headaches and that the specialist who deals with them is the neurologist. In 1985, in Florence, theItalian Association for the Fight against Headaches (AIC Onlus), which represents patients affected by this disease and fights to improve diagnosis and treatment, promote awareness of the issue, and raise institutional awareness. Other important organizations in this field include: Headache Alliance e CIRNA Onlus Foundation (www.cefalea.it with a forum where users can discuss, learn, and ask questions to specialists), Italian Headache League, Italian Society for the Study of Headaches, Italian Neurological Association for Headache Research, Italian Society of Neurology. There is also the National Headache Day to demonstrate its gradually gaining social relevance. Hopefully, this will become increasingly concrete, so that we can support at all levels those who have had to learn to live with a "bursting" mind.

Arianna Caccia

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