What is Migraine?
A Migraine is described as a continuous throbbing headache which affects only one side of the head. It is usually accompanied by a disturbed vision, sensitivity to light & sound and nausea. It can cause extreme throbbing pain which can last from hours to days. The pain is usually extremely disabling. Warning signs of a Migraine include tingling sensation on your face, leg or arm, blind spots and flashes of light. Taking certain medications can make the Migraines less painful. It usually begins in early adulthood, adolescence or childhood.
Stages of Migraine:
Prodrome- Two or three days before you get a Migraine, you can get warned by subtle changes such as constipation, intense mood swings, food cravings, neck stiffness, frequent urination, increase in thirst and frequent yawning.
Aura- This usually occurs during or before a Migraine. They usually have signs such as zigzag vision, wavy or light vision and flashes of light. Sometimes, aura can also be characterized by speech disturbances. These symptoms can last for 20 to 60 minutes at a stretch.
Attack- In this stage the Migraine usually lasts from 4 to 72 hours if it isn’t treated. The frequency of the occurrence of the headache can vary from person to person. In this stage, you might experience pain on both or just one side of your head, pulsing pain, sensitivity to light, nausea, vomiting and fainting.
Post drome- This is known as the final stage of a Migraine. Many people feel washed out and drained. People can also experience confusion, moodiness, dizziness, weakness and sensitivity to light and sound.
When should you consult a doctor?
Usually Migraines are mild and can heal on its own within a few days, but sometimes it can be an underlying condition of a much serious disorder. It is vital to consult a general physician if you experience certain serious symptoms such as a severe headache, mental confusion, and extreme headache with a stiff neck, severe headache which gets worse if you cough or strain your neck muscles and if you are older than 50 years.
What causes Migraines?
Hormonal changes such as estrogen fluctuations trigger headaches in a lot of women. Many women have a tendency to develop acute Migraines during menopause or pregnancy.
Foods such as processed food, salty food and aged cheese can also cause Migraine.
Alcohol consumptions is a major cause of extreme Migraines in people.
Stress at home or work can also cause Migraines.
Headaches such as migraines, cluster headaches, sinus headaches and tension headaches are really agonizing conditions that most of us has faced for at least once in their lives. Most of the time pounding headaches are treated with anti-nausea and pain relieving drugs. Headaches typically cause unwanted symptoms like nausea and vomiting and make us feel week throughout the day. When a headache occurs, the pain originates from the surrounding tissues around the brain or the skull, since anatomically speaking the skull or the brain itself do not have any nerves that may give rise to the sensation known as pain. Since pain are only felt in your metabolism when there are pain fibers in that particular part of our anatomy.
Headaches can develop when and only when nerves and the thin layer of tissue that surrounds the muscles which encases our skull, eyes, ears, sinuses becomes inflamed or irritated for a plethora of reasons. Headaches can be sharp, dull, throbbing, intermittent, constant, intense and mild, depending on the cause of the malady.
Treatment :In the year 2013, the IHS (International Headache Society) released their latest classification system for this malady. It was though by the experts on this disease that as so many people suffer from this agonizing illness, and since the treatment of headaches becomes very difficult at times, it was hoped that this new classification system will help the health-care professionals to make a more accurate diagnosis of this disease and hence allow a more better and effective options for its treatment.
The three major categories that heads has been classified based upon the pain of source are:
Primary headaches
Secondary headaches and
Facial pain, cranial neuralgias and other kinds of more typical headaches
Primary headaches includes tension, cluster and tension headaches.
According to WHO (World Health Organization), 1 out of 20 percent people across the globe suffer with daily tension headaches in their lives. While cluster and migraine headaches affect most men and women during their puberty. Secondary headaches are those headaches which occurs because of underlying structural problems in the head and neck of the patients. This is a very bad kind of medical condition, which can be life threatening at times. Hangovers, traumatic and post-concussion headaches are also included in this type.
The third type of headaches which consists of cranial neuralgia happens because of the inflammation of any one or more of the 12 cranial nerves which originates from the brain. One typical example of these headaches is trigeminal neuralgia, which occurs because of the inflammation of the cranial nerve V and cause intense facial pain when it get inflamed or irritated.