
What Is Migraine?

Migraines are headaches that are accompanied by nausea, vomiting, and light sensitivity. Depending on the severity, it might last for several hours or days.
Migraines are more than headaches. They are neurological conditions characterized by a variety of symptoms. There are a number of symptoms associated with the disease besides intense and debilitating headaches:
- nausea
- vomiting
- Speaking difficulties
- Feeling numb or tingly
- Light and sound sensitivity
There is a tendency for the condition to run in families, and it can affect anyone at any age. The likelihood of being diagnosed with migraine is higher among females than males at birth.
A migraine diagnosis is made based on the patient’s medical history, symptoms they are facing, and excluding other factors.
What migraine feels like?
When you have a migraine, how does it feel?
Migraine pain is commonly described as:
- An intense pulsation
- throbbing
- perforating
- pounding
- debilitating
There can also be a dull, steady ache associated with it. There is a possibility that the pain will start out mild. When left untreated, it can progress from mild to severe.
There is a high prevalence of migraine pain in the forehead region. Most often, it is on one side of the head, but it can occur on both sides or shift from side to side as well.
There is an average duration of 4 hours for migraine attacks. It can take up to a week for them to resolve if they’re left untreated or don’t respond to treatment. A migraine with aura may have pain alongside an aura or not experience any pain at all.
Stages and symptoms of migraines
There are many factors that can affect migraine symptoms, including how they change over a period of hours or even days. There are several stages that they go through:
Symptoms of Prodromal Phase:
One or two days before a migraine headache begins, symptoms may appear. In this stage, we refer to as the prodrome. During this stage, you may experience the following symptoms:
- Cravings for food
- Feeling depressed
- Peeing more frequently
- Feeling tired or low on energy
- Yawns frequently
- A hyperactive state
- Feeling irritable
- Stiffness in the neck
Symptoms of Aura Phase:
The aura generally occurs after the prodrome stage in migraine with aura. You may suffer from vision, sensation, movement, and speech problems during an aura. There are several examples of these problems, including:
- Inability to speak clearly
- A tingling or prickling sensation in your face, arms, or legs
- Seemings such as shapes, lights, or bright spots
- Experiencing temporary vision loss
Symptoms of Attack Phase:
Phase two is known as the attack phase. As the name suggests, this is the phase in which migraine pain is most acute or severe. Some people experience these during or in conjunction with an aura. A person’s symptoms during an attack phase are likely to last for an extended period of time. Migraines can cause a variety of symptoms in different people.
These are some of the symptoms that may occur:
- A greater sensitivity to light and sound
- nausea
- A feeling of dizziness or faintness
- Left, right, front, back, or temple pain on one side of your head
- Headache with pulsating and throbbing sensations
- Vomiting
Symptoms of Postdromal Phase:
It is common for a person to experience the postdrome phase after the attack phase. A change in mood and feelings usually occurs during this phase. There can be feelings ranging from extreme euphoria and happiness to extreme fatigue and apathy.
It is possible to experience a mild, dull headache for some time.
Individuals can experience these phases to different degrees of length and intensity. Occasionally, migraine attacks occur without causing a headache, as if a phase has been skipped.
Migraine attacks: what causes them?
Migraine’s cause hasn’t been definitively determined. It is believed, however, that the condition is caused by “abnormal” brain activity that interferes with nerve signaling, chemicals, and blood vessels.
Numerous migraine triggers are also continuously reported, including:
- Lights that are bright: The retina aids in the formation of vision by allowing light to pass through to the brain via visual pathways. The melanopsin system detects light concurrently. Due to its connection to the trigeminal system in the brain, this system may also induce brightness and be a factor in migraine and photophobia.
- Extreme weather conditions, such as severe heat: A migraine may be brought on by a storm front, changes in barometric pressure, severe winds, or altitude changes.
- An increase or decrease in barometric pressure
- Hormones: During pregnancy or while ovulating many women notice that they have headaches. Menopause or hormonal birth control.
- An excessive amount of stress: Stress causes a person’s brain to generate chemicals that can alter blood vessels and perhaps cause a migraine.
- Loud noises: Migraine headaches may be made worse by noise, which has a detrimental effect on the quality of life.
- Exercise that is intense: The muscles in your head and neck generally require higher blood flow while a person exercises. Consequently, it leads one to get exertion headaches, which is a condition that can result from the dilation of blood vessels.
- Missing meals: Our bodies require a constant supply of fuel in the form of food. The calories in the food provide us with energy. Our blood sugar levels can fall if we haven’t eaten in a long. Our body then responds by releasing hormones that convey a message to our brain about being hungry. The very same hormones can cause a headache by raising our blood pressure and constricting our blood vessels.
- Alterations in sleep patterns: When you sleep too much or too little, you could experience headaches.
- Medication use
- Strange odors: People who get migraines may be more sensitive to environmental factors like light, sound, and odor.
- A certain type of food: Aged cheese and food additives like nitrates, monosodium glutamate (MSG), and others may be to blame for causing migraines in some individuals.
- Smoking: The National Headache Institute claims that nicotine present in cigarettes is the primary cause of headaches because it narrows the blood arteries in our brain. So, as a result of decreased blood flow to the brain and the tissues surrounding it, can trigger migraine attacks.
- Consumption of alcohol: In addition to containing the chemical named as histamine, alcohol also encourages the immune system to produce more of it. It makes your entire body more prone to inflammation. Alcohol’s primary constituent is a substance known as ethanol. Once it enters your body, it transforms into a chemical that causes migraines.
- Traveling: Since you have to remember to bring everything, traveling is difficult. You might be assisting in organizing people or children. You must leave on time. This is all potentially distressing. Eventually, this s increase in stress is sufficient to start a migraine attack.
- Caffeine intake: Headaches can result from having too much or not having enough caffeine. Acute migraine attacks may be treated by caffeine alone.
A headache journal may be recommended by your doctor if you experience a migraine attack. In order to determine the triggers for your migraine attacks, it is helpful to write down what you were doing, what you ate, and what medications you were taking the day before the migraine attack began.
Migraine treatment
Managing migraine attacks is possible through your doctor’s guidance, which can help you reduce the chance of migraine attacks in general by giving you the tools to treat symptoms as they arise. It is also possible to reduce the severity of migraines by treating them.
There are several factors that determine your treatment plan:
- Age
- Migraine frequency
- Your migraine type
- Based on the length of time they last, the level of pain, and the frequency
- In addition to nausea and vomiting, whether there are any other symptoms?
- You may also be taking other medications and having other health conditions
Combinations of the following may be part of your treatment plan:
- Migraine triggers can be avoided by managing stress and changing your lifestyle
- Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) and acetaminophen (Tylenol) are OTC medications for pain or migraines
- Every day migraine medications can help prevent migraines and reduce the frequency of headaches
- In order to ease migraine symptoms and prevent a severe attack, you need to take prescription medication as soon as an attack starts
- Anti-nausea and anti-vomiting medications
- Women who experience migraines during their menstrual cycle may benefit from hormone therapy
- Counseling
- Acupuncture, acupressure, and meditation may be used as alternative therapies
Medications
A migraine episode can be treated once it starts or prevented with the use of medication. OTC medications may be able to provide relief to people dealing with migraine. But if over-the-counter drugs don’t work, your doctor can decide to prescribe different drugs.
Which medication is best for the person depends on the followings:
- How severe his/her migraines are?
- Whether he/she has any additional medical issues?
There is a list of acute medicines, which should be taken as soon as one anticipates a migraine attack, including:
NSAIDs: Ibuprofen and aspirin are examples of NSAIDs that are frequently taken during mild-to-moderate outbreaks that don’t involve nausea or vomiting.
Triptans: People whose migraine attacks include nerve pain can have these medicines, such as sumatriptan, eletriptan, and rizatriptan, frequently as the first line of treatment.
Antiemetics: Metoclopramide, chlorpromazine, and prochlorperazine are examples of antiemetics that are frequently used with NSAIDs to alleviate nausea.
Ergot alkaloids: These drugs, such as Migranal and Ergomar, are rarely recommended and are often saved for those individuals who don’t react well to triptans or analgesics.
Which migraine is the worst: Types of Migraines
There are various migraine subtypes. Migraine without aura and migraine with aura are two of the most prevalent forms. Moreover, there are some people who possess both varieties. Numerous migraine sufferers experience various migraine types.
1. Migraine without aura
An aura is typically absent in the migraine type named migraine without aura. The most typical sort of migraine is this one. Unfortunately, “aura” is a type of migraine warning indicator. It is a sign that impairs your vision. For instance, someone who notices blind spots, flashing lights, etc. is most probably affected by this type of migraine.
In the event if not treated or if the treatment is ineffective, migraine attacks with aura typically linger for four hours to three days. Additionally, the attacks’ frequency changes. They might take place numerous times every week. The term “common migraine or hemicrania simplex” is another name for it.
People with migraine without aura have experienced the following signs:
- Generally, only have headaches on one side of your head. This often creates extremely painful. When you move, such as when you walk or take stairs, it will get worse. You are unable to carry out your regular daily tasks because it is so terrible.
- being hypersensitive to smells, sounds (phonophobia), or light (photophobia).
- a sense of sickness, including nausea and vomiting.
2. Migraine with aura
This form of migraine affects 25% of migraineurs or around one in three persons.
Auras often begin gradually over the course of five minutes and can persist for up to an hour. Patients may get headaches, which may be strong or mild, usually come before the auras. Some folks may not get a headache.
Most often, auras have to do with one’s vision. A person’s speech may be impacted as well. Although it’s uncommon, some people experience confusion or disorientation and even experience dizziness.
The following are some of the typical sight-related symptoms:
- Seeing blind spots, colored spots or lines,
- Seeing flashing lights or zig-zag patterns,
- Temporary blindness
Other symptoms can be:
- A feeling of tingling or numbness in certain bodily areas
- Getting muscle stiffness or weakness
- Dizziness
3. Chronic migraine
Chronic migraine is defined as experiencing a headache for at least three months on at least 15 days per month, eight of which include migraine symptoms. It can also go by the name “severe migraine headache” and can be triggered by taking too many medicines.
Episodic migraine affects those who experience migraine symptoms on fewer headache days. Compared to those with chronic migraines, episodic migraine sufferers experience fewer attacks each month.
One’s symptoms of a chronic migraine would include:
- chronic headache frequently.
- a sense of sickness, including nausea and vomiting.
- extreme sensitivity to sound, light, or smell.
- Visual issues
- Trouble speaking
- Dizziness
- A feeling of numbness or tingling sensations.
How migraine is diagnosed?
It may be time to seek a diagnosis if a person frequently experiences headaches and other migraine symptoms. A detailed medical and family history is taken by the doctor, one’s symptoms are carefully listened to, and a physical exam is performed to rule out any other possible reasons before a migraine is diagnosed.
Imaging tests, such as a CT or MRI, can rule out further explanations, such as:
- Abnormal brain structure
- Tumors
- Stroke
Migraine Prevention: What can be done to prevent migraines?
There are a few choices that could aid someone who has been diagnosed with migraine in avoiding an attack. In addition to this, these lifestyle modifications can lessen the frequency and severity of your migraines while also promoting overall health.
- Eat properly and don’t skip meals: Do not miss meals; eat at approximately the same time every day. It’s because missing meals make migraines more likely. Additionally, keep a record of the items you consume and the occurrence of migraines. This can assist in locating possible dietary triggers.
- Adequate amount of sleep: Set regular sleeping times. Even on weekends, wake up and sleep at the same hour each day. Try to shorten the daytime naps. More than 20-to-30-minute naps have the potential to disrupt evening sleep.
- Try to manage stress: If your never-ending job habits are making you feel too overwhelmed. A few gentle stretches or a short walk may then help you regain your energy for the current task. Do not try to cram extra tasks or activities into the day. Find a strategy to exclude certain things instead.
- Try to indulge in relaxation activities: Along with this spend at least 15 minutes each day doing something you love. It might be participating in a game, watching television or a movie, or seeing a buddy for coffee. Engaging in enjoyable activities is a healthy method to reduce stress.
- Regular exercise: Chronic headaches are also more likely in people who are obese. Keeping a healthy weight through exercise and diet might also help with migraine management.
Furthermore, the chemicals released by our body during physical activity, suppress pain signals to your brain. Additionally, it aids in reducing anxiety and depression, both of which can aggravate migraines.
Migraine remedies: Home remedies for Migraine pains
Several remedies that one can attempt at home to relieve migraine headaches include:
- Go to the bedroom: Turn off the lights and close the door to get rid of noise, set the room temperature as per your requirement, and lie down calmly. This will relax you.
- Gentle massage: Massage your temples and top of your head (Scalp) gently. It will release your stress and make you feel calm.
What do Healthierfolks want to say?
Migraines can get worse if left untreated with the time. It is advisable to seek immediate medical assistance if one noticed any of the above-given symptoms because they may be detrimental to one’s health. Never ignore even a small warning, if it concerns your health.