There's no cure for migraines yet. But medications can help prevent or stop them, or keep your symptoms from getting worse. You can also avoid things that trigger your migraines. Lifestyle changes like easing stress and having good sleep habits can help, too.
Most attacks slowly fade away, but some stop suddenly after the person with migraine is sick, or cries a lot. Sleep seems to help many people, even an hour or two can be enough to end an attack. Many children find that sleeping for just a few minutes can stop their attack.
A migraine usually lasts from four to 72 hours if untreated, and the frequency varies by the person. Migraines might occur rarely or strike several times a month.
The primary symptom of migraine is a headache. Pain is sometimes described as pounding or throbbing. It can begin as a dull ache that develops into pulsing pain that is mild, moderate or severe. If left untreated, your headache pain will become moderate to severe.
Other known triggers include certain medications, drinking alcohol, especially red wine, drinking too much caffeine, stress. Sensory stimulation such as bright lights or strong smells. Sleep changes, weather changes, skipping meals or even certain foods like aged cheeses and processed foods.
Getting treatment for them may help ease your aching head. Don't power through the pain. Trying to ignore migraine pain or symptoms like an aura -- which can include seeing light or zigzagging lines, hearing ringing in your ears, or feeling dizzy and unstable -- can make the headaches worse.
Migraine attacks may lower blood flow and pressure. They can also cause blood vessels to shrink. This sets the stage for tiny blood clots or a lack of blood to certain areas of the brain. Tissue damage.
One aspect of migraine pain theory explains that migraine pain happens due to waves of activity by groups of excitable brain cells. These trigger chemicals, such as serotonin, to narrow blood vessels. Serotonin is a chemical that's needed for nerve cells to communicate.
Dehydration and dieting or skipping meals may also trigger migraines. Hormone changes: Women may experience migraines related to their menstrual cycles, to menopause, or to using hormonal birth control or hormone replacement therapy. Stress: Stress may trigger migraines.
The headache portion of an attack can last from four hours to three days. An entire migraine attack—including prodrome, aura, headache and postdrome—may last anywhere from a bit more than one day to slightly more than a week at its very longest, though this is not typical.
The Difference Between Headaches and Migraines
The easiest way to distinguish a headache from a migraine is by the severity. Unlike headaches, which range from dull to acute pain, migraines are often so debilitating that the acronym POUND is sometimes used to summarize key migraine signs and symptoms.
“When the headache is the worst headache of your life, or when it is accompanied by fever, neck stiffness, weakness or numbness on one side of the body, difficulty speaking, loss of consciousness, confusion, loss of vision, or any other neurological symptom, it's serious,” says Alexander Mauskop, MD, the founder and ...
People who aren't hydrated have a higher risk of heat exhaustion and other heat illness. Dehydration can trigger (cause) a migraine headache. If you get migraines, it's essential to drink plenty of water. Staying hydrated may help you prevent a migraine attack.
Many people find that sleep helps to ease their symptoms if they're having a migraine attack. Even sleeping for just an hour or two can be beneficial.
It's important to understand that you can't use an MRI scan to diagnose migraines or any type of headaches. However, with these scans, your doctor can see if you have any other medical conditions including: A brain tumor. An abscess (an infection in your brain)
“What this study does demonstrate is yes, brain changes are more common in patients with migraines and probably are more common in patients with migraine aura,” Mays said. “The good news is that … long-term cognitive changes were not seen, even though these brain changes were apparent on imaging.”
When describing migraines, patients often focus on the physical symptoms — the pounding headache, the debilitating nausea, and the searing sensitivity to light. However, migraine is not merely a physical ailment. Chronic migraine sufferers often suffer mentally, as well as physically.
There is no cure for migraine, which means most with the disease will experience persistent, lifelong symptoms as part of their regular attacks. There can be dozens of migraine symptoms, but some of the most common include: Headache. Photophobia/light sensitivity.
A fairly common one is that the patient has triggers that are either unaddressed or unidentified. Triggers initiate or increase the probability of getting a headache after exposure. The most common trigger that makes patients difficult to treat is medication overuse.
The headache stage might last anywhere from 4–72 hours without medical treatment, though it may last longer. If an episode lasts longer than 3 days , even with medication, the doctor may refer to it as status migrainosus. This phenomenon is a complication of migraine, and experts are unsure why it happens.