SILENT MIGRAINE

Most people experience migraine headaches and everyone knows how exasperating these headaches can be to endure. However, some people have what is known as “silent migraine headaches.” What is a silent migraine? A silent migraine is simply a migraine without the symptom of headache pain. To understand what a silent migraine is, it would help to understand the different phases of a migraine headache. There are four phases that most migraine sufferers experience:

• Phase 1 – Prodrome: The prodrome phase warns that a migraine is on the way. Symptoms include changes in your mental state (irritability, confusion) and physical signs (thirst, diarrhea). One in four migraine sufferers experience the prodrome phase up to 24 hours before the headache pain begins.
• Phase 2 – Aura: The phenomenon called aura is best known by the unusual visual symptoms, although other motor, sensory, and language disturbances can happen. One in every five sufferers experience aura and this symptom usually lasts about an hour.
• Phase 3 – Pain: Migraine pain itself is normally on one side of the head. It can be accompanied by nausea, vomiting, and great sensitivity to light and sound. This symptom can last from several to 72 hours.
• Phase 4 – resolution: After a migraine, many people experience fatigue and overall sickness for up to 24 hours.
However, not all migraines follow the normal pattern. There are migraines without aura. There are also migraines without the pain. Even in the same person, migraines can be unpredictable and display different symptoms at different times.

SYMPTOMS OF SILENT MIGRAINE
The symptoms of silent migraine include any of the symptoms of migraine but without the pain. I guess if you had to experience a migraine, this type may be the one to experience because at least you don’t have the pain associated with the condition. Here are the physical, emotional, mental, and aura symptoms for migraine headache:

Physical symptoms:
• Diarrhea
• Nausea
• Vomiting
• Food cravings
• Loss of appetite
• Thirst
• Increased urination
• Chills
• Fatigue

Emotional and mental symptoms:
• Confusion
• Irritability
• Euphoria

Aura symptoms:
• Wavy or jagged lines
• Flashing lights
• Dots or spots in your vision
• Blind spots
• Tunnel vision
• Disruption in hearing
• Auditory hallucinations
• Distortions in smell or taste
• Numbness, pins-and-needles, or other body sensations
• Difficulties remembering or saying a word
• Other language difficulties

In a study involving over 30,000 people with migraine, nine out of ten participants report that they could not function normally when they experienced migraines. Over half reported that they needed bed rest because the symptoms were so bad. Even with a silent migraine, the other symptoms can be enough to disrupt the day.

CAUSES OF SILENT MIGRAINE
To get a better understanding of what causes silent migraine, researchers are now looking into the pain and aura symptoms as separate mechanisms. Years ago, experts thought that migraine headaches were a problem of blood flow and mainly vascular events. Now, they believe aura is a “neurovascular” event. Neurovascular means the way the nerve cells are firing in the brain and the how the nerve cell activity relates to the blood flow in the brain.

Aura seems to be an overstimulation and then depression of nerve cell activity in the brain. This reduced brain activity pattern is referred to as “cortical spreading depression”. It literally spreads across the cortex (top) layer of the brain. In doing so, it travels from the visual part to the body sensations part to the hearing part of the brain. This explains the visual, sensations, and hearing disturbances associated with aura. This depressed cortical function has been confirmed by MRI of the brain during an aura migraine.
Unlike aura, migraine pain is thought to be caused by inflammation of blood vessels that are dilating in the brain. The pain is produced through pain pathways in the nervous system.

TRIGGERS OF SILENT MIGRAINE
Silent migraine has a wide variety of triggers. Here are some of the most common:
• Physical or emotional stress
• Lack of sleep
• Skipped meals
• Caffeine
• Alcohol
• Environmental stressors such as weather changes or changes of heat/cold
• Certain foods such as chocolate, nuts, and pickled foods
• Hormone changes in women, such as birth control pills, pregnancy, menopause, and menstruation
• Bright or flickering lights
• Loud noise

COPING WITH SILENT MIGRAINE
Experts do not agree with everything but they do agree that keeping a daily journal is a necessary step in diagnosing and treating your migraine headaches. Here are five tips for coping with your headaches:
1. Keep a daily diary of symptoms and the conditions – If you know what triggers your headaches, you will be able to modify your conditions to decrease the frequency and severity of your headaches.
2. Talk with your doctor – Communication between you and your doctor is essential to getting a grip on the problem.
3. Weigh the pros and cons of medications – Many drugs have side-effects. Contemplate your goals and priorities to see if medication is an option for you.
4. Practice prevention – Knowing the triggers for your migraine is important in preventing them from occurring.
5. Practice good self-care – Eating well, getting rest, exercising, and using stress management techniques will help you control the symptoms and frequency of migraine headache.

Although silent migraine is not painful as other migraine headache, it can still be a problem because of the other symptoms. Using practical information like the above tips will help you cope with this type of migraine.

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