The Causes of Migraines

It’s 5a.m and I can barely move; everything is blurry, my right hand is numb, and the right side of my head is pounding. A couple hours later everything transferred from my right side of my body to the left side of my body. It is a migraine that I am having, and this has been my life since 6th grade.

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

The attack stage is typically from four to 72 hours, with the frequency depending on the person. Symptoms of the migraine attack vary from person to person, but typically the pain is on one side of the head, pain will have a pulsing or throbbing quality, nausea and vomiting, sensitivity to light and sound, and lightheadedness.

Aura is less common types of migraine in which sufferers experiences the visual illusions of sparks and lights, blind or dark spots, and it brings hallucinations. The visual disturbance goes on for an hour and it affects one side of the brain.

Migraines are different than headaches. While headaches do have pressure and pain associated with them, migraines are more intense and usually have other symptoms that

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.

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.

While the migraine and preceding symptoms affect my performance at work, this condition has also affected my personality as well as my personal life. Having surprise migraine attacks more days than not has unquestionably changed who I am. By nature, I am a friendly, outgoing, energetic, happy person with a sense of humor. With migraines, I am a crabby, depressed, frustrated, emotional person. My headaches dictate my moods and character. When I wake in the morning with swollen fingers and a tight neck, my mood is instantly that of worry because those are signs that a migraine will soon arrive. I start thinking of all the things I will not be able to do and plans that I may have to cancel. I will not be able to walk my dogs, work in my garden, go to Zumba, clean the house, socialize with friends or cook dinner for my family. Sometimes I avoid making plans at all because I know I will eventually be sick. I withdraw from my friends and family. My mood shifts to anger. Angry because I cannot enjoy my life as I want. Then I am grouchy and sad. I worry that others will think I am weak or dramatic. Many days I try not to let the migraine take over my life. I fight to continue to go about my day; but I am usually irritable with my friends, family, and co-workers. My frustration level increases. There are limitations of what I can do because most of the time I can barely move my head without experiencing unbearable pain or vomiting. I try to fake through so I do not

Many genetic factors are also clearly an indicative of the susceptibility to migraine headaches. While the exact mechanism remains uncertain, it is thought that migraines are caused by genetic abnormalities that cause hyper-excitability of the nervous system. The nerve terminals release neurotransmitters such as substance P, neurokinin A (NKA), and calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP), which then binds to the receptors on intracranial blood vessels, causing vasodilation, mast cell degranulation, increased vascular permeability and blood vessel edema, plasma protein extravasation, and sterile inflammation. The cranial nerves are then reactivated causing the pain experienced during a migraine.

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.

The headaches caused because of brain tumors are usually throbbing, severe, worse in the morning as a patient may

Migraines preceded by way of vertigo can be a signal of vertebrobasilar or vertiginous migraine. Vertigo is a not unusual complaint for plenty humans with migraine, but frequent and routine episodes of vertigo can be as a result of a hassle inside the lower part of the mind.

These migraines last as long 4-72 hours. They are characterized by one-sided location, moderate to severe pain strength, pulsating or provoked by routine physical activity. They are associated with at least 2 of the following: nausea, vomiting, photophobia (sensitivity to light), phonophobia(fear of loud sounds) or osmophobia(fear of odors) (Headache Classification Subcommittee of the International Headache Society, 2004)

About 100 million Americans suffer from Chronic Pain, defined as pain that lasts longer than six months. Chronic pain can be mild or excruciating, episodic or continuous, merely inconvenient or totally incapacitating. With chronic pain, signals of pain remain active in the nervous system for months or even years. This can take both a physical and emotional toll on a person.

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