Headaches are quite common in every single person, regardless of age, given the current lifestyle. Due to excessive stress all around, regarding work and other commitments, it is indeed quite difficult to cope with this pressure and headache is but an obvious consequence.
However, some types of headaches are not a result of an external factor but area serious disorder. One such type is migraine. Many people fail to recognise that their headache is a migraine headache.
Hence, you must understand the symptoms and migraine causes.
What is a migraine?
Amongst different kinds of headaches, migraine is one of the most debilitating one. It is a pulsating and throbbing sensation that is extremely distressing. At times it is so painful that even normal daily activities are disrupted.
Though it was long thought that headaches can occur only in adults, it is now proven that even children can have migraines. In fact, reports have proven that many of the migraine sufferers have had their first migraine attack before they are 12 years old.
Signs and symptoms:
Along with migraine causes, the symptoms are also very important and must be known to you so that you can distinguish migraine from other headaches. The common signs are –
- Severe pain in one side of the head
- Nausea
- Vomiting
- Stiffness in neck
- Mood swings
- Constipation
- Craving for food
- Frequent yawning
- Frequent urge to urinate
- Increased thirst
Causes of migraine:
Now that you have known about the signs and symptoms of this headache, you need to know about migraine causes, so that you can eliminate your chances of suffering. But, the fact is that there is no solid evidence as to what exactly causes migraine pain. Researchers have identified that the pain is associated with an abnormality in the levels of certain brain chemicals.
To be specific, it is associated especially with the brain chemicals such as serotonin. Serotonin and certain other brain chemicals manage and regulate the pain that is caused by the nervous system. When the serotonin levels drop significantly it causes migraine.
During migraine attacks, certain substances called neuropeptides are released into the brain by trigeminal nerves. These substances travel throughout the meninges or outer covering of brain, generating this pain.
Triggers of migraine:
Migraines are often associated with some external factors known as triggers. These can accentuate the attack. These triggers may vary from person to person. But the most common triggers that can be deemed as migraine causesare –
- Hormonal changes in women:
Hormonal changes have a strong impact on the migraine pain. Since women undergo hormonal changes during menstrual cycle, pregnancy as well as post-menopause, women are more likely to suffer from migraine than men.
- Certain foods:
Eating foods that have preservatives and are salty and processed can often trigger this headache. Monosodium Glutamate or MSG, sausages, aged cheese, etc. are foods that are often linked with this pain.
- Strong smell:
From perfume and deodorant to incense sticks, any strong odour, can trigger migraine.
- Changes in the pattern of sleep:
Whether you sleep too much or too less, or if you sleep at a different cycle than usual, your migraine pain might be triggered.
- Exposure to strong light and loud sound:
If you are in an atmosphere, where there is too much of light and sound, it can trigger the pain. Even the changes in atmospheric pressure can trigger this pain.
- Certain medicines:
There are certain medicines like oral contraceptives and others that are associated with inciting migraine pain.
If you think that you have migraine, it is the best idea to see a doctor and confirming the condition, so that the treatment is proper.
This is the easiest way to identify your triggers or the migraine causes that might have been the causative factors for your pain.
