A brief discussion of migraine headache symptoms

A throbbing and pulsating pain, mostly concentrated in one side of your head – is this the scenario of your headache type? Well, the chances are that your headache type is not just a simple tension type, but a migraine headache. Do not worry or panic about it as you are not the only one to suffer from a migraine headache. Migraines are quite common, but sadly, very few people seem to know about it. In fact, many sufferers fear to accept the possibility that their headache type can be migraine. But, if you have knowledge about the migraine headache symptoms, you will be able to identify your pain type.

Importance of knowing migraine symptoms:

The problem for most people that prohibits them from recognizing or identifying their type of headache is the lack of knowledge regarding its symptoms. This results in a delayed treatment or misdiagnosis and wrong treatment. In case of migraine, this can be really difficult as the pain is almost always extremely severe and difficult to cope with. Hence, to make sure that you do not delay its treatment and see a doctor at once, you must have an idea of the headache symptoms of migraine.

When you are talking about these symptoms, there is a factor that you should understand. The symptoms of migraine vary to quite an extent, from one stage to the other.

Here is a brief discussion regarding those symptoms in different stages of this headache.

Migraine headache symptoms during prodrome:

The prodrome is the stage that occurs before a migraine attack. It can last for about one or two days before an actual attack. The migraine symptoms at this stage are –

• Craving for food
• Constipation
• Increased thirst
• Increased urination
• Mood swings (sometimes you will feel depressed and sometimes euphoric, suddenly)
• Stiffness in neck
• Frequent yawning

These are very subtle changes or symptoms, but they indicate that a migraine attack is ensuing.

Migraine symptoms during an attack:

The migraine headache symptoms during an attack are –

• Throbbing or pulsating pain in one side of head
• Nausea
• Vomiting
• Sensitivity to light, sound and strong smell
• Feeling lightheaded
• Blurred vision.

This stage can last for about 4 hours to as long as 72 hours. How long it will continue, cannot be predetermined. Even the frequency of a migraine attack varies from person to person. One can have migraine attacks a number of times in a month and others can get it once or twice a year.

Auras as migraine headache symptoms:

One of the most significant aspects of migraine headache symptoms is aura. Auras are nervous system disorders that can disturb sensory, motor and verbal sensations. These are extremely debilitating and disabling. These auras are not compulsory signs of migraine, but many sufferers experience them. The common auras are –

• Temporary vision loss
• Temporary paralysis
• Temporary speech loss
• Prickling or piercing sensation in arms and legs
• Convulsions
• Hearing noises
• Weakness
• Seeing flashes of light, bright spot or various shapes in front of eyes.

Usually the auras last for about 20 to 60 minutes.

Migraine headache symptoms during postdrome:

The symptoms of migraine at the last stage or postdrome, which is the stage after an attack, range within –

• Moodiness
• Confusion
• Weakness
• Dizziness
• Extreme sensitivity to light or sound.

If you too experience any of these migraine headache symptoms, there are chances that your headache type is migraine. In that case, it is a very good idea that you see a doctor at once. The doctor will be able to diagnose your condition properly and prescribe the right medicines. There are medicines that can help you cope with the pain and seek the best treatment procedure. Just find the best doctor near you.

Migraine Causes And Symptoms That Will Help You To Identify Your Pain!

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.

Is it just a simple headache or a migraine? Know the migraine causes to stay alert!

Are you suffering from severe headaches? Using balms or drinking a cup of tea isn’t coming of any help? Is the pain so severe that you fail to do your daily activities? Well, there are chances that you are having a migraine attack!

Relax, there is nothing to panic. Migraine headaches have become increasingly common and it is not just you, who is suffering from this extreme pain. There are many like you; even children! Your pain can be managed. But before that is done, you need to see a doctor. It is only a doctor, who will be able to diagnose your condition and identify if your headache type is migraine or not. In case it is, you need to identify the migrainecauses, so that you can eliminate them completely and get relief.

The mechanism of migraine pain:

Migraine headache has no particular cause behind it. Science cannot tell what exactly causes this extreme, severe, throbbing and pulsating sensation in the brain. But, genes and environmental factors are largely responsible for this and there is no denying this fact.

However, one thing that can clearly be said is that migraine is associated with the brain-stream and how it interacts with the trigeminal nerves. The trigeminal nerves are a major pathway for the brain to manage the pain in the brain. There are chemicals in the brain that keep the pain sensation low. One such chemical is serotonin.

Research studies have shown certain specific migraine causes, when serotonin levels drop significantly. The pain causing chemicals such as neuropeptides are released in the brain and as they travel through the meninges, the pain is felt.

Some of the major causes:

Some of the major and possible migraine causes can be –

• Irregularity of the blood vessels in the brain
• Disorder of the central nervous system
• Abnormality and imbalance of brain chemicals
• Genetic predisposition

Major triggers of migraine:

Now that the possible migraine causes are identified, it is also important for you to know about the migraine triggers. There are certain factors that trigger the pain in the head. These can vary from person to person, but here are a few factors that are universal and common for most people. These include –

1. Foods and drinks:

Aged cheese, salty or processed foods, preservatives etc. foods and even MSG can trigger the pain in the head. Not just the foods, but also alcohol can trigger this pain.

2. Hormonal changes in women:

This is a reason, why more women suffer from migraine than women. Women, during their pregnancy, menopause and even before or during their menstruation get these attacks more frequently.

3. Sensory stimuli:

One of the very common signs of migraine is that the pain increases with light, sound and smell sensation. When you encounter strong light or smell or hear loud noises and sounds, it is likely that the pain will increase.

There are many other factors like sleep pattern changes, changes in atmospheric pressure etc. that vary from person to person. What migraine causes and triggers have been instrumental for you can be noted down in a migraine diary. You can download the diary from here http://www.mewithoutmigraine.com/migraine-diary/. See a doctor and he will guide you properly.

What is migraine and how to maintain oneself against it?

The present century has brought with itself, apart from a variety of technological inventions, a series of health issues that gets aggravated with every passing day. Headaches being quite common amongst them are truly of those types that make sure that a person is rendered helpless for almost quite a period of time.

One of those unique types of headache is known as migraine headaches. 

What is migraine?

What is migraine is a persistent question for many, who are identified as suffering from the symptoms of this pain. A migraine headache is a severe headache that has its origin in the autonomic nervous system. It brings with itself a series of symptoms along with the pain that can actually last from a couple of hours to a few days, disrupting the daily activities of the person. Hence one needs to be very careful regarding the occurrence of this pain and its final outcome. Identifying the symptoms would make it easier to survive them.

What are the symptoms?

The very first question that people generally ask after being informed that this headache has its own special symptoms is that what is migraine and what is so special about this headache?

Since it is quite different from general pain, people should be aware of its peculiarities 

• The pain is unilateral and throbbing in nature. It starts from one side of the head and it is on this side that the person feels the maximum pressure.
• However after a certain point of time, the pain can spread all over the head and hence, can easily cause an intense headache that could last for hours or days together.
• The person develops an intense sensitivity towards sound and light, making existence in any type of light very difficult. Dark and closed room is specially preferred in these cases.
• A vomiting tendency develops along with a feeling of nausea. Apart from it there is a sense of weakness in the whole body and also there is accompaniment of fever, sweating and severe diarrhoea in certain cases.

Thus, generally speaking a person is completely rendered helpless, in case of migraine attacks.

The answer to the query what is migraine can also rendered, when one talks about the types of headaches that one can face in this case.

• Cluster headache or pain that occurs in cycles is specifically significant part of the migraine attack.
• In case of ocular migraine one loses vision completely for a certain periods of time.

How to avoid it:

Like many other headaches, the pain and also many of its associated symptoms can definitely be reduced to a great extent. Once you have known what is migraine and how the symptoms may affect you, you can handle the pain and survive the symptoms. A doctor will certainly help you in this regard. One can definitely consider http://www.mewithoutmigraine.com/locate-a-doctor/ to search for a doctor, who can help in reducing this problem.

• One should stay away from those food items that may trigger the pain, such as wine, cheese, smoking etc.
• One should exercise regularly. In this way, a person can have proper body fitness reducing the chances of this pain.
• Maintaining a proper routine of diet and sleep is very important. This increases the power to sustain the pain.

A doctor will also help you to identify your triggers and reduce the pain.