Migraine is a neurological condition that gives people attacks. These attacks come in the form of headaches, nausea, vomiting, dizziness, and numbness. These attacks always come on suddenly. They have certain triggers such as skipping a meal, air pollution or smoke pollution, or hormone changes that are caused during the menstrual cycle. Migraine attacks last for 4 hours to 72 hours. Medicines can alter the timing of your attacks. Sometimes, the attacks even last for more than 72 hours.
There is no concrete treatment for migraine. However, certain lifestyle changes make a difference. They help reduce the number and severity of the attacks that you face.
Symptoms Of Migraine
The symptoms of migraine vary from person to person. All the symptoms are mentioned below:
- You may experience Photophobia, seeking a dark place as soon as you get an attack.
- You may experience sound sensitivity that could make even normal sounds unbearable for you.
- Migraine victims can face Allodynia and touch Hypersensitivity. They could get hurt from gentle touches only.
- You may experience headaches, nausea and vomiting as well.
- The less common symptoms of migraine include constipation, cold hands or feet, face swelling, food cravings, stuffy nose, nightmares, and so on.
Causes Of Migraine
The main cause of migraine is not yet discovered. However, experts consider the following things to be the cause of migraine:
- Heredity
You can get migraine if it is a hereditary thing in your family. Surveys have found out that almost 90% of the people who suffer from migraine have got it because of their family history.
- Age
If you have a migraine, you will experience your first ever symptom as an adolescent. Migraine can start at any age, and there is no fixed age for experiencing your first symptom. However, most people start receiving attacks before the age of 40 only.
- Gender
In children, migraine is more common among boys than it is among girls. This thing reverses as they reach their adolescence. After that, it becomes more common in women when they reach adulthood. It can be considered as a hormonal change caused by Estrogen especially. Some of the medications that women have to take in relation to their hormones have proven to worsen their migraine.
- Menstruation And Menopause
Women are most likely to experience migraine when they are close to their menstrual cycle. During this time, there is a fall in the amount of Estrogen in their body, leading to migraine headaches. During pregnancy or menopause, the frequency and the duration of the attacks change.
- Chemical Imbalance
Mental health conditions like Depression and Anxiety have been related to migraine for a long time now. The two conditions have a lot to do with the brain, and there is a chance that they could cause it to suffer from migraine. If you have severe Depression and Anxiety, there could be a chance that you are suffering from migraine. The Serotonin level falls when you get a migraine attack, and that makes the attack even more severe by increasing the severity of your headache. A change in the weather can also cause migraine attacks.
Diagnosis Of Migraine
No specific test has been discovered yet that has discovered migraine. However, your doctor will look at your family history to determine if you got it from them. They will also perform a physical or neurological test on you in order to figure it out. The doctors may also recommend you go for a blood test to chalk out the other causes behind your headache.
Treatment Of Migraine
After analyzing the symptoms of migraine that you are showing, the doctor will come to a conclusion. If you have migraine, the following treatments will be recommended to you:
- Pain Relief Medicines
The first thing you will get to feel the slightest relief from your migraine pain is pain killers. The main ingredients of the painkillers should be Aspirin, Caffeine, Ibuprofen, and Acetaminophen. However, Aspirin should not be given to anyone who is under the age of 19.
- Medicine For Nausea
Your doctor may prescribe you drugs that will reduce the level of nausea that you face in between an attack.
- Triptans
These are the drugs that try to manage the chemicals in your brain that cause migraine headaches. It could be a pill, a tablet, a nasal spray, or a shot.
- Preventive Medicines
If your migraine attacks and headaches do not stop and you experience more than four attacks in a month, your doctor might have to prescribe these to you. These include medicines that prevent seizures, control blood pressure, antidepressants, and so on.
The Bottom Line
If you suspect that you have a migraine, these are the things that you should know about it. These will help you understand your symptoms better, and then you can consult a doctor.
