Passage 6: Note Making and Summarizing | Class 11 English Grammar PDF Download

Read the following passage carefully:

1. It’s headache having a headache. Almost all of us have suffered from a headache at some time or the other. For some headache is a constant companion and life can be a painful hell of wasted time.
2. The most important step to cope with headaches is to identify the type of headache one is suffering from. In tension headaches (two hand headache), a feeling of a tight band around the head exists along with pain in the neck and shoulders. It usually follows activities such as long stretches of driving, typing or sitting on the desk. They are usually short-timed, but can last for days or weeks?
3. A headache is usually caused due to spinal misalignment of the head, due to poor posture. Sleeping on the stomach with the head turned to one side and bending over positions for a long time make it worse.
4. In migraine headaches (one handed headaches), the pain is usually on one side of the head and may be accompanied by nausea, vomiting, irritability and bright spots of flashes of light. This headache is made worse by activity, especially bending. The throbbing pain in the head gets worse by noise and light. Certain triggers for migraines may be chocolate, caffeine, smoking or MSU in certain food items. The pain may last from eight to 24 hours and there may be a hangover for two-three days.
5. Migraines are often preceded by an aura—changes in sight and sensation. There is usually a family history of migraine.
6. In a headache the pain originates not from the brain but from irritated nerves of muscles, blood vessels and bones. These send pain signals to the brain which then judges the degree of distress and relays it at appropriate sites. The pain may sometimes be referred to sites other than the problem areas. This is known as referred pain and occurs due to sensation overload. Thus, though most headaches start at the base of the skull the referred pain is felt typically behind the eyes.
7. Factors causing headaches are not fully understood but it is known that a shift in the level of body hormones and chemicals, certain food and drinks and environmental stress can trigger them.
8. If headaches trouble you often, visit the doctor, who will take a full health history relating to diet, lifestyle stresses, the type of headache, triggering factors and relief measures. You may be asked to keep a “headache diary” which tells you to list the time the headache started, when it ended, emotional, environmental and food and drink factors which may have contributed to it. The type and severity of pain and the medications used which provided most relief, are also to be listed.
9. This helps the doctor in determining the exact cause and type of headache and the type of drugs to use. Apart from this a physical examination is done to rule out any serious underlying cause. The blood pressure is recorded, vision tested and muscle coordination o; the eyes is checked to rule out these as causes. Blood tests may be done to rule out anaemia, diabetes and thyroid disease. If any of the above is abnormal or otherwise a CT Scan or MRI may be done to see tissues and structures around the brain. These will rule out causes such as tumors, haemorrhage and infection of the brain, this examination gives a clear picture of the problem to the doctor.
10. Immediate relief can be obtained by certain medications and a few simple self-care techniques. Using ice against the pain site, covering eyes with dark glasses, drinking plenty of fluids and lying down in a dark and quiet room, provide relief in a migraine attack. Pain killers like aspirin, ibuprofen (brufen) and crocin can be taken and provide relief in different proportions. These should be used with caution and under medical supervision, if used for long periods and large quantities as all of them can cause many side effects. An antiemetic like perinorm can help the nausea associated with a migraine.

Q.1. On the basis of your reading of the passage make notes on it, using recognizable abbreviations wherever necessary. Use a suitable format. Supply an appropriate title.

Notes:

Q.2. Make a summary of the passage.

Summary:
All of us suffer from headache. It can be of many types. The tension headache is short lived. But there can be headache due to body posture. Migraine headache is caused due to nausea, vomitting and irritability. In headache pain starts from irritated nerves of muscles; blood vessels and bones. There are many other factors like food environment and body postures that may result in a headache. It can be cured through physical examination of doctor. Other diseases like B.P., diabetes may also be got checked. The best technique is to have self care or to use pain killers as per prescription of the doctor.