Are you having intense headaches that come with nausea, difficulty in speaking, numbness and tingling sensations, vomiting, and sensitivity to the light? You may be experiencing the symptoms of migraine.
Migraine is a neurological condition that causes extreme headaches with other symptoms mentioned before. It can also be inherited by genetics. This disease is usually diagnosed by clinical history, occurring symptoms, and by ruling out other conditions and illnesses.
It is commonly categorized by the two common types, without aura and with aura. Migraine headaches without aura are also called common migraines, while migraine headaches with aura are termed the classic migraines.
Cases of migraine are higher for women than that for men. Symptoms of migraine can begin during childhood or may occur later in the early adulthood stage. Having a family history of migraines is the most common risk factor for acquiring it.
Symptoms of Migraines
Having migraines are commonly mistaken for having a headache, but they differ in a lot of aspects. Migraine symptoms can occur even before getting a headache. Some of these symptoms include:
- Irritability
- Stiffed neck
- Yawning frequently
- Low energy, exhaustion, and fatigue
- Craving for food
- Depression
- Hyperactivity
For migraines with aura, problems with your vision, speech, movements, and sensations may be experienced and occur. Some of these problems are:
- Losing of vision temporarily
- Seeing flashes of light, shapes, or bright spots
- Having difficulty in speaking
- Tingling sensations in the face, arms, or legs
After experiencing these problems, the “attack phase” is next. In this phase, the actual migraine occurs severely. The symptoms may last from a couple of hours up to several days. The symptoms may differ depending on the person. Some of these symptoms include:
- Nausea
- Feeling dizzy and faint
- Vomiting
- Becoming highly sensitive to light and sound
- Experiencing pain on one side of the head. It can either be felt at the front, back, left side, right side or at the temples.
- Having throbbing and pulsing headache
After experiencing the attack phase, the postdrome phase usually comes after. During the postdrome phase, a person may experience having mood swings and fluctuating emotions and feelings. These feelings may range from being extremely happy and enthusiastic to the feeling of exhaustion and apathy. A dull and mild headache may also occur.
These phases may be experienced and occur depending on the person. Some people skip other phases and experience a migraine attack without feeling any headache.
Here are 15 Surprising Facts About Migraine That You Need to Know
- Migraine is an enfeebling neurological disease that affects around 1 billion people worldwide
- The term migraine is originally form the Greek word “hemicrania” which can be translated to “half the skull”. The symptoms of migraine were described even from the early 400 BC by Hippocrates and the Greek term was initiated by a Greek physician.
- Migraine is affecting people more than asthma, diabetes, and epilepsy combines. It is considered the 3rd most common illness in the whole world.
- but can often be experienced beginning the early puberty stage up to adulthood, and generally affects those people ageing between 35 and 45 years old.
- Women are estimated to be affected 3 times more than men by migraine attacks.
- In the UK, it is estimated that there are about 3,000 migraine occurrences for every 1 million people are affected each day. This equates to about 190,000 people who are experiencing migraine attacks each day.
- About 2 percent of people in the world are experiencing a chronic migraine.
- Depression, anxiety, and some other mental health issues are more common to those who have migraine compared to those who are not suffering from it.
- The International Headache Society has only written about headaches and migraines in detail in 1988.
- The largest treatment advances for migraines in the 20th century was with the emergence of triptans, which is a drug medication to treat acute migraines.
- Among other diseases, migraine is considered as the 7th most debilitating disease among all the others. According to research, it is estimated that up to 2.9 years are lost to those suffering from this disability. Among other neurological disorders, migraine is considered the foremost cause of disability.
- About 25 million working and school days are lost every year because of migraines.
- The World Health Organization class migraine along with illnesses like active psychosis, dementia, and quadriplegia as the most debilitating illnesses.
- Despite its vast impact on people, migraine research is the least funded out of all neurological illnesses.
- More than half of the people suffering from migraine are never diagnosed
Migraine has such a wide impact on the quality of life of a person. People who are experiencing these symptoms should go seek professional help and specialists. Qualified online doctors are easily accessible for a consultation to give you the right treatment and medication. If you are in Canada, any walk in clinic Brantford can serve as your option for a consultation in diagnosing severe migraine and looking for its proper treatment. Read more about the options for migraine consultation.