Mostly everything we do has a process and a series of steps to follow. Some examples would be baking your grandma’s special cookies, conducting an experiment using the scientific method, or even playing hopscotch. Migraine headaches are a little different though.
Although the migraine has four stages, it does not necessarily mean that you will experience every stage each time. The four stages are: prodrome, aura, attack and postdrome. A few of the early warning signs can be seen in the first two stages.
Prodrome is the very first stage. It occurs about one or two days prior to getting a migraine. You may experience a few of the following: food cravings, diarrhea, hyperactivity, irritability, and neck stiffness.
Aura is the second stage; but not many people experience this before migraine. If you do enter this stage, it mainly involves visual disturbances such as blind spots or flashes of light. Also, it can include a tingly feeling in your arm or leg or having speech problems.
Attack is the third stage to a migraine. You can experience sharp pulsating pains in one area of the head, nausea and vomiting, blurred vision, diarrhea, and lightheadedness that is every now and then followed by fainting.
Postdrome is the fourth and final stage. This comes after the attack stage; most feel tired and drained of energy. Sometimes people even describe it as a slight euphoric feeling.
Confirmation Tests
People are always mistaking a painful, but yet simple, headache with an intense migraine headache. Some tests you can take for a positive diagnosis would be the Computerized Tomography (CT), Magnetic Resonance Imaging(MRI), or Spinal Tap[Lumbar Puncture(LP)].
-A Computerized Tomography is an imaging procedure that uses x-rays to scan the inside organs.
-A MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging) is another imaging procedure that uses nuclear magnetic resonance to scan the inside organs.
-A Spinal Tap is a procedure that a needle is used to aspirate spinal fluid from the spinal canal for diagnostic purposes. This is a good procure because this test can detect inflammation directly connected to the central nervous system.
Tags: aura, headache, migraine stages, migraine symptoms, migraine treatment, postdrome, prodrome
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