The most common of all headaches, the one with greatest socioeconomic impact, the least studied, & the most nondescript — a diagnosis of exclusion. Pain is bilateral, not severe, with no criteria to suggest migraine or cluster, much less anything serious. Chronic tension headaches have been described as “featureless.”
Research criteria:
- duration 30 minutes to a week;
- 10 separate episodes required for diagnosis.
The more disabling the recurrent headache, the more you should consider it might possibly be an atypical migraine (see posting “Recurrent Headaches”. Consider therapeutic trials.
DiagnosisDude 