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How Do You Know If You Have A Migraine Headache And What Are Its Signs And Symptoms?
One of the commonest migraine symptoms is an acute throbbing pain which is normally located on one side of the head close to the area of the temple. Migraines, unlike normal headaches, are also frequently accompanied by additional symptoms which include sensitivity to noise and light, queasiness and occasionally vomiting.
Migraines are reasonably common and affect about one in ten people in America, or in excess of 28 million Americans. They are also much more often experienced by women rather than men (about 3 times as many women suffer from migraines) and can also be found occasionally in children.
Although migraine headaches are so common and often very painful with an attack lasting anywhere from a matter of hours to several days, only roughly 50% of all sufferers ever consult their physician and the remainder choose to suffer in silence.
Migraines had long been thought to be resulted from a of dilation of the blood vessels in the head but, despite the fact that there is no general agreement, medical opinion seems to be moving away from this theory in favor of a genetic basis for this problem. Current thinking is that migraine headaches results from the interaction of certain brain chemicals such as serotonin with the nerve cells. Right now however the truth is that we are really not sure what cause a migraine headache.
There are in fact two forms of migraine, the first of which is referred to as 'classical migraine'and is characterized by an accompanying 'aura'. In this case the term 'aura' refers to visual light effects that are experienced immediately before the start of a headache including things like bright light spots and flashing lights. In a few people a complete loss of vision may be experienced for some minutes before the arrival of the headache.
The second type of migraine is simply a migraine with no prior symptoms of an 'aura'.
In exactly the same way that we do not really know what causes a migraine headache, we also have little idea about just what triggers an attack, although there are some factors which do appear likely to trigger an attack. For instance, getting too much sleep appears to be one factor and so does skipping meals or eating particular types of food like cheese.
Hormonal factors are also believed to influence the onset of attacks and their severity and one piece of evidence for this is the increased incidence of migraines in women. In part this is thought to be because of the effect of estrogen on the blood vessels and some studies have noted that there is a connection between contraceptive pills (containing estrogen) and migraine headaches.
Just to confuse matters however studies have also shown that simple everyday activities like walking up stairs can trigger an attack, as can exposure to heat or cold, loud noises, flashing lights and sometimes stress.
Fortunately, there are various migraine treatments available today, though no one treatment has proved to be really effective in all cases. One thing which we do know though is that over-the-counter medicines are seldom effective and, if you are unlucky enough to suffer from migraines, then you are best advised to seek the help of your physician in finding an answer which works for you.
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