Dr. Henry D. Ogden of the Louisiana State university school of medicine said in Detroit today that headaches have so many different causes that it's a waste of time looking for a single cure.
Dr. Ogden, one of the nation's foremost experts on headaches, said a given treatment may or may not be effective according to the stage of the headache when it's applied.
In an address to the Scientific Assembly of the Michigan Academy of General Practices, Dr. Ogden said that aside from headaches caused by injury and other physical causes, the trouble starts in the arteries serving the brain.
For a wide variety of reasons, the arteries become constricted and blood attempting to get through these constricted arteries must push hanier than usual and the pulsations of the blood dilate ^the arteries again, he said.
They also irritate nearby fibres to cause the pain and eventually the artery walls become swollen, 'he said. That is why medication which dilates or widens the arteries1 will be effective if given when the headaches starts, but won't be effective later.
Once the vessels reach the swollen stage, bed rest and analgesic drugs such as aspirin are the standard treatment. These don't really influence the course of the headache — they just mask pain temporarily, he said.
