A migraine is a severe headache which affects women more often than men. It is a neurological disease which is commonly manifested through a headache. A migraine headache is a vascular headache is caused by vasodilatation or enlargement of blood vessels and the release of chemicals from nerve fibers that wrap around the blood vessels.
In a migraine attack, temporal artery which is found just outside the skull under the skin temple enlarges. The enlarged temporal artery stretches the nerves that goes around the artery and forces the nerves to release chemicals. The chemicals cause inflammation, pain, and more enlargement of the artery. The growing enlargement of the artery increases the pain.
Migraine Triggers
A migraine trigger is a factor that causes migraine headaches. These triggers however are hard to identify. The most common causes of migraines or the triggers are stress, sleep disturbances, fasting, hormones, bright or flickering lights, odors, cigarette smoke, alcohol, aged cheeses, chocolate, monosodium glutamate, nitrites, aspartame, and caffeine.
Some women experience migraine headaches at the onset of menstruation due to the decrease in blood level of estrogen. The time that lapses between exposure to a trigger and the start of headache could take as little as a few hours to two days. A trigger does not always cause headache. Just as successfully avoiding triggers cannot assure prevention of headaches. Different persons may react differently to triggers. .
Sleep and migraine
Migraine and tension headaches could be brought about by sleep disturbances such as deprivation, prolong sleep, poor quality of sleep, and frequent waking up in the middle of the night. Studies have shown that quality sleeping habits could lead to lower frequency of migraine headaches. Sleep could also minimize the length of migraine headaches.
Fasting and migraine
Fasting causes the discharge of stress-related hormones and decrease in levels of blood sugar. People prone to migraine are, therefore, advised to avoid prolonged fasting.
Bright lights and migraine
Bright lights and other high intensity visual stimuli can cause headaches even in healthy persons as well as migraine sufferers. Migraine patients though are more prone because of their lower than normal threshold for pain caused by light. Sunlight, television, and flashing lights could cause migraine headaches to people sensitive to light.
Caffeine and migraine
Caffeine is a main ingredient in a number of food products particularly cola, tea, chocolates, coffee even in OTC analgesics. In low dosage caffeine can help increase mental and physical alertness and energy. In high doses, though, it can cause insomnia, irritability, anxiety, and headaches. Constant use of analgesics with caffeine could cause rebound headaches. Individuals who take high levels of caffeine daily could develop withdrawal headaches when caffeine consumption is stopped.
Chocolate, wine, tyramine, MSG, nitrites, aspartame and migraine
Chocolate is said to cause migraine headaches, but scientific studies could not find direct association between ingesting chocolate and headaches. Red wine is said to cause migraine headache but it is unclear if white wine will have the same effect.
Tyramine which is a chemical in cheese, wine, beer, dry sausage, and sauerkraut can cause migraine headaches, but it could not be determined if a low-tyramine diet can lessen migraine frequency. Monosodium glutamate (MSG), a food flavoring, is said to cause headaches, facial flushing, sweating, and palpitations when eaten in high doses on an empty stomach. This is also called Chinese restaurant syndrome. Nitrates and nitrites are chemicals in hotdogs, ham, frankfurters, bacon and sausages is said to cause migraine headaches. Aspartame, a sugar-substitute used in diet drinks and snacks, is reported to cause headaches when used in concentrate dosage for lengthy period of time.
Female hormones and migraine
Some women suffer frequent migraine headaches in their menstrual periods. Others experience migraine headaches only during the menstrual period. "Menstrual migraine" is a term used to refer to migraines occurring in women two days or one day after their menstrual periods. Decrease in the levels of estrogen at the start of menses is said to be probable cause. Decreased estrogen is also the probable cause for migraines in birth control pills users in the week that estrogens are not taken.
Side Effects of Migraine
Migraine headache is often a “pounding” or throbbing pain felt in one side of the head, but in some cases it may also affect the other side. There are two types of migraine:
Common migraine (without aura) causes 75 per cent of migraine headaches. This is characterized by sudden headache that occurs without warning and gets worse as time elapses. Side effects of this migraine manifests in nausea, vomiting, diarrhea or increased urination, loss of appetite, fatigue, chills and irritation.
Classic migraine (with aura) affects the remaining 25 percent of people with migraine. People often sense a headache coming or an aura usually an hour before headache occurs.
The main effects manifested by classic migraine are visual disturbance such as seeing flashing lights or zigzag lines, visual hallucinations, blurred vision and inability to read, increased sensitivity to bright light, temporary blind spots and visual in size or shape of an object.
Other symptoms reported are sensitivity to loud sounds, temporary numbness or a “needle” sensation in hands, frequent yawning, feelings of hunger and thirst. Sufferers sometimes feel numbness around mouth, a slight inability to form a correct sentence, trouble finding the right words and weakness on one part of the body. These symptoms may not recur. But if vision is affected, professional help should be sought.
Migraine headaches are very irritating and can interfere with daily activities but there are no serious effects of migraine or permanent health damage. Real migraines are not brought about by serious medical problems or brain tumors. If aura symptoms are not followed by a migraine, headaches occur frequently and are longer or migraine comes with high temperature, it is advisable to see a doctor and undergo some neurological tests.
For people who sometimes suffer from migraines, there are natural remedies and prescribed drugs that can help cope with the problem and alleviate the symptoms. Caution should be exercised in using over the counter drugs. These drugs and most prescribed medications could temporarily lessen the symptoms but do not stop the root causes of migraine. Inappropriate use of drugs could lead to very serious side effects and cause more severe headaches.
References:
Nikitina Arina. “Side effects of Migraine”. Ezine Articles. 2008. Accessed 2 March 2008 from http://ezinearticles.com/?Side-Effects-Of-Migraine&id=487479
“Migraine headaches, vision effects.” eMedicineHealth website. 11 October 2005. Accessed 2 March 2008 from http://www.emedicinehealth.com/migraine_headaches_vision_effects/article_em.htm
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