Pain in the back of the head with other symptoms
When pain in the back of the head is accompanied by dizziness, this is usually due to a harmless cause. In the vast majority of cases, tension in the neck muscles is the trigger for the complaints. In this case, the above-mentioned home remedies and conversion measures usually help.
Although it is theoretically also possible that a tumor is behind the combination of back pain and dizziness, this is only the case in very few people affected – no reason for concern!Only if the dizziness is more or less permanent for a longer period of at least one to two weeks should you have a medical examination to be absolutely sure. If the pain in the back of the head is accompanied by nausea, the cause is usually to be found in the neurological spectrum. The additional occurrence of fever and/or neck stiffness indicates meningitis (inflammation of the meninges) and should result in immediate hospitalization!
With this disease, the symptoms develop relatively quickly within a few hours. If, on the other hand, a gradual increase in symptoms is felt over a longer period of several weeks, the reason is probably more likely to be increased intracranial pressure. In very rare cases, this can also be caused by a tumor, but in most cases a much less serious cause is found. In the case of recurring headaches with nausea, migraines should also be considered. In this case you should consult a neurologist to confirm the suspicion and to start an appropriate drug therapy.
Other causes
A distinction is made between a primary headache, which includes migraine and cluster headaches. Secondary headache is caused by another disorder or a specific trigger, such as trauma, brain tumor or bleeding in the brain. In addition, various classes of medication can cause headache as a side effect.
An important differential diagnosis is subarachnoid hemorrhage. The arachnoid (spider skin) is the outer of the two inner soft meninges (leptomeninx). A bleeding into the subarachnoid space thus spills into the space between the meninges and the brain, with the arachnoidea closely fitting the brain.
The cause of this arterial bleeding is usually the rupture of an aneurysm. As in post-coital headache, pulsating headache occurs, which usually starts very suddenly and has a very strong intensity, so that it is also called destructive headache. In addition, neck pain and stiffness of the neck (meningismus) occur and there may be a brief, temporary loss of consciousness.
Symptoms that harden the suspicion of a subarachnoid hemorrhage are also cerebral pressure signs, vomiting, drop in blood pressure and a change in breathing and pulse rate. In the long term, serious neurological deficits can be the result, and subarachnoid hemorrhage is ultimately a special form of stroke. In this respect, subarachnoid hemorrhage is always a medical emergency that requires immediate treatment.
