Migraine pain is one of the diseases that affect people's daily life the most. Migraine cannot be defined as a simple headache. It can affect the life of individuals for a long time. Migraine usually starts from a single point in the head area and progresses. However, in addition to pain, it can also cause balance problems and complaints such as vomiting, and although it is not a pain of direct psychiatric origin, it prepares the ground for psychiatric problems over time.
What is Migraine and What Are Its Types?
Migraine is a headache caused by changes in the nerves and blood vessels in the brain. Attacks of people with migraine can be triggered by some factors. It usually manifests itself with severe pain. Hormonal and environmental causes can trigger migraine.
Migraine is one of the diseases that reduce the living standards of the person and limit their daily activities. Pain is one of the most common symptoms of this disease. This pain, which occurs in the nape of the neck, temple or around the eyes, may intensify as you move and may continue with throbbing symptoms. Along with this pain, nausea, vomiting, discomfort against light and sound occur. The 2 most common types of migraine are migraine with and without aura.
Migraine with aura: The pain is preceded by various visual disturbances and light in front of the eyes.
Menstrual migraine: It usually occurs during menstrual periods.
Duringvestibular migraine attacks, dizziness, imbalance, nausea and vomiting are observed.
What are the Symptoms of Migraine?
Migraine symptoms; The most basic symptom of migraine is headache. Migraine symptoms usually cause throbbing pain in one half or all of the head. The pain can be moderate or extremely severe, and the pain can be in the temple, nape, forehead or unilateral pain. This severe pain can be felt a few days in advance and can cause problems such as seeing bright objects flying in front of the eyes, blurred and double vision.
Migraine usually comes in attacks. While an attack usually passes during the day, some patients may have pain that lasts more than a day. The frequency of attacks varies from person to person.
Patients who have an attack once a month may also have pain 2-3 times a week. The person also becomes sensitive to odors.
Migraine symptoms cause mood changes such as irritability, depressive mood and unhappiness. Rarely, it can turn into a disease that causes pain every day, which we call chronic daily headache . This condition should be treated immediately as it affects the quality of life very negatively. Some of the symptoms of migraine pain can be listed as follows;
- Severe headache
- Nausea
- Hypersensitivity and reactivity
- Excessive and unnecessary cheerfulness
- Stagnation and dullness
- Slowing down of thoughts
- Increased appetite or loss of appetite
- Hypersensitivity to odor
- Hypersensitivity to light
- Difficulty finding words when speaking
These reasons mentioned above vary from person to person. Although these reasons are the reasons triggered by migraine types, they can be symptoms of different diseases. Therefore, if migraine or any of the migraine types has not been diagnosed, it is necessary to consult a specialist.
What are the Triggers of Migraine?
Migraine pain does not occur for a single reason. The conditions you are in and triggering factors can trigger a migraine attack. Some of the factors affecting the disease are as follows;
- Hormonal changes
- Environmental Factors
- Foods
- Exercise/Fatigue
- Menstrual changes
- Birth control pills
- First 3 months of pregnancy and 6 months after delivery
- Bright and flashing lights
- Computer games
- Emotions like anger, too much joy
- Skipping meals, starvation
- Strong odors such as smoke and perfume
- Sleep disturbance
- Climate change
- Excess coffee and caffeine, excess tea
- Artificial sweeteners
- Prepared foods
- Foods containing nitrates
30 minutes or more of irregular and prolonged compulsive exercises negatively affect migraine patients. Migraine patients should create their own programs by resting for a certain period of time with short 20-minute exercises and then continuing to exercise.
How is Migraine Treated?
The first treatment method is that the doctor diagnoses migraine after the patient tells his/her complaints to the specialist. Patients with recurrent complaints must first undergo a brain imaging. If there are more than 1-2 attacks per week, preventive treatments should be applied and if there are triggering factors, they should be resolved. For treatment, the person must first change their lifestyle.
There are two types of treatment for this disease. These are painkillers and preventive treatment methods;
Treatment with painkillers: It is a sufficient method for people who usually have pain 2-3 times a month using drugs called triptans. The person with pain consumes the painkiller at the specified dose.
Preventive treatment method: It is used to reduce the number, severity and frequency of headaches. In this treatment method; anti-depressants, some heart medications and some of the medications used in epilepsy are used. The duration of the treatment method varies from patient to patient and lasts for 3-4 months. In addition to these, there are some points that the person should pay attention to in daily life. These important points are as follows;
- Regular sleep
- Stress management
- Dietary pattern
- Ideal weight ratio
- Alcohol and smoking should be avoided.
The above-mentioned items will contribute positively to the treatment process as well as the personalized treatment. In this way, the person gets used to living with migraine and takes it under control over time. The patient and the doctor should be in harmony in the treatment.