6 headache causes that you wouldn’t expect

5.  SEX HEADACHE Sometimes referred to by its official name, coital cephalgia, the sex headache — a headache brought on by sexual activity — is a real phenomenon. One of the most

disconcerting kinds of headaches, it can present in two ways: as a dull ache in the head and neck that intensifies as sexual excitement increases, or as a sudden, thunderclap headache that

occurs just before orgasm. “They are terrifying. People are in the middle of a sexual activity, about to orgasm, and all of the sudden it feels their head is about to blow off,” Brandes

says. But most sex headaches, while excruciating, are nothing to worry about. They resolve on their own and are not symptomatic of an underlying condition. Because sex headaches can be

linked to a brain tumor, if you do suffer from them, doctors recommend brain imaging such as an MRI to rule out a more serious cause. FOR RELIEF: If you suffer from frequent sex headaches,

you can take preventive prescription medicines before you plan to have sex. Typically, these kinds of headaches occur in clusters and then go away, never to recur. 6.  MEDICATION OVERUSE

HEADACHE Also called the rebound headache, a medication overuse headache occurs when certain medications are used too frequently. “This kind of headache is more likely to occur with

prescription pain drugs such as opioids, if taken more than eight days a month,” Burstein says. But even over-the-counter pain drugs such as aspirin, acetaminophen (Tylenol) or ibuprofen

(Advil) — if taken for more than 15 days a month — can be a trigger. It’s a catch-22, because you need to treat the headache, but then the treatment itself becomes the problem. “Medication

overuse has a negative connotation, as if people are doing something wrong. But people are trying to be functional and get rid of the headache by beating it down. The medication helps, but

does not stop the headache, which rises again and they are not able to break the migraine attack,” Brandes says. To stop the cycle, the goal is to cut back on the medications, taking them

less than three times a week. FOR RELIEF: A new crop of migraine drugs, called CGRP (calcitonin gene-related peptide) inhibitors, can reduce medication overuse. This class of drug targets

and blocks CGRP, a small protein that circulates in the head and the neck during a migraine.  Whatever your headache trigger is, it’s important to take a proactive approach to treating your

headaches, especially migraines. Otherwise, headaches beget headaches. “More headaches will decrease the threshold of initiation for the next migraine attack,” Burstein says. “That’s why the

patient needs to treat the migraine and try to minimize it.” Migraines won’t simply go away on their own. But with the right treatment, you can make them less frequent, shorter and

surprisingly tolerable. _Elizabeth Marglin is a Colorado-based journalist, writer and poet. She writes regularly for _Yoga Journal,_ _Spirituality & Health_, AARP and more._