Migraine Symptoms and Treatment

Migraines are recurrent headaches that can affect men and women of any age. A migraine can last 4 to 72 hours. If your migraine occurs for at least 15 days every month for at least six months, then it is called a chronic migraine.

According to research done by the American Migraine Foundation, it has been estimated that about 36 million people in the United States suffer from migraine headaches. Females are three times more likely than males to develop migraines, and around 3% of Americans have developed chronic migraine disorder.

Triggers of migraines

The exact cause of a migraine is still not known. However, it is believed that certain triggers can give rise to a migraine attack. It is very difficult to find out the triggers that cause migraines to develop because they are not the same in everyone. Some of the triggers include, but are not limited to:

• Skipping meals (breakfast, lunch, or dinner)
• Consuming alcohol, especially red wine
• Eating certain foods that contain additives like monosodium gluconate, nitrates, etc.
• Being exposed to loud noises, strong odors, and bright light

Migraine symptoms

Along with a headache, you may also experience other symptoms that can happen in a migraine attack. Other warning signs include vomiting, nausea, and sensitivity to sound, light, and noise. All these symptoms can also be experienced during a migraine. Some individuals also suffer from aura during an attack. Aura is responsible for causing sensory signs that occur anywhere from 10 to 30 minutes before the onset of a migraine. Symptoms of a migraine with aura include:

• Feeling mentally hazy
• Tingling and numbness in the face or hands
• Vision disturbances such as smell, taste, touch, or flashing lights

Management of a migraine

There is no migraine cure, but various treatment options are available. Treatment of migraine includes both lifestyle changes and medications.

Once you are diagnosed with a migraine, you must change your lifestyle to reduce migraine symptoms. You need to avoid triggers that bring on an attack, develop healthy eating habits, and exercise daily to lessen the severity and frequency of a migraine episode. Limiting alcohol consumption and caffeine intake may also help in managing your condition.

Medications are a good option for people with chronic migraine disease. Abortive medications are useful in treating a migraine once the attack has started. You can take the most out of this medication only if you take it at the right time when the symptoms start to occur. Preventive drugs are also available to treat this complex neurological disorder. These drugs have been formulated to stop migraines before they develop. You must take such medications daily to prevent a migraine attack.

Maintain a diary to track symptoms.

Try to maintain a headache diary and share the results with your healthcare specialist. Record the following things in a headache diary:

• Severity, frequency, and duration of migraine episode
• Sleep schedule
• Diet and eating schedule
• Stress level exposure to light, sound, and odors, especially petrol and perfume
• Menstrual cycle for women
• Exercise schedule
• Maintain a track of treatments, outcomes as well as adverse effects
• Weather

This headache diary will help you and your health care specialist determine what triggers your migraine so that you can avoid those triggers.

Discuss symptoms with your health care specialist.

Your healthcare specialists must know all the symptoms that you have experienced. Diagnosing migraines depends on communicating directly with your healthcare provider. There is no clinical test available to show that you have a migraine. Your healthcare provider will be able to determine that you have this complex neurological disorder only by discussing the history of your symptoms. However, some tests are performed to rule out other potential health conditions.