Migraines- Causes, Symptoms & Treatments

The clinical definition of a migraine is a type of headache characterized by recurrent attacks of moderate to severe throbbing and pulsating pain on one side of the head. In the third edition of the International Classification of Headache Disorders, if you have at least two of the following four symptoms, then you suffer from migraines:

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• Unilateral pain

• Moderate to serve intensity of pain.

• Worsening of pain with movement

• Throbbing or pulsatile quality of pain

Furthermore, you must experience either sensitivity to lights and noise or nausea with or without vomiting. Patients who suffer from migraines will have these attacks for up to 72 hours without any other underlying conditions. Your neurologists divide these symptoms into episodic and chronic migraine. A person who experiences headaches for fifteen days out of the month and suffers from these symptoms for 8:15 days is considered to have chronic migraines, and the pain can be so severe that it interferes with their daily activities. Migraine pain affects 12% of the population.

What Causes Migraines? Almost anyone can have a migraine given enough triggers, but often they are hereditary. As many as four out of five people with migraine pain have a family history. There is a 50 percent chance that if one of your parents has migraines, you will too. Those numbers increase significantly when more than one family member has migraines. Other risk factors include:

• Gender

• Emotional Stress

• Insomnia or lack of sleep

• Dehydration

• Nicotine

• Depression

Four Stages of Migraines: Although no two people are the same, those suffering from migraine pain generally follow a timeline that includes four phases: prodrome, aura, headache, and postdrome.

Prodrome: The first stage can last a few hours or for several days; in this stage, you may or may not realize anything is changing. Some people may experience an upset stomach, fatigue, insomnia, muscle aches, food cravings, or urinate more often than normal.

Aura: These occur in approximately 20% of people with migraines. During this stage a person can experience partial vision loss, flickering, or visual distortion at this stage. These symptoms are generally brief, lasting only half an hour.

Headache: About four hours to 72 hours is how long the headache lasts. The word “ache” doesn’t do the pain justice because sometimes it’s mild, but usually, it’s described as drilling, throbbing, or you may feel the sensation of an icepick in your head. Typically, it starts on one side of your head and then spreads to the other side.

Postdrome: The postdrome phase is often called a migraine hangover because it feels a lot like a hangover from an alcoholic binge, including fatigue, body aches, and sensitivity to light.

But the migraine postdrome may also come with dizziness and trouble focusing on specific tasks. You may feel like you’ve been through a battle and are left weak and depleted.

One way to track these symptoms, which can take eight to 72 hours to go through is the Migraine Disability Assessment Scale, Midas. https://headaches.org/wpcontent/uploads/2018/02/MIDAS.pdf

Migraine VS Headaches 

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Most people may not be aware, but there are over 150 types of headaches, and a headache/migraine is the most common form of pain, so getting an accurate diagnosis can be difficult. Migraines are often mistaken for a sinus or tension headache. People can experience pain with both their frontal (forehead) and maxillary (under the cheekbone). The pain can be centralized or widespread. With a sinus headache, there is a lot of yellow or green discharge, whereas with a migraine, you may experience a small amount of clear discharge. Those who have allergies and nasal congestion can trigger a migraine causing them to occur at precisely the same time.  Other types of common headaches are:

Cluster Headaches: Another headache is also commonly misdiagnosed as a migraine due to its similarities. A cluster headache can last a month, disappear for a year or two, and generally have other symptoms such as redness of the eye, a runny nose, or nasal congestion. Cluster headaches are five times more common in men and three times more common in women.

Most people can improve their symptoms with self-care, such as stopping smoking or other nicotine products, eating a well-balanced diet, improving their sleeping habits, and taking nonprescription (OTC) pain relievers. Not all headaches require a pain management specialist, but if you are experiencing frequent headaches or migraine pain, seek medical attention.

Tension Headaches: These headaches occur when the scalp, neck, and shoulder muscles contract, tightening and pulling against the skull. There are several common risk factors that could influence the severity and frequency of tension headaches. Common triggers can be:

• Alcohol consumption

• Poor posture

• Smoking

• Eye strain

• Dental problems such as jaw clenching

• Stress and fatigue

Tension headaches typically get divided into two main categories episodic and chronic. Tension headaches typically last from 30 minutes to a week, while chronic headaches can appear 15 times a month or more and last up to several months.

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