Migraine syndrome is most associated with one particular symptom, the migraine headache. These powerful headaches are the best known aspect of the disorder and receive the most attention. However, migraine is not a headache alone. It may also involve a range of other symptoms and problems.
Let us look at a few of the symptoms of migraine that do not necessarily involve the infamous migraine headache.
One of the most frequently encountered symptoms of migraine is sensitivity to light and sound. Sensitivity levels can vary, with some migraineurs completely devastated even by low light or soft noise. Others may simply be sensitive to particularly bright light or loud situations.
Chronic morning headaches have become a common feature with the changing lifestyles in the society.
They are said to be caused by the sleep disorders like insomnia and sleep apnea (sleep apnea is a condition where people stop breathing many times at night and is accompanied by teeth grinding and periodic limb movements). Some studies also suggest that chronic morning headaches are also most commonly associated with anxiety and depression.
People suffering from hypertension, musculoskeletal diseases, and those who took anti-anxiety drugs or anti-depressants and consume more than six alcoholic drinks a day are most likely to suffer from morning headaches.
Rebound headaches are headaches that may be caused by overusing pain medicines. Typically rebound headaches begin early in the morning, however the location and severity of the headache can change on a daily basis. Indeed, rebound headaches typically are daily occurrences and can lead to problems involving anxiety, irritability, sleeplessness and depression.
Migraine medications work to raise serotonin levels to ease pain, but when too much medication is ingested something happens to the serotonin levels which causes the chemical to lose its effectiveness. Research shows that serotonin levels are lower when you take too much pain medication and then rise slightly after the headaches get better and you stop taking the medication.
Stress: what exactly it is:
Stress is a feeling that's created when our body reacts to particular events. Stress involves the body's way of rising to a challenge and preparing to meet a tough situation with focus, strength, stamina, and heightened alertness. The situation that causes stress are called stressor, and they cover a whole range of activities right from outright physical danger to making a class presentation or taking a semester's worth of your toughest subject. The human body in general responds to stressors in different ways mostly by activating the nervous system and specific hormones. The hypothalamus, which is present just above the thyroid gland, signals the adrenal glands to produce more of the hormones adrenaline and cortical and release them into the bloodstream. These hormones can cause a rapid speed up in the heart rate, breathing rate, blood pressure, and metabolism.
You don't have to suffer migraines alone in your bed in a dark bedroom anymore. Coincident with the rise of the internet has been a rise in the number of resources available to those who are living with the wracking pain of migraine. The sheer number of sites available on the web that offer help is staggering. Trying to catalog them all would require a devote web site in and of itself. However, we've done some searching and narrowed down a quite respectable list of the best resources on the web for migraine patients.
Migraine is a neurologic disease, whose most common symptom is an intense and disabling headache. Migraine is the most prevalent type of vascular headache. Migraine headaches are mostly characterized by severe pain on one or both sides of the head, an upset stomach, hypersensitivity to light (photophobia) and hypersensitivity to sound that is phonophobia. The word "migraine" comes from Greek construction "hemikranion" which means pain affecting one side of the head. Migraines are caused due to changes in brain and surrounding blood vessels and typically last from 4-72 hours. These tend to differ in frequency from daily to fewer than 1 per year. As a matter of fact Migraine affects about 15% of the world population today.
Migraineurs (people who suffer from chronic or episodic migraine headaches) are looking for headache relief that doesn't come from a drug lab. All too often pharmaceutical migraine solutions have unpleasant side effects, including, ironically enough, headache.
Some migraine sufferers have found help from feverfew (Tanacetum parthenium), a common flower that grows all over Europe and North America. Feverfew plants resemble daisies. They have flat yellow centers with slender white petals on lightly furred stems and small yellow-green leaves. Medical texts going as far back as Ancient Rome list dried and crushed feverfew leaves as a palliative for headaches.
A migraine prodrome is a premonition or advance warning that a migraine is coming on. Prodromes can occur anywhere from a few minutes before the onset of a headache to days prior. While no one knows the specific cause of migraine prodromes, the prevailing theory is that they are part of neurochemical change in the brain that occurs before an attack. Approximately 60% of all migraineurs (people who have chronic migraines) experience some type of prodrome.
Migraine Auras
Migraine auras are a specific type of visual prodrome in which people see things that are not there, like flashes of light or haloes around object. This type of prodrome is rare and experienced by less than 25% of all migraineurs.
Correcting dietary insufficiencies may help reduce headache frequency for migraineurs. Many migraineurs find relief by adding vitamin supplements to their daily regimen.
Taking vitamin B2, also known as riboflavin, has been shown in numerous studies to help reduce the number of migraine attacks people suffer from. Initial studies involved a high dosage of 400mg. This is two hundred times the amount of B2 in a typical diet. The high dosage involved caused a rare side effect of vitamin B2 supplementation to show itself; diarrhea.
Sinus headaches occur when the air-filled, bony cavities connecting to the nose get blocked due to excess mucous and get infected and congested.
Treatment for sinus headaches -
Treatment involves reducing the swelling in the sinuses region, the inflammation and the pain, and improving the drainage system in the nasal area. Some of the treatment methods that can be adopted are -
1. It is essential to breathe humidified air. The dry air environment can be humidified using any one of these – A steam vaporizer, cool-mist humidifier, steam from a basin of hot water or steam from hot shower water.