Information on Migraine

A migraine is much more than a bad headache. A migraine headache is a recurrent, throbbing headache generally felt on one side of the head. Migraines normally begin in early childhood, adolescence, or young adult life. Migraine pain could be excruciating, and might incapacitate you for hours or even days.

In a few cases, these painful headaches are preceded or accompanied by a sensory warning sign (aura), such as flashes of light, blind spots or tingling in your arm or leg. A migraine is also frequently accompanied by other signs and symptoms, such as nausea, vomiting, and extreme sensitivity to light and sound.

The exact causes of migraines are unknown, although they are related to changes in the brain as well as to genetic causes. People with migraines might inherit the tendency to be affected by certain migraine triggers, such as fatigue, bright lights, weather changes, and others.

A migraine trigger is any factor that causes a headache in individuals who are prone to develop headaches. Only a little proportion of migraine sufferers, however, clearly could identify triggers. Examples of triggers include stress, sleep disturbances, fasting, hormones, bright or flickering lights, odors, cigarette smoke, alcohol, aged cheeses, chocolate, monosodium glutamate, nitrites, aspartame, and caffeine. For some women, the decline in the blood level of estrogen during the onset of menstruation is a trigger for migraine headaches. The interval between exposure to a trigger and the onset of headache varies from hours to two days. Exposure to a trigger doesn't always lead to a headache. Conversely, avoidance of triggers can't completely prevent headaches. Different migraine sufferers respond to different triggers, and any one trigger won't induce a headache in every person who has migraine headaches.

A variety of drugs have been specifically designed to treat migraines. Additionally, some drugs normally used to treat other conditions also might help relieve or prevent migraines. Medications used to combat migraines fall into two broad categories:

Pain-relieving medications. Also known as acute or abortive treatment, these types of drugs are taken during migraine attacks and are designed to stop symptoms that have already begun.

Preventive medications are indicated when migraines occur on a regular basis. Different physicians and patients will have different thresholds for determining when migraines are occurring often enough to justify such medications. Preventive medications must be taken every day, whether there is a headache present or not. They won't be helpful if taken only when an attack strikes.