MIGRAINES – WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW

I don’t think there is one person who has not had a headache in their lifetime. Usually, headaches occur as a result of stress, hunger, fatigue, low blood sugar, and other reasons. However, migraine headaches are in a league all their own. Migraines are not just bad headaches. A migraine is a group of neurological symptoms that usually include recurring, intense, throbbing pain on one of both sides of the head. The attacks can last from 4 to 72 hours and vary according to the individual. But it is not just the pain involved that makes a migraine debilitating. The other symptoms greatly add to the problem. These symptoms include vomiting, nausea, sensitivity to light, sound, touch, and/or smell, and visual disturbances.

MIGRAINEs – WHAT ARE THEY?

Migraines are what you would call syndromes. A migraine is a group of symptoms that have their origin from a common cause. The syndrome may occur in complete form, with all the symptoms, in partial form, with most of the symptoms, or in a specialized form, only producing certain symptoms. Since migraines are diagnosed according to the symptoms, and the symptoms can vary, many times migraines are misdiagnosed. Often, people begin their own treatment with over-the-counter drugs. When relief from these drugs wears out, then they seek medical advice. Usually the doctor will perform a complete evaluation of the symptoms and give medical tests to rule out other possible reasons for the headache. It is an arduous task, to say the least.
The problem is many folks do not realize that a migraine is a neurological disease, like epilepsy. Every 10 seconds, someone in the United States visits the emergency room with these type headaches. The reason: they cannot cope with the severe, relentless pain, the nausea and vomiting, dehydration, side-effects of headache medicines or drugs, and the neurological stroke-like symptoms that can accompany the headache.
Migraines are in the top 20 of the world’s most debilitating diseases and nearly 10% of the world’s population suffers from this disease. In the United States alone, 1 on 4 households has someone with migraines. However, not only do these people live in fear of the disease, but they also live in fear not knowing when the next attack will happen. At any time, a migraine could disrupt their ability to work, care for their families, or enjoy social activities. About 90% cannot work or function normally under migraine attacks and nearly 14 million people experience these headaches on a daily basis, 18% are women and 6% are men.

MIGRAINES AND CHILDREN

Unfortunately, migraines also appear in children, some as young as 18 months. About 10% of school-age children suffer from migraine. Most children receive their first attack before puberty. Boys tend to be more at risk during this time than girls. Once girls achieve puberty, then the process reverses and more girls will experience migraines than boys.
The worst part is that most of the time, migraines in children go misdiagnosed or undiagnosed. You see, many times in adolescent migraine, the symptoms are not as severe or obvious. The usual vomiting, nausea, and dizziness are not as prevalent. Also, there is not as much head pain. Sometimes, there is no pain at all. The lack of these symptoms can make this disease hard to pin point. If a child experiences motion sickness, that can be a warning sign of the potential risk of childhood migraine. The non-headache symptoms in childhood migraine are called migraine equivalents.
Although the symptoms are less than adult migraine sufferers, children with this debilitating disease also are unable to accomplish much. They are absent twice as much from school as those without migraine. They may be left out of activities such as teams on account of the debilitating effects of the syndrome. Furthermore, of the 100 drugs there are to treat or help prevent migraines, not one of them are approved for children’s use. However, they are studied by researchers and prescribed. There are headache centers and experts in the field who do help children is they are difficult to diagnose or do not respond well to first line treatments.
Migraines are truly one of the most difficult syndromes to understand and diagnose correctly. The cause is complicated, involving the neurological functions of the body. Like epilepsy, much research is needed. There are treatments out there for migraines and I am sure that they help relieve the symptoms somewhat. Hopefully, in the near future, breakthroughs will be made in this medical area and sufferers of this disease will find lasting relief.

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