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Understanding Migraine Headaches

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A migraine is a common, chronic, and debilitating neurovascular disorder. It is characterized by attacks of serve headache along with autonomic nervous system dysfunction and some patients an aura neurological symptom (Goadsby, Lipton, & Ferrari, 2002). There are two types of migraines classical migraine and common migraine. Classical migraine is one that either preceded or accompanied by focal neurological symptoms which are generally visual, this occurs in 15% of patients and is referred to migraine with aura (Goadsby, Lipton, & Ferrari, 2002). Common Migraine is one that has episodes of head pain that are severe and throbbing and can last 4 to 72 hours. These are migraines without aura and are usually associated with nausea, vomiting and sensitivity to light, sound or movement (Sorge et al., 1988). When diagnosed with frequent migraine attacks, doctors try to understand what the cause of a subject’s migraines are which can be due to many variables such as stress, sleep deprivation or menstruation.
Migraine attacks start at any age but they peak in the early to mid adolescence age. Migraines rates were observed for a year and the results showed the prevalence of migraines being 11% overall, 6% among men and 15-18% in women(Stewart WF, Lipton RB, Celentano DD, & Reed ML, 1992). Although prevalence of migraine is similar in preadolescent boys and girls, when the onset of the menstrual cycle occurs, it changes. After onset migraine attacks are two to three times higher in

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