Getting sick gives humans an unsettling feeling throughout the day. It interferes with daily life routines and potentially causes emotional distress especially in the long run. Experiencing a headache can be debilitating when it gets too painful. This could precipitate the worst health condition when associated with sore throat. It can raise great concerns when a person has a headache and sore throat at the same time. Getting a health screening is the best way to understand these episodes.
Before probing further into the possibility of health problems related to headache and sore throat, you may want to know how a person can acquire these symptoms. Headaches and sore throat often coexist when a person is facing an infection. When an infection enters the body especially through the nose by droplets in the air or aerosolized via airborne, the pathogen makes way into the body and usually first affects the structure of the throat. This triggers the body’s immune system to react by causing inflammation to help eliminate the infection. Part of the inflammation process causes pain sensation to the human. At the same time, this inflammation may have triggered the nerve cells responsible for pain and sent to the brain system. Eventually, headaches occur as a response.
Since headache symptoms itself is linked with many kinds of diseases, it is quite difficult to pinpoint it to the exact disease. Hence, healthcare practitioners will usually ask numerous questions to help narrow down this dreadful list of diseases and provide the right treatment. Suspected diseases when a person have headaches and sore throat are:
1- COVID-19– This disease probably needs no introduction especially after years of restrictions and health protocols since the early 2020. Used to be pandemic, it is now considered as endemic in most countries since vaccination programmes roll-out. Flu-like symptoms such as fever, headache, dry cough, fatigue, muscle and joint pain are usually presented in COVID-19 patients.
2- Influenza– There are four types of influenza viruses, A, B C and D. Types A and B are the main causes of influenza outbreaks. Most common type in Malaysia is the type A strains and known as seasonal influenza or the flu.
3- Tonsillitis. Tonsils are a pair of soft tissue masses located behind the throat (pharynx) and function as part of the body immune system. Tonsillitis is inflammation of the tonsils and can be caused by viruses and bacteria. Fever, enlargement of tonsil, pain during swallowing (odynophagia) and swallowing difficulty (dysphagia) are obvious symptoms of tonsillitis.
4- Streptococcal pharyngitis. Pharynx is part of the throat located behind the oral and nasal cavity. Streptococcal pharyngitis involves inflammation of the pharynx caused by bacterial infection specifically the streptococcus pyogenes or easily known as Group A Streptococcus. Aside from sudden fever and no coughing, prominent signs of this disease are inflammation signs such as reddish pharynx, fluid (exudate) produced by the tonsil and swollen lymph nodes in the neck. To differentiate this disease with other acute pharyngitis, throat swabs will be done for laboratory test or rapid antigen detection test (RADT).
5- Allergy. Allergy reaction happens due to the hypersensitivity towards certain substances that triggers the body immune system. It is often triggered by allergens. Most common allergens are pollen, dust, moulds, house mites, pet hairs or feathers, insect bites, certain medications and food. Typical symptoms include runny nose, watery eyes, skin rash, itchy skin and swelling inside the mouth, face, lip and what tongue. In much severe cases such as in anaphylactic shock can be life threatening as it causes breathing problems due to narrowing airway and sudden drop of blood pressure . Check our Hajj vaccination package.
