What is a Migraine?
Typically when people hear “migraine”, they envision suffering from severe headaches. While migraines do involve headaches, their manifestations vary greatly in terms of both severity and duration. Migraines are neurological conditions characterized by fluctuating brain activity that alter the flow of blood into and out of the brain and surrounding tissues, resulting in various symptoms that are commonly known. Migraine is not just limited to headaches. Migraine attacks often involve multiple stages, with head pain being just one symptom among several, including nausea vomiting and sensitivities to smells, light or sound. DrCure.com understands the significance and challenges associated with your health are paramount, which is why they’re here. With an intuitive platform designed for quick accessing of relevant medical information quickly and effortlessly – be it guidance, alternative treatments or advice on living your healthily – DrCure can offer Migraine Headache invaluable help and advice! Headache episodes typically last four to three days during an attack and migraine sufferers can also experience any or all of the following:
- Nausea
- Increased sensitivity to light, sound or smells
- Dizziness
- Extreme fatigue
Migraines typically present themselves in four phases, though some individuals may experience them differently. They include:
Prodrome phase
Also referred to as the pre-headache phase, this stage consists of no pain and symptoms that appear either hours or days before migraine begins, including mood swings, cravings for food and stiffness in the neck.
Aura phase
An aura refers to sensory symptoms experienced prior to and during migraine attacks. Auras can affect speech, vision or touch; however not everyone back acne who suffers migraine will experience auras. Aura symptoms might include blurred vision blind spots that grow over time; arm numbness; as well as blurred or garbled speech.
Headache phase
At this point, pain typically begins to set in and can range from mild to severe. Physical activity or exposure to sound, light or smells may acupuncture treatments exacerbate it further, while some individuals only experience migraine symptoms and not headache.
Postdromal phase
At this point, pain may subside but patients may still feel exhausted, confused and generally ill during this phase.
Certain medicines can lead to painful headaches when taken in excess. Ibuprofen over an extended period may trigger migraines. When combined painkillers like Excedrin Migraine are taken, painful migraines may ensue.
It can also occur if you take large doses of medication or take it more frequently than 10 days in each month for three months, for instance Maxalt and Tosymra may cause migraine symptoms when taken more than nine times each month.
Migraine treatment options
Your migraine and headache pain could be making life unbearable in certain instances, leaving you wondering what steps can be taken to ease its intensity and prevent further attacks. Doctors still haven’t discovered a treatment solution for either headaches or migraines but there are various remedies you can try in order to minimize headache symptoms if they do occur or avoid future attacks from happening – taking more fluids for instance or placing an Ice pack on your forehead are both great strategies that could ease headache discomfort and avoid attacks altogether.
There are medications available to relieve you of migraine-related pain. This kind of treatment for migraine, known as abortive treatment, should be taken if experiencing an attack of migraine and specifically designed to alleviate its symptoms. For optimal results it’s recommended starting taking these kinds of medicines when first realizing you may suffer an attack of migraine – see the list of drugs that could help relieve you below if that happens to be you!
Triptans, such as Imitrex, are prescription medicines used to relieve migraine-related discomfort. Used both nasal spray and pills forms, triptans may block brain pathways associated with pain relief. Opioids should only be considered when all other treatment for migraine is ineffective and as an additional last resort solution to relieve headache-related discomfort. Unfortunately some opiod medications can become addictive; although this shouldn’t prevent their use from providing relief.
Pain relievers like prescription and over-the-counter medications can help ease migraine pain; however, overuse could result in long-term health risks like ulcers. Anti-nausea medicines are sometimes employed alongside pain relief drugs to provide additional relief of migraine symptoms such as severe headaches with nausea and vomiting.