Associated symptoms

The accompanying symptoms of headaches with nausea are usually indications of the cause of the complaints. The most important symptoms are presented below. The combination of headache and dizziness, which can then lead to severe nausea, is not a rarity in medicine.

In most cases, the cause is a so-called dizzy migraine, also called vestibular migraine. This is basically like a “classic” migraine (i.e. with headaches, nausea and sensitivity to light), except that here vertigo attacks are added. These “attacks” are very variable in their duration and can last from a few minutes to several hours.

For the treatment of such a dizzy migraine, medication against the nausea (so-called antiemetics) and freely available painkillers such as aspirin or paracetamol are recommended. However, this recommendation only applies to patients who do not regularly suffer from dizzy migraines. If this is the case, alternative treatment options, such as taking beta-blockers, should be considered.

Furthermore, it is recommended to consult a physician when headaches with severe dizziness and nausea occur for the first time, so that he can rule out more serious causes.A small percentage of people suffering from dizziness migraines have no headaches, so the focus is only on the dizziness and the resulting nausea. This makes it difficult for the doctor to make a diagnosis, but indications such as possible sensitivity to light and noise, which are also associated with migraines, usually make the doctor think of the correct diagnosis. There are numerous causes that lead to the occurrence of headaches and fatigue.

In most cases the pain is chronic rather than acute and can last for several days. The most common cause of these symptoms is a banal cold, which everyone has had to go through at some time or another. But a viral flu (influenza) can also cause these symptoms.

These are usually accompanied by fever, severe pain in the limbs and general fatigue. A chronic sinusitis, also called sinusitis, can also lead to chronic fatigue if not treated and to chronic headaches due to the strong feeling of pressure. The latter are intensified especially when bending the head forward.

In addition to these mostly viral causes, chronic high blood pressure can also lead to permanent fatigue and headaches. Once diagnosed, this should be treated by a healthy lifestyle and the possible intake of medication in order to reduce the long-term consequences of chronic high blood pressure. Other possible causes that can cause this combination of symptoms are chronic liver disease, Pfeiffer’s glandular fever, shingles on the face, cardiac arrhythmia, anemia or kidney disease.

Neck pain can be another symptom of another disease, or even a possible cause of headache with nausea. Most often, neck pain results from tension in the muscles around the shoulders and neck, which can then lead to headaches. In some people, this is then accompanied by severe nausea.

The best therapy here is primarily to relax the neck muscles or to eliminate another cause of the tension. A normal cold or flu (influenza) can also lead to the symptoms described above, but these are usually accompanied by fever and general aching limbs. Almost all people have suffered from severe headaches with nausea and vomiting at some point in their lives.

The possible causes for this are very numerous. The most common ones, however, are sunstroke and migraine. In the former, the meninges are irritated by prolonged exposure to the sun, which leads directly to severe headaches without a clear focus and to nausea.

However, the symptoms of sunstroke usually last only for a few hours. A lot of migraine patients suffer from an acute attack, which means that they suffer from nausea and vomiting in addition to severe headaches. This is so often the case that specific migraine painkillers have been designed which are already absorbed in the mucous membranes of the mouth and can thus develop their effect.

The severe nausea often prevents the normal taking of tablets. However, headaches with nausea can also be triggered by more serious causes, such as a concussion or cerebral haemorrhage. For this reason, it is recommended that people suffering from this combination of symptoms for the first time consult a doctor to rule out more serious causes.

If headaches occur together with nausea and diarrhoea, this usually indicates an infection of the gastrointestinal tract. The pathogens here are usually bacteria, such as Yersinia or Campylobacter, which are absorbed through food and can then lead to food poisoning. This usually only lasts for one to a few days and in most cases disappears by itself.

Another possible cause is that the headaches are only caused by a lack of fluid, which can be caused by severe diarrhoea. In such a case it is important to drink as much as possible (at least 2 liters) and the headache will disappear after a few hours. Another potential cause of these symptoms is the well-known flu, which, in addition to the typical cold symptoms and fever, can also be accompanied by severe headaches and diarrhoea.Classically, headaches and hot flushes occur together especially at the beginning of the menopause, the so-called pre-menopause.

The development of headaches is attributed to the fluctuating hormone levels, in particular estrogen. These fluctuations and thus also the headaches, however, usually decrease in the course of the menopause. The symptom combination of hot flushes and headaches can also be signs of an autoimmune disease affecting the thyroid gland.

In Graves’ disease, the body itself produces antibodies against certain parts of the thyroid gland, which then releases more hormones, which can lead to the symptoms described above. Other possible symptoms are excessive sweating, heart disease, diarrhoea, underweight and insomnia. Headaches, which together with increased ear pressure, can have various causes.

A cold, for example, which is accompanied by phlegm and swelling of the nasopharynx, can, in addition to causing headaches, lead to the so-called Eustachian tube, also known as the auditory tube, being blocked. This connects the middle ear and throat with the function of adjusting the pressure of the ear to the external pressure. If the Eustachian tube is blocked, increased pressure can build up in the middle ear.

Nocturnal teeth grinding is another possible cause of increased ear pressure with simultaneous headaches. This can be counteracted with a suitable splint. The combination of headaches, nausea and fever can be the first signs of an incipient meningitis, also known as meningitis.

This is usually caused by the pathogen (viruses and bacteria) and is accompanied by severe neck stiffness, hypersensitivity to noise and light and sometimes a clouding of consciousness in addition to the symptoms described. Meningitis is a serious neurological disease that should be treated if possible. A concussion can also be responsible for the combination of symptoms described above.

This is usually preceded by trauma or a severe concussion, after which the symptoms set in within a few hours. However, fever in combination with headache and nausea can also be signs of an infection of the gastrointestinal tract, such as bacterial food poisoning. Headaches associated with severe nausea and abdominal pain can be a sign of various causes.

The most common one is a gastrointestinal infection, which can be caused by various bacteria (Campylobacter, Yersinia, etc.) and viruses (Rotavirus, Adenovirus, Norovirus). In most cases, only a symptomatic therapy is necessary.

However, the combination of these symptoms can also be a sign of excessive stress levels, which then manifests itself in the form of an irritable bowel, for example. Usually such a symptom is accompanied by a feeling of fullness, flatulence, diarrhea or even constipation. Other possible causes are a strong migraine or a beginning pregnancy.

This topic might also be of interest to you: Symptoms of pregnancy The presence of palpitations, together with headaches and occasional nausea, can be a sign of hyperthyroidism. This is usually accompanied by increased sweating, insomnia and weight loss. The cause of this can be an autonomous thyroid gland, which withdraws itself from the regulatory function of the body and continuously produces thyroid hormones, or Graves’ disease.

Graves’ disease is an autoimmune disease that is associated with the production of antibodies against parts of the thyroid gland, which is thus stimulated to produce more hormones. The most common diagnosis that ophthalmologists make when patients come to them with symptoms of headache, eye pain and nausea is short- or long-sightedness, which can be corrected by wearing glasses. However, there are other, albeit rare, conditions that can cause these symptoms.

Among these is the so-called acute glaucoma. In this disease, the intraocular pressure increases sharply in a very short period of time, which is reflected by the pressure on the optic nerve in eye pain and increasing visual disturbance.Other possible rare causes are iritis, an inflammation of the iris and retrobulbar neuritis, an inflammation of the optic nerve and surrounding tissue. If visual disturbances occur together with severe headaches and nausea, caution is required if migraine is not known in the medical history.

In combination, these symptoms can be signs of increased intracranial pressure, which can be triggered by a cerebral haemorrhage, for example. Thus, when these symptoms first appear, it is clearly advisable to consult your family doctor in order to rule out worse causes. However, severe migraines can also be accompanied by the symptoms described. The visual disturbance usually lasts only a few hours and can vary greatly in its extent.