Migraine Headache Treatments
Many people around the world suffer from migraine headaches. These headaches can often lead to a large amount of pain which can be debilitating for some people.
Migraine is a common neurological condition that affects millions of people from all ages, nationalities and gender. Like any other disease, its presence is manifested by symptoms felt by the sufferer and whose existence allows physicians to make a diagnosis.
The most common migraine symptom and the most recognizable as well, is the headache. Although it is not present in the rarer forms of the disease, it is one evident sign of migraine. The headache that accompanies a migraine is not the kind that gives a dull ache. The pain felt by migraines is the intense, throbbing kind which sometimes necessitates complete rest and disrupts normal daily functions.
However, a headache is not the only indicator that signals a migraine. Depending on the migraine attack, a host of other symptoms arise as well. Analyzing them helps the medical practitioner in determining what type of migraine the patient is suffering from and in prescribing the appropriate medications.
An inventory of migraine symptoms could be quite lengthy due to the various types of the disease. A generalized list of these include: severe headache on one or both sides of the head, nausea, vomiting, weakness, vision disturbance, sensitivity to light and sound, pain over one eye, aura, blurred vision and temporary blind spots.
When the migraine comes with aura, this gives rise to a whole new set of symptoms that consists of: seeing flashing lights or zigzag lines, temporary blindness, speech difficulty, tingling and weakness in the limbs and face, confusion, giddiness and noise sensitivity.
This does not mean the sufferer undergoes all the symptoms during the attack. Most likely, he will experience only a few. Symptoms also vary from person to person. Further, a migraine symptom could be felt days before the attack, during the aerodrome stage.
In these times, the migraine has unexplained feelings of elation or intense energy, cravings for sweets, thirst, drowsiness or irritability and depression.
Diagnosing migraine is not an easy task for the physician. In order to make an accurate evaluation, he will need to have as much information as possible, obtained from the patient and from medical tests conducted. Observation and analysis of symptoms is very helpful in arriving at a diagnosis. By knowing what symptoms are experienced by the patient, the specialist will be able to tell what type of migraine it is and what treatments are to be administered.
During consultation, the patient will be required to describe the duration and frequency of his All kinds of Headache and how intense they are, where pain is located, presence of associated symptoms and behavior during a headache. Since other illnesses also exhibit similar sings to migraine, these have to be ruled out. A case in point is the fact that people with sever sinusitis also experience double vision and vision loss.
Experiencing migraine, however mild, is not a pleasant event. But the sufferer can put this to good use by being observant and recording what he is going through. The complexity of migraine and the difficulty in diagnosing it means that no detail is insignificant. Thus, if the patient is to take an active role in the management of his disease, he needs to be vigilant of every single migraine symptom.
Migraines are affecting a huge percentage of people and the causes are usually determined on an individual basis. People often use acupuncture to reduce the severity of the migraine headaches and reduce the frequency that they occur.
These alternative therapies can also be used to reduce the side effects of migraines such as sickness, stress, muscle tension and fatigue.
No matter what types of medication you take for migraine headaches they can produce unwanted side effects and symptoms. And unfortunately, they can also increase the intensity of the very pain they were intended to relieve.
There are many migraine headache triggers that will cause migraines and the first step toward eliminating this painful disorder is to determine what these triggers are and then eliminate them.
Throbbing head pain is caused when the blood vessels surrounding the brain dilate. Placing a cold compress on the back of the neck can help minimize the flow of blood to the brain, thus relieving the throbbing pain.
There are other effective home remedies that can help reduce pain. Massaging tight muscles can aid in relaxation and the best spots for massage are the muscles of the neck, shoulders, face, and head.
Be sure to use the pads of your fingers or thumbs and rub your muscles gently, but firmly. Another migraine treatment that has shown good results is taking niacin, also known as vitamin B3.
If taken in sufficient amounts it can cause a person’s body to flush, or turn red. Before beginning a proper treatment for migraine headaches relief, it isn’t uncommon for sufferers to wind up in an emergency room because of the unendurable pain.
Constrictions of blood vessels that supply the brain with blood are the likely root cause of migraines.
Migraines are a medical condition that impairs millions of people each year. While migraines differ in severity, common symptoms include altered perceptions, severe headaches, and nausea. Preventative migraine headache treatment options are used to prevent – or reduce – the number of migraines a person suffers from. Treatment usually is in the form of a medication or patch. Trigger management migraine treatments are aimed at identifying what causes migraines. Triggers can include a change of weather, air pressure, bright lights, glare, fluorescent light, fumes, and foods.
General pain management for migraine headache treatment can be used to treat non-life threatening migraines. Treatment options include the use of narcotic analgesics, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, and simple analgesics. As someone who has the unfortunate task of dealing with migraines you will surely be seeking some kind of migraine headache treatment to relieve yourself of the agony and pain that migraines come bearing when they do attack.
This option as it suggests should offer you more pleasant results compared to medicine. There are a number of techniques that have been researched by many migraine sufferers like applying heat or cold to the affected area and many more.
