Headaches: myths and truths

It seems that most people have had a headache at least once in their life.

According to the latest data of the Latvian population habit study, 45% of people have complaints about headaches for various reasons. For some people, headaches tend to be so strong that they temporarily cause incapacity for work and significantly worsen the quality of life in general.

One of the most common headaches in the world is migraine. What is a migraine? A migraine is a moderate to very severe headache accompanied by aversion to sound, light, nausea and possibly even vomiting. During a migraine, a person cannot continue their usual daily activities or planned work, and one attack can last up to 3 days.

Did you know that migraine is also associated with disability? Migraine generally affects around 15% of the population and is the 3rd most common cause of Years lived with disability in the world in all ages and both sexes.

About 2% of the population suffers from chronic migraines, when such severe headaches occur more often than 15 days a month. Among young women of working age, migraine is the second leading cause of disability-adjusted life years in the world. It also occurs in men, but less often.

Latvian residents also suffer from migraines. Only in Latvia it is not customary to talk about headache as a disease. Many people still do not know that a headache can be not only a sign of a disease, but also a separate disease that significantly affects well-being and reduces work capacity.

Why do we need to talk about headaches? If you want to promote the health of your employees, we invite you to attend this educational workshop on headaches. Public health education will not only promote public health in general, but will also increase the working capacity of people with headaches and increase the income of the organization.

In the seminar you will learn about:

classifications and types of headaches;

more frequent and more bothersome headaches;

headache diagnosis;

recommendations for headache prevention and treatment.

The lecture is led by Dr. Līga Mekša – neurologist and algologist. Specialized in headache care for children and adults as well as multiple sclerosis patients. In addition to her basic studies, the doctor has also gained international experience and knowledge, including at the Danish and Vienna Headache Centers. dr. Mekša heads the Headache Unit of the Riga Eastern Clinical University Hospital "Gailezers".