Overview

Cough headaches are an unusual type of headache triggered by coughing and other types of straining — such as from sneezing, blowing your nose, laughing, crying, singing, bending over or having a bowel movement.

Doctors divide cough headaches into two categories. Primary cough headaches are usually harmless, occur in limited episodes and eventually improve on their own. Secondary cough headaches, also called symptomatic cough headaches, are more serious, as they can be caused by problems within the brain. Treatment of secondary cough headaches may require surgery.