DO YOU HAVE A MIGRAINE?
Everyone has headaches at one time or another. About 30 million people in America alone have them and in about three times more women than men. Migraines are chronic painful headaches that have been classified as a neurovascular disorder. Any age can be affected, though the most common ages are from 15 to 55. Migraines can start in childhood and those individuals that experience a migraine at such an early age frequently suffers them later in maturity.
The headache pain that most characterizes this condition can be a long-lasting, throbbing, pulsating and irritating annoyance that can debilitate a person severely. Most people feel the throbbing pain in one or both sides of the head and it can also last up to several days. Often other symptoms like vomiting, nausea, sensitivity to loud noises or smells, come along to make the victim even more miserable.
There are ways to tell if you are having a migraine. For some people, just before a migraine manifests itself, the appearance of wavy lines, bright lights flashing, blind spots, and double or blurred vision constitutes a warning for an imminent migraine. This is commonly known as an aura. Then when the headache does come all these ocular abnormalities disappear. Sometimes a silent migraine occurs. This happens when there isn’t any headache pain of any kind following an aura.
Another signal of migraines is mood changes. Depression, excitability, anxiety and irritability are classic symptoms of migraines. There have been reports of a possible genetic link between migraines and severe depression. Studies also show that episodic migraines can become chronic in time due to depression.
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.
A few other signs are not as evident such as eye pain, neck pain, cravings for chocolate, sinus or nasal problems, excessive yawning (warns of an impending migraine), frequent urination, a tingling or numbness from the fingertips up and through the face, and other symptoms that resemble a stroke.
There are so many factors affecting migraines that it’s hard to determine if the headache you have is really a migraine. Always seek a doctor if the headache lasts more than a day, especially if it’s the worst you’ve ever felt.
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