Stop Migraine Headaches

It is common for migraine sufferers to feel alone and misunderstood. The truth is they are not alone. There are many support groups out there where migraine sufferers can fund information, resources and most importantly, understanding and encouragement.

The World Headache Alliance (WHA)

The WHA can be contacted at www.w-h-a.org. This group is an International organization that brings together the collective expertise of 38 headache organization in 26 different countries. Their website is considered as one of the best when it comes to providing the most current information and the latest news about migraines and other forms of headaches.

The American Council for Headache Education (ACHE)

The ACHE can be reached at www.achenet.org. The mission of this organization is to educate patients and health care providers about headaches and other forms of headaches. Their website features plenty of useful information about migraine diagnosis and studies. It also has a section called “Ask the Expert” where physical volunteers are available to answer questions.

The Migraine Action Association (MAA)

The MAA’s online address is www.migraine.org.uk. Established in 1958, the MAA is one of the oldest migraine support and advocacy groups in the world. The site features an exclusive list of local chapters and support groups in the whole UK.

Migraine Awareness Group: A National Understanding for Migraineurs (MAGNUM)

You can find MAGNUM online at www.migraines.org. Because of the quality of information that it provides, MAGNUM is a great resource for people who want to get involved with migraine activism.

The Migraine Trust

The Migraine Trust can be reached at www.migrainetrust.org. This excellent site is devoted to raising awareness of migraine in the workplace. The group’s newsletter is packed with good information.

Headaches and Migraines at About.com

This site, which can be reached at headaches.about.com, offers a wealth of information and links to lots of other good migraine resources.

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Migraine episodes can be summed up in four phases.  However, not all phases are undergone by the migraineur (migraine sufferer).  Take a closer look and know what you have.

Prodrome

This is sometimes referred to as the “pre-headache” and may occur hours or even days prior to a migraine attack.  This may be thought of as the migraineur’s red flag that a migraine is forthcoming.  Thirty to forty percent of migraineurs go through prodrome.

This phase is extremely helpful in giving the migraineur a chance to avert the episode.  Examples of prodrome are food cravings, increase in the regularity of urination, constipation or diarrhoea, tiredness, mood swings and muscle stiffness, particularly in the neck area.

Aura

This is the most recognizable of the phases and generally persists for less than an hour.  The indicators and effects of aura vary greatly.  Auras can either be visual and non-visual. Auras may include flashing lights, spots, blurred vision, partial loss of sight, hypersensitivity to touch and feel, olfactory and/or auditory hallucinations, numbness or the face, hands or feet on the side where the headache is felt, difficulty in speaking, confusion, vertigo, partial paralysis, reduced sensation and loss of hearing.

Headache

This phase is usually the most incapacitating phase of a migraine as it affects not just the head but the whole body.  The headaches commonly persist from one to seventy two hours.  When it endures for more than 72 hours, it is called migrainosus and should be treated by a medical professional.  Other attributes of this phase include headache on one side of the head, sensitivity to sound and light, nausea and vomiting, dehydration or fluid retention (depending on the migraineur’s bodily reactions), nasal congestion or runny nose,  hot flashes and feeling cold, diarrhoea or constipation, confusion, depression and dizziness.

Postdrome

This phase is sometimes termed “post-headache” and quickly follows the headache.  Full recovery of most migraineurs in this phase range from hours to several days.  Some signs of this phase include depression or euphoria, reduced intellect, tiredness and poor comprehension and concentration.

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Parents often think that children just want to skip school when they say they have a pounding headache.  That may be true for some, but for other kids, they are in fact experiencing the onslaught of a migraine.  So what are the telltale signs in children?

Headaches

The main indicator of migraine is an excruciating headache.  There is a throbbing or pulsating ache in your head as if a drum is being whacked.

Worse, it can be exacerbated by movement, like walking. The pain is usually on one side of the head (unilateral), though pain on both sides (bilateral) may also occur.  The headache may last from a few hours to as much as two days.  Sometimes, the ache only dissipates after a good slumber.

Migraine Aura

An aura is a warning sign or indicator about the impending migraine.  Auras may vary from child to child.  Some examples of which include the following:

• Shadows and flashing lights in their vision
• Feelings of pins and needles
• Craving for specific foods
• Partial paralysis or muscle weakness on one side of the body (hemiparesis)
• Language impairment (aphasia)
• Numbness and tingling sensation on both sides of the head (bilateral paresthesias)

Others

A whole range of manifestations may make itself known to the child migraineur (migraine sufferer).  Below are other symptoms your kids may exhibit in their bout with migraine:

• Nausea or vomiting
• Sensitivity to light (photophobia)
• Sensitivity to sound (phonophobia)
• Sensitivity to odours (osmophobia)
• Slow speech
• Vertigo
• Diminished hearing
• Ringing in the ears (tinnitus)
• Diminished awareness or consciousness
• Double vision (dilopia)
• Inability to co-ordinate voluntary muscular movement (ataxia)

It isn’t easy to pin down a headache to migraine.  However, physicians will normally check on the following to verify if your child:

• Experienced a minimum of 5 migraine attacks (without aura) or 2 migraine attacks with aura
• Had migraine episodes which lasted from 1 to 3 days
• Has other illness or condition that may be contributing to the headache

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Adults often think that children don’t have a care in the world.  Images of kids frolicking in the sun and giggling their hearts out make the grown-ups green with envy.  But children do face stress, pressure, anxiety and unfortunately, illness, just like everyone else.  One such condition that afflicts both the young ones and adults are migraines.

Not many are aware that children’s migraine is a reality kids are confronted with.  Though statistics vary, about 5-10% of children (aged 5-15) experience migraines during their childhood and up to 25% in adolescent females.  During the high school years, approximately 20% of the adolescents endure migraines.  Unfortunately for the girls, they are more predisposed to have the headaches than the boys.

A migraine is normally an excruciating pounding headache accompanied by nausea that occurs from time to time. The pulsing pain generally starts in the forehead, the side of the head or around the eye area.  Gradually, the headache will progress and become more intense.  Vomiting, nausea, sensitivity to light and noise are fairly common occurrences.  Sometimes, an “aura” or shadows in their vision is experienced at the onset of the headache.

The exact cause of migraines is still unknown.  However, there are several assumptions proffered by the scientific community.  Probable causes are as strong odours, fatigue, depression, change in sleep patterns, skipping meals, hormonal changes, heredity, intense physical exertion and diet.  Common food triggers include processed meat, aged cheese, excessive caffeine intake, chocolates and beans.  Work closely with your child to identify the food triggers through the process of elimination.

Below are some helpful tips parents can make their kids do the ease their children’s migraine:

• Get 8-10 hours of sleep at night
• Drink 4-8 glasses of water
• Eat a balanced and sensible diet
• Steer clear of food triggers
• Exercise regularly
• Preventive medicine prescribed by your doctor
• Rest in quiet and dark place

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The Truth Behind Kids and Migraines

Children get migraines too. This is not a condition confined to adulthood.  Studies have even recounted that infants may develop migraines, but this is tough to confirm.

Existing calculations indicate that up to 10% of children between 5-15 years old suffer from  migraines, increasing to 28% in the 15-19 age range.  Migraine headaches have  a valid effect on the quality of life for children.  The high percentage of youngsters that undergo migraines makes them a foremost childhood health crisis.

Spotting children’s migraine is comparable to analysing adult migraines with a few significant exceptions.  The International Headache Society’s criteria states that the headache ought to last 4 to 72 hours. Children’s migraines are commonly much quicker and this detail needs to be taken into account when attempting to analyse them.  Adult migraines are customarily one-sided, but children’s  commonly include pain on both sections of the head.  These headaches should not be dismissed just because they are not one-sided.

For a good number of  child migraineurs (people bearing with migraine headaches) the headaches commence between 5 and 11 years of age.  Prior to puberty, the figure of male and female youngsters with migraines is about identical.  Subsequent to puberty, girls are to a great extent more prone than boys are to experience migraines, most probably due to  comparable hormonal issues that make the number of adult women migraineurs three times more than that of the men.

Lots of child migraineurs are fortunate enough to have their condition go away during puberty or upon reaching adulthood.  However, people who have migraines as children are much more probable to become adult migraineurs than those who did not have them as a young person.

Adult migraine sufferers should pay attention to migraine signs in their youngsters, especially if the other parent also puts up with migraines.  A young person with two migraineur parents has a 70% chance of becoming someone who sufferers with children’s migraines too

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Ageing and Migraines

Everyone will eventually age.  Getting older means increasing vulnerability and susceptibility to illness, but it can also be a boon to migraineurs (people who experience migraine headaches).  Only 2-10% of the mature population feels migraines (as opposed to up to 28% of adults under 65), and old women are still more prone to have them than their male counterparts.

Migraines can happen at any age, but they crest around age 40.  The rate of occurrence of migraine attacks after 40 wanes for most people.  Many migraineurs who have suffered with this condition for years experience a drop in the rate of occurrence and severity of attacks after age 55.

About two thirds of migraineurs stop having attacks altogether by age 65.  Patients over 65 who still have migraines report drastically waned severity, duration, and rate of occurrence in their attacks.  They are also less likely to suffer the gastrointestinal upset that concurs with migraine in younger people.

The snag to all this good news is that adults over 65 who face migraines are more probable than younger patients to feel disability because of their affliction.  Many experts are uncomfortable with treating senior citizens for migraines because remedial methods used on younger people are often not tried for safety in an older patient.

Extra conditions and the medications used to heal them complicate the trouble.  Seniors are more prone to be on one or more prescription drugs and each new medication rises the risk of unfavorable drug reactions.  This prospect makes some doctors reluctant to supply senior migraineurs pharmaceutical assistance.

The beginning of migraines after age 50 is very rare and should be examined with a doctor to rule out the chance of secondary causes.  Late inception does not rule out migraine (only one third of senior headaches are triggered by secondary conditions) but it makes it less prone.

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Migraines can be more than just a pain in the head.

Basilar migraines, once known as basilar artery migraines or BAMs, are an extremely atypical but potentially lethal variant of the classic migraine with aura.

Basilar migraine symptoms are caused by narrowing of the basilar artery, which brings blood to the brain stem.

BAMs were originally thought to trouble only young women and adolescent girls, but examination shows that while they are primarily a dilemma for these groups they can manifest in people of all ages and genders.

During the aura phase, basilar migraine symptoms may exhibit loss of balance, double vision or partial vision loss, lack of coordination, no sensation on one or both sides of the body, weakness, faintness or confusion and awful vomiting.

The symptoms typically last an hour or less and disappear when the headache begins, but may last as long as days after the headache pain has dissipated.  Some basilar migraine sufferers pass out or lose consciousness during the aura phase as well.  In extremely uncommon cases, they may even slip into a coma that can persist for hours or days.

The menace of basilar migraines is that they can advance to a transient ischemic attack (TIA) or stroke.  A transient ischemic attack is in effect a miniature stroke resulting from a short-lived interruption of the flow of blood to the brain.

Unlike strokes, TIAs have not been shown to cause permanent damage to the brain and most neurological diseases that arise from them, like muddled speech or fragility on one side, clear up within twenty-four hours of the attack.

The basilar artery is found at the back of head.  The headache linked with basilar migraines is usually an acute throbbing ache on both sides of the back of the head, as opposed to the unilateral temple pulsating more ordinarily experienced with migraines.

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