You can't tell the players -- or in this case, the pounders -- without a program. So here's a fast field guide to a few of the kind of headaches most of us either do get, or suspect we get. Can't promise that knowing what to call the pain will make it feel any better ... but at least you'll be able to complain about it with a little more specificity.
TENSION HEADACHE
CLAIM TO FAME: The most common type of headache. MODUS OPERANDI: Feels like a tight band around your head. CAUSE: Tight muscles in the face, neck and scalp, usually caused by stress.
MIGRAINE
CLAIM TO FAME: A headache has to be pretty nasty to earn the name migraine -- French for "half a head." MODUS OPERANDI: A throbbing pain, usually on one side of the head. Usually accompanied by nausea, vomiting and sensitivity to light and sound. SUSPECTED CAUSE: Uneven levels of the brain chemical serotonin, which causes the blood vessels in the head to constrict, then expand, putting pressure on surrounding nerves. Can be aggravated by the hormonal changes of the menstrual cycle. WEIRD FACT: Most migraines are preceded by what's called an aura -- flickering points of light or jagged lines that distort your vision.
SINUS HEADACHE
MODUS OPERANDI: Pain around the bridge of your nose, jaws and ears. Usually starts in the morning and gets worse throughout the day. CAUSE: When you have a sinus infection, trapped air and pus press against the swollen, tender lining of your sinuses. WEIRD FACT: Sinus infections are common, but sinus headaches are actually quite rare. "Sinus headaches are misdiagnosed and over self-diagnosed," says Seymour Diamond, MD, director of the National Headache Foundation. Even people with severe sinusitis rarely get headaches from it."
CLUSTER HEADACHE
CLAIM TO FAME: The most excruciating of all headaches. MODUS OPERANDI: A piercing, throbbing, burning pain that bores into one side of the head, around or behind the eyes. Can occur several times each day for weeks or months at a time. CAUSE: Unknown WEIRD FACT: Most common in the spring and fall, when there's a sharp increase or decrease in the number of daylight hours. About 90 percent of those who get cluster headaches are men.
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