Frequent headaches? Doc advises check-up
Over the years, many of our health stories have focussed on diabetes, cancer, and of course, the impact of HIV and AIDS. But tonight we take a closer look at conditions that affect the brain, because as one local doctor maintains, what you don’t know can kill you.
Kendra Griffith, Reporting
As the centre of the nervous system, the human brain is considered to be one the most vital organs in the body.
Dr. John Sosa, Neurologist
“You have your skull, underneath your skull you have this hard lining of your brain that protects it that we call the dura, then you have a little thin lining that is like a spider web between that dura and a very thin lining on the brain and we call that the arachnoid and below the arachnoid on top of the brain itself is what we call the pia. Then you have your brain. So your brain lies basically within three membranes and your skull.”
And although it is encased in bone, the brain is still very sensitive. According to Neurologist Dr. John Sosa, brain problems and injuries account for a significant portion of A&E patients.
Dr. John Sosa
“Around thirty-five, forty percent of everyone who comes to the emergency room has some sort of neurological or brain problem more or less, quite a lot of people.”
Kendra Griffith
“What are the most common ones?”
Dr. John Sosa
“Strokes, seizures, headaches and of course you spoke about injuries. We also have people who have injuries that I sometimes see but mostly the neurosurgeon sees those.”
Other afflictions include tumours, aneurysms, and subdural haematoma, the condition that sent Bishop Dorrick Wright to the K.H.M.H. for emergency surgery last week.
Dr. John Sosa
“Bishop Wright had a subdural haematoma, which means that he had a bleeding below the thick covering that covers the brain that is a protection really and the brain itself. … You have vessels like little canals that are in that thick covering that carry venous blood, so those are the veins of your brain and what happens is that if those little veins burst or they pop you get a bleeding down between that covering and the brain and it pressing on your brain.”
“Usually the most frequent cause is that someone is hit in the head or falls down. Usually in a more elderly person, the veins are more fragile and the veins pop because of a blow, but it can happen what we call spontaneously. As you get older your brain shrinks and when your veins shrinks, what you have is that you stretch the little veins and if they get stretched enough they can pop.”
But while haematomas and tumours are accompanied by symptoms; someone with an aneurysm may not know it until it’s too late.
Dr. John Sosa
“An aneurysm is like I said before like a balloon on an artery, the subdural bleed is from a vein, so there’s a difference right. And the artery is under pressure, so when an artery bursts the blood spurts out into the brain around the brain and that gives you severe headaches. It can give you problems with bleeding inside the brain where the blood accumulates and that can affect your brain function and you can even have a coma and die. In fact, fifty percent of all patients who have aneurysms die before reaching the hospital and around half of those who reach the hospital die in the hospital because of the bleeding or of complications.”
“So you can live your whole life with an aneurysm, ninety-ninety percent, it never burst and you never know unless you do an autopsy and you will not know and nothing happened and if you are unlucky enough and you have an aneurysm burst, well then you know because you find out after the fact, after you had the problem.”
Dr. Sosa’s advice: see you doctor if you suffer from constant headaches and have other risk factors.
Dr. John Sosa
“Patients over forty, having headaches all the time, even with high blood pressure for example. Lots of people in Belize have high blood pressure and they say, oh, pressure have mi head the hurt mi, you should still check to make sure. Patients who have severe headaches too frequently, three, four headaches every week, even if they think it’s only migraine or sinus, they should get checked out. And patients who get a blow to the head and have headaches all the time, even if months afterwards if they have headaches, they should get checked out just to be sure. And of course if you know you have risk factors, I am a sickle cell patient I have too many headache, you have to be sure for example.”
The silver lining for patients who are diagnosed with brain conditions is that medical advancements have improved significantly over the years, allowing Belizeans to access neurological care at home. Kendra Griffith reporting for News Five.
Dr. John Sosa holds a neurological clinic at the K.H.M.H. on Tuesdays and Fridays from nine to twelve. He also keeps office hours at Belize Medical Associates on weekday afternoons.
