Migraine Headache: Symptoms, Diagnosis and Treatment

Migraine is a primary headache disorder characterized by recurrent headaches that are moderate to severe. Other types of headaches can also cause severe pain, and not all headaches are migraines. Migraine type of headache is a form of vascular headache. This type of headache typically affect one half of the head and last from two to 72 hours. Migraine headache is a result of specific changes within the brain. It causes severe head pain that is often accompanied by sensitivity to light, sound or smells.

Migraine headache is caused by vasodilation (enlargement of blood vessels) that causes the release of chemicals from nerve fibers that coil around the large arteries of the brain. Enlargement of these blood vessel stretches the nerve that coil around them and causes the nerves to release chemicals. The chemicals cause inflammation, pain and further enlargement of the artery. The increasing enlargement of the arteries magnifies the pain. Migraine attacks, commonly activate the sympathetic nervous system in the body. The sympathetic nervous system is often thought of as the part of the nervous system that controls primitive responses to stress and pain, the co-called “fright or flight” response and this activation sympathetic nervous activity in the intestine causes nausea, vomiting and diarrhea.

Sympathetic activity also delays emptying of the stomach in the small intestine and thereby presents oral medications from entering the intestine and being absorbed. The impaired absorption of oral medication is a common reason for the ineffectiveness of medications taken to treat migraine headaches. Migraine afflicts 28 million Americans with females affected more frequently (17%) than male (6%). Missed work and lost productivity from migraine create a significant public burden. Nevertheless, migraine still remains largely under-diagnosed and under-treated. Less than half of individuals with migraines are diagnosed by their doctors.

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Symptoms of Migraine headache

Other factors that influenced migraine are nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, facial pallor, cold hands, cold feet, and sensitivity of light and sound. As a result of this sensitivity to light and sound, migraine victims usually prefer to lie in a quiet, dark room during an attack. A typical attack lasts between 4 and 72 hours. An estimated 40% - 60% of migraine attacks are preceded by monitoring (warning) symptoms lasting hours to days. The symptoms may include: sleeplessness, Irritability, Fatigue, Depression, Euphoria, Yawning, and Cravings for sweet or salty foods. Patients and their family members usually know that when they observe these warning symptoms, that a migraine attack is beginning.