Migraine: Symptoms and Treatment, Causes, Signs of Migraine
What is it - when an intense headache covers only one part of the head, mostly temporally-frontal-ophthalmic, the condition is complicated by increased sensitivity to external stimuli, nausea and vomiting, and a migraine attack occurs.
This disease belongs to neurological diseases. The prevalence of migraine is quite high, about 15% of the planet's inhabitants are affected by this ailment. To a greater extent, women of working age suffer from it, which is 2-3 times more likely to detect this disease than men.
The frequency of seizures varies from patient to patient. Migraine can manifest several times a year and take place in mild form, but there are cases when painful headaches are harassing a person every day. Most often symptoms of the disease appear from two to eight times per month.
Migraine has a negative impact on the well-being and performance of a person. The frequency and unpredictability of seizures can lead to the need for disability.
Why does the disease develop and what is it? The process of migraine development is rather complicated and not fully understood. The origins of the problem are related to the CNS disorder, which, under the action of external stimuli, can provoke a chain of biochemical and neurological reactions that affect the pressure in the vessels of the brain.
The provoking factors include:
In the risk zone are:
The specificity of migraine symptoms depends on its type. Migraines in women, as well as in men, can be ordinary or accompanied by a special condition that precedes seizures and is called aura.
Symptoms vary in the phase of the disease. Allocate a prodromal stage, attacks and postdromal period and aura. Consider the characteristics of each phase separately:
The condition is complicated by the fact that the patient has a lower threshold of excitability of the sense organs. As a result, his pain can intensify from intense light, sharp sound, strong smell, even touch. The appearance of a person changes: the eyes begin to water, blush, the skin around them and the temples swell. This leads to squeezing the capillaries and pallor of the face.
Nausea, vomiting are those migraine symptoms that usually occur before the end of an attack, but in some cases they can appear from the very beginning and seriously worsen a person's well-being. The clinical picture can be supplemented by chills or fever, sweating, palpitations, sensations of suffocation, diarrhea, yawning, frequent urination, dizziness and fainting. The final phase is associated with the end of the attack, a reduction in pain, the appearance of weakness, drowsiness and lethargy.
Migraine with aura has symptoms in symptoms, some differences from the usual form of this disease. In this case, the initial stage may be the prodromal phase, but it is usually replaced by the aura. This word is understood as local neurotic symptoms( can be visual, auditory, motor, vestibular, sensitive), which are observed when the attack begins or during its course. The duration of development of the aura varies from 5 to 20 minutes, and the state itself is held for about an hour.
There are positive and negative visual manifestations of this condition. With a positive aura, bright or flickering light is observed at the periphery of the field of view, figures that sometimes increase and fill visibility, zigzag lines and stars. Symptom is called ciliary scotoma.
A negative aura is expressed by blind spots, dark holes and tunnel vision, which implies the inability to see on the sides. In some cases, both types of aura are mixed. Symptoms of the aura include numbness of one or both of several limbs, tinnitus, dizziness, fainting.
All listed aura signs are reversible.
Migraine therapy is symptomatic and is aimed at arresting an attack. Preventive treatment is carried out between outbreaks. Drugs are selected strictly individually.
Treatment of migraines includes, in addition to medicines, compliance with certain rules that are aimed at eliminating provoking factors, psychotherapy and autogenic training.
Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs( ibuprofen, paracetamol), dihydroergotamine preparations, selective serotonin antagonists( sumatriptan, naratriptan, etc.) are used to combat migraine manifestations. They should be taken at the first sign of an impending attack in order to reduce its soreness and duration.
There are non-drug ways to relieve the condition during an attack. The person is placed in a quiet, warm, darkened room with an adjusted circulation of fresh air. You can have a massage, acupuncture. Cool or warm bandages are put on the head.
Between the attacks, the problem continues to be addressed by comprehensive measures.
To do this, drugs complement the appointment of acupuncture, massage of the collar zone, conifers and pearl baths, exercise therapy with emphasis on the cervical spine, diet.
Read also, the causes of pain in the eyes.
With frequent( more than 2 times per month), long( exceeding two days), severe or complicated migraine attacks, special preventive medication is administered.
Its characteristics depend on the provoking factors, the particular patient's characteristics and the presence of concomitant diseases in his anamnesis. In prophylactic purposes resort to β-blockers, antidepressants, anticonvulsants, serotonin antagonists, calcium channel blockers.
In other cases, prevention consists in normalizing sleep, reducing the stresses of the emotional and physical plane. It is necessary to monitor the diet and reduce the level of consumption of alcoholic, acute, cocoa-containing foods and nicotine.
It is important to observe the diet and enrich the diet with fresh fruits and vegetables, fish, sour-milk products, eggs. Suffering migraine shows such water procedures as taking a contrast shower, baths with sea salt, swimming.
Migraine can contribute to the emergence of other diseases and have a negative impact on a person's emotional health and quality of life.
Seizure attacks can have a bad effect on the level of social interaction and emotional state of a person. His work capacity decreases, family relations may worsen, anxiety, panic attacks and depression may appear.
This disease belongs to neurological diseases. The prevalence of migraine is quite high, about 15% of the planet's inhabitants are affected by this ailment. To a greater extent, women of working age suffer from it, which is 2-3 times more likely to detect this disease than men.
The frequency of seizures varies from patient to patient. Migraine can manifest several times a year and take place in mild form, but there are cases when painful headaches are harassing a person every day. Most often symptoms of the disease appear from two to eight times per month.
Migraine has a negative impact on the well-being and performance of a person. The frequency and unpredictability of seizures can lead to the need for disability.
Risk Factors and Causes of Migraine
Why does the disease develop and what is it? The process of migraine development is rather complicated and not fully understood. The origins of the problem are related to the CNS disorder, which, under the action of external stimuli, can provoke a chain of biochemical and neurological reactions that affect the pressure in the vessels of the brain.
The provoking factors include:
- stress and psychoemotional overexcitation;
- hormonal failures, including those caused by the influence of hormonal contraceptives;
- change in weather conditions( meteodependent migraine) and climatic indices;
- physical and nervous overwork;
- narrowing of blood vessels and subsequent failures in the blood supply to the brain;
- premenstrual syndrome;
- uneven expansion of cerebral vessels;
- eating certain foods, the list of which is formed by migraine sufferers individually, but in most cases they contain a high content of tyramine, such as fish, nuts, cheese, chocolate, smoked products;
- reception of alcohol, in particular, champagne, beer and red wine;
- too short or long sleep;
- metabolic or CNS activity disorder;
- sharp smells, noise;
- activation of the trigeminal nerve core.
In the risk zone are:
- 1) The population of large cities, which is more often subjected to stress. In rural areas, the predisposition to migraine is lower.
- 2) Ambitious personalities with high social activity.
- 3) People with emotional instability, anxiety, predisposition to depressive conditions( see treatment and symptoms of depression).
- 4) Children of parents who suffer from migraine( they have a 90% chance of developing the disease).
- 5) People with metabolic disorders, diabetes mellitus, taking hormonal drugs, containing in large doses estrogens, smokers.
Signs and symptoms of migraine
The specificity of migraine symptoms depends on its type. Migraines in women, as well as in men, can be ordinary or accompanied by a special condition that precedes seizures and is called aura.
Symptoms vary in the phase of the disease. Allocate a prodromal stage, attacks and postdromal period and aura. Consider the characteristics of each phase separately:
- 1) Prodromal. It includes a group of vague, vague symptoms that occur in a few hours or even days before the onset of a migraine attack. These may include increased sensitivity to light or sound effects, fluctuations in appetite from cravings for food to a complete rejection of food, thirst, the appearance of a feeling of fatigue, increased drowsiness, a change in the emotional state that manifests itself in irritability, anxiety, depression or euphoria, impaired performance, the occurrence of local edema. A migraine sufferer does not manifest all of the listed symptoms.
- 2) Directly migraine. The main symptom is a headache, which most often appears during sleep, before dawn, or immediately after a person wakes up. Night attacks, which torture the patient when he sleeps, usually the heaviest, they are more difficult to stop. In the beginning, the pain is usually one-sided, localized in the area of the temple and frontal lobes, eyeballs. Later, it can occupy both sides, although this is not an obligatory condition for the onset of an attack.
The condition is complicated by the fact that the patient has a lower threshold of excitability of the sense organs. As a result, his pain can intensify from intense light, sharp sound, strong smell, even touch. The appearance of a person changes: the eyes begin to water, blush, the skin around them and the temples swell. This leads to squeezing the capillaries and pallor of the face.
Nausea, vomiting are those migraine symptoms that usually occur before the end of an attack, but in some cases they can appear from the very beginning and seriously worsen a person's well-being. The clinical picture can be supplemented by chills or fever, sweating, palpitations, sensations of suffocation, diarrhea, yawning, frequent urination, dizziness and fainting. The final phase is associated with the end of the attack, a reduction in pain, the appearance of weakness, drowsiness and lethargy.
Symptoms of migraine with aura
Migraine with aura has symptoms in symptoms, some differences from the usual form of this disease. In this case, the initial stage may be the prodromal phase, but it is usually replaced by the aura. This word is understood as local neurotic symptoms( can be visual, auditory, motor, vestibular, sensitive), which are observed when the attack begins or during its course. The duration of development of the aura varies from 5 to 20 minutes, and the state itself is held for about an hour.
There are positive and negative visual manifestations of this condition. With a positive aura, bright or flickering light is observed at the periphery of the field of view, figures that sometimes increase and fill visibility, zigzag lines and stars. Symptom is called ciliary scotoma.
A negative aura is expressed by blind spots, dark holes and tunnel vision, which implies the inability to see on the sides. In some cases, both types of aura are mixed. Symptoms of the aura include numbness of one or both of several limbs, tinnitus, dizziness, fainting.
All listed aura signs are reversible.
Treatment of migraine
Migraine therapy is symptomatic and is aimed at arresting an attack. Preventive treatment is carried out between outbreaks. Drugs are selected strictly individually.
Treatment of migraines includes, in addition to medicines, compliance with certain rules that are aimed at eliminating provoking factors, psychotherapy and autogenic training.
Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs( ibuprofen, paracetamol), dihydroergotamine preparations, selective serotonin antagonists( sumatriptan, naratriptan, etc.) are used to combat migraine manifestations. They should be taken at the first sign of an impending attack in order to reduce its soreness and duration.
There are non-drug ways to relieve the condition during an attack. The person is placed in a quiet, warm, darkened room with an adjusted circulation of fresh air. You can have a massage, acupuncture. Cool or warm bandages are put on the head.
Between the attacks, the problem continues to be addressed by comprehensive measures.
To do this, drugs complement the appointment of acupuncture, massage of the collar zone, conifers and pearl baths, exercise therapy with emphasis on the cervical spine, diet.
Read also, the causes of pain in the eyes.
Prevention of migraine
With frequent( more than 2 times per month), long( exceeding two days), severe or complicated migraine attacks, special preventive medication is administered.
Its characteristics depend on the provoking factors, the particular patient's characteristics and the presence of concomitant diseases in his anamnesis. In prophylactic purposes resort to β-blockers, antidepressants, anticonvulsants, serotonin antagonists, calcium channel blockers.
In other cases, prevention consists in normalizing sleep, reducing the stresses of the emotional and physical plane. It is necessary to monitor the diet and reduce the level of consumption of alcoholic, acute, cocoa-containing foods and nicotine.
It is important to observe the diet and enrich the diet with fresh fruits and vegetables, fish, sour-milk products, eggs. Suffering migraine shows such water procedures as taking a contrast shower, baths with sea salt, swimming.
Consequences of a headache
Migraine can contribute to the emergence of other diseases and have a negative impact on a person's emotional health and quality of life.
A severe headache can lead to a stroke, especially in people over 50 years of age and increase the likelihood of heart disease. Migraine with aura increases the risks.
Seizure attacks can have a bad effect on the level of social interaction and emotional state of a person. His work capacity decreases, family relations may worsen, anxiety, panic attacks and depression may appear.