Symptoms And Treatments Of Migraine Headaches Essay

Transition: Now that you know what a migraine is, the causes and symptoms and the burden on a person.

It is estimated that over 30 million people in the United States suffer from migraine headaches. If you're prone to them, you're familiar with the debilitating symptoms.

Most migraines come in 4 stages, although not every migraine will follow those steps. The steps are prodrome, aura, headache, and postdrome. The prodrome stage can start one to two days before the actual headache and can include symptoms such as food cravings, irritability, uncontrollable yawning, hyperactivity, neck stiffness, constipation, and depression.

Most people know when they are suffering with a headache. However, migraine headaches are not only more involved, but more painful and life altering.

This began in Greece when Galen said that vapors from the liver going to the head caused them. However, later on Harold Wolff decided that they come from stretching and dilating blood vessels in the brain. This lead people to believe that a decrease in blood causes the migraine, but it was later observed that an increase in blood is what causes the pain. However, blood flow is not increased during the headache, rather the circulation remains normal or in some cases is reduced. These findings have lead people to assume that the main culprit may be a nervous system disorder. Sadly, this disorder occurs in one of the most primitive and required parts of the nervous system, the brain

Some cases of migraine pain seem to be linked to nerve compression in the head. This was discovered accidentally after patients who had forehead lifts reported they no longer had migraines or that their migraines were reduced. The link was investigated and research indicates that trigger points in the muscles and other tissues in the forehead or neck compress nerves that keep the nerves irritated. This nerve irritation is what causes migraine pain. Migraine surgery helps by releasing the pinched nerve in a form of decompression surgery. Once the nerve is no longer irritated, migraines decrease or stop altogether.

Each year over twenty-six million people nation wide are affected by migraines. Once thought to be a concentration of evil spirits in the brain, common cures consisted of everything from drilling holes in the skull, to inserting garlic cloves into the temples. Today however, scientists realize that this all too common occurrence is actually a neurological disorder, which can result in the disability of its victim for hours or even days. I myself have been a constant sufferer of migraines since the age of twelve. The following is the life of a migraine sufferer: myself.

Migraine headaches are very different from typical headaches. They tend to be a lifelong battle with severe, repeated attacks (Headache Disorders, 2016). There is a process involved in the development of every migraine. Usually, one of many possible triggers causes the brain to signal inflammation in and around the head, and that inflammation causes the pain for which migraines are well known (Davis). One of the challenges of living with migraine headaches is identifying triggers. Triggers are unique to each migraine sufferer and can include foods, odors, lighting, and chemicals, among many others (Davis). People living with migraines must be prepared at all times, because it is usually impossible to know in advance when they will encounter a migraine trigger, whether known or unknown.

In this article, a brief questionnaire was mailed out to 120,000 families. People ranging from the ages of 12 years and older answered the survey asking about the frequency of the migraines, the prevention the subjects took, and the pain levels of the headaches. Responses solidified the stand of headaches in America’s society. Results proved migraines subsist as most common in people in their mid-twenties, although people older and younger than that age receive them. Answers also revealed that one in four Americans need preventive therapy, but go on without it. This article also conveyed the message that migraines continue to be prevalent in America. Along with this idea, they also confirmed that many suffer and endure a migraine's torture, some people even without proper therapy and

An incidence of headache pain may be mild to debilitating to the sufferer. Many people who experience headaches have episodic or chronic headache pain. Episodes of headache occur once a month or a few times a year; while chronic headaches have 15 or more instances a month. Although the brain does not feel pain, the soft tissues in the head and neck, blood vessels, arteries, nerves, and chemicals in the brain produce pain signals alerting the body to a headache. Experts are not sure of the exact causes of headaches however, there seems to be a correlation with blood flow in the brain. Blood vessels in the brain constrict lessening the blood flow, creating some of the symptoms involved in a migraine assault. Further into the assault the blood vessels dilate and increased blood volume triggers a migraine attack. Stress, certain foods, weather changes, menstruation, fatigue, and a shift in brain chemicals all seem to be common headache triggers.

There are many different types of headaches. Some types are cluster, hormonal, sinus, tension, and then there’s migraines. Adults and children have headaches. As Love quoted, “Headaches have an ugly cousin, and they go by the name of Migraines (Love 1). A

This being said, nearly everyone knows someone suffering with migraines, but most people do not know the difference between headaches and migraines. Migraines are known as an “invisible illness” because there are not any physical effects i.e. rash, blisters or vomiting.

First, keep track of your migraines. There are many resources online for 'journaling ' and some are more detailed than others. The goal of these is to find any common themes or triggers to your migraine headaches. Keeping track of your sleep pattern is important, as is recording any foods you 've eaten recently can quickly determine if there is an underlying trigger. Dehydration can also be an issue for migraine sufferers. Different studies have determined that certain foods trigger migraines in certain sufferers. These triggers

A migraine is a common type headache. In addition, migraines can cause moderate to severe pain and is often described as throbbing or pulsating pain on one side of the head. In addition, migraines can cause blurred vision when exposed to light and sound, nausea, and vomiting pounding.

Migraine headaches are the result of a disturbance in the neurochemistry of the central nervous system. They are relatively common, affecting three times as many women as men. Migraine sufferers typically report a definite pattern to their headaches, and they can report what stimuli bring them on. Most migraine sufferers experience their first attack before the age of 20. There is no single cause of migraines, but the tendency to get migraines does tend to run in families. When a migraine occurs, it means that something has altered several of the neurotransmitter-sensitive receptors located on the outside surface of the nerve cells (neurons) so that the nervous system is no longer able to constantly maintain the natural balance that the