Headache when you need a CT scan, MRI?

At Ho Chi Minh City Mental Hospital, many people come for examination because of headache, headache - vestibular disorder, headache - insomnia.

Most patients have received prior CT scans for an CT scan or an MRI and heard a normal result. Many patients require CT or MRI, or electroencephalogram (EEG) because they have not studied it well, because of the psychology of the patient, and the doctors have to deal with it, even though the results of those procedures will be known have abnormal signs.

Psychiatrists have many facilities that identify psychiatric symptoms, so they are often unsolved on demand and recommend follow-up progress according to their specialty. Almost all patients experience stress with anxiety, trouble sleeping, insomnia, headache because day and night must find ways to protect themselves from stress . Influence by the factors causing the surrounding mental trauma, many People who lie without sleep and sometimes dare not tell anyone about the cause of the headache.

The cause of headaches due to increased intracranial pressure such as brain tumors, precursor head injury, cerebral hemorrhage (stroke) and a few other cerebrovascular diseases with symptoms very specific points.

Patients with headaches need to talk to their doctor to find out what treatment is really needed to bring health and reasonable costs.(Photo: akupunkturist.org)

The best opportunity for care and treatment is that patients need to talk to their doctor to find a treatment (brain imaging CT and MRI, choose specialized medicine) which really need to bring health and affordability.

The American Headache Association recently recommended a list of CT and MRI scans used as a diagnostic imaging for examination of migraine headaches and migraine headaches (a special pain, manifested by migraines, common in women) as follows:

- Do not take cranial images if diagnosed with migraine headaches. The patient will spend a lot of money and the possibility of being affected by radiation. On the other hand, when you do this procedure, you can worry too much about the patient, even if you don't leave it with serious and complicated consequences.

- Do not take a CT scan when you have a headache if you have an MRI scan, except in another emergency. CT scans are recommended when headaches occur suddenly and progress is more severe. But it is advisable to choose an MRI scan because this technique is less radiologically relevant and can see many images of other diseases without symptoms.

- Do not use drugs with opium or butalbital ingredients for recurrent headaches . These two drugs reduce alertness, if used regularly can cause dependence. Therefore, these drugs should be used after non-steroids triptans or anti-inflammatory drugs are ineffective or contraindicated.

- It is not recommended to extend the time or frequency of using painkillers to treat headaches. Excessive use of OTC pain relievers (over-the-counter) can also lead to 'headaches' leading to more severe pain. Therefore, it is helpful to facilitate patients with headache discussion in treatment with doctors.