All About Migraine Headaches

Migraines are no mystery and have been around a long time. In fact early man must have suffered these intense headaches because there is proof found in ancient skulls that bear drilled holes made by early surgeons to relieve the pain. The process, called trepanning, showed the edges of the holes having new bone growth; hence the patient was alive when this was done. We have come a long way since then but the fact remains: migraines are still here.

Migraines are described as a throbbing or pulsating headache affecting the back of the head or on one side of the head. Sometimes it seems to come from behind the eyes. In any case your head feels like it wants to explode. This headache lasts anywhere from 4 to 72 hours and reoccurs often.

Sometimes with a migraine a phenomenon occurs. People who have experienced this often thought they were hallucinating or seeing things. Vision problems such as bright light with prism-like color rays emanating from a fixed spot, wavy or squiggly lines that could be horizontal or vertical, dots or blank areas like the field of vision was cut in half and double or blurred vision occur 30 minutes before the onset of a migraine. These are all symptoms of what is called an “aura”. The aura is thought of as a warning sign of an imminent migraine, and when the headache does make its presence known the aura soon fades away. Some auras don’t have any pain with them and are called a silent aura.

Millions of people suffer these painful headaches worldwide. Children and even infants have been documented having migraines. Women suffer more than men with this ailment because of the hormonal fluctuations at puberty, pregnancy and then menopause, which actually shows the pain easing up with the onset of menopause; however, most people who have migraines are around the teen years up to middle age. There are many different varieties of migraine headaches. No one is actually immune to these headaches. Some people are just more prone to get them.

Causes of Migraines

Insomnia is one of the triggers of migraine headaches. It is hard to get a restful night of sleep when you suffer these painful annoyances. Sometimes the sufferer wakes up during the night and can’t get back to sleep. Whatever the case may be the individual hasn’t received good restful sleep that restores you and the lack of it seems to start a vicious cycle for migraine victims.

Having a family history, genetically speaking, of migraines would definitely increase the chances of having these painful headaches.

Bright light or flashing strobe lights might bring on a migraine as well as the similar effects of sunlight through the leaves on trees or reflections of light off of glass. These are simple things that most of us take for granted. The same could be said for sound. Loud noises like screaming children, yelling, or sudden explosive sounds like firecrackers, car backfires, gunfire and even balloons popping could bring on a migraine headache.

Migraines have been linked to food preservatives, additives and a raft of chemicals that are added to our foods without another thought. Certain smells can initiate a migraine attack as well as skipping meals, strange odors, weather changes, altitude changes experienced in airplanes, intense physical activity or exertion and the ever popular stress. Yes, stress plays a major role in bringing on a migraine headache.

Coping With Migraines

Most people will try to find out what caused it in the first place. Because of this factor a lot of sufferers keep a journal wherever they go and try to pinpoint just what they did, what they ate and how the environment was approximately before their headache occurred. When these triggers are identified they can be avoided and thus prevent an occurrence of migraine headaches.

Now if you are one of the many sufferers of migraines I can only offer some encouragement in finding relief for the pain first and then seek out ways to prevent the possible onset of a migraine by studying yourself and getting in a support group of some kind to listen to others that might shed some light into varieties of treatment or ways of coping with this disorder. Since there is no quick fix or cures for migraines the one way to deal with it is acquiring education all about it.

Tags: headaches, migraine attacks, migraine treatment, Migraines, side effects, symptoms, treating migraines, vascular headachce