Posted on 05/23/2005 6:13:05 PM PDT by FreeManWhoCan
Tension, migraine are the most common; treatment varies, too
Fortunately, we don't live in 7000 BC, or there might be millions of people walking around with holes in their skulls. Or in 1200 BC in Egypt, where clay crocodiles were tied to the head to treat migraines.
Headaches, like back pain and belly aches, can have many causes ranging from innocuous to deadly. Migraines can start at a very early age but tend to become more prevalent in the third and fourth decades of life. Twenty-five percent of women and 8 percent of men have them.
The two most common headache disorders are tension headaches and migraine. Tension headaches are more common than migraines. The difference between the two is what tension headaches are not. They are not usually located over one area of the head, not typically severe or associated with nausea or vomiting, and do not usually affect work and family life.
You probably have migraines if you have recurring moderate to severe headache associated with nausea and/or vomiting and are bothered by light or sound. Moreover, with migraines, you probably will experience any two of the following symptoms: located on one side of the head, worsened by physical activity, and/or a throbbing sensation.
One common misconception is that most headaches are due to sinus problems. The fact is that sinus problems rarely cause chronic headaches. Studies showed that 90 percent of patients with self-diagnosed sinus headaches actually had migraines. A person with an acute sinus infection can and often will have a headache, but there are usually other symptoms associated with this condition. These symptoms include fever, red-hot skin over the sinuses, yellow-green foul-tasting or smelling discharge from the nostrils and throat.
Migraines have a tendency to run in families. In fact, about 90 percent of migraine sufferers have a close relative with the same affliction.
Migraine sufferers probably inherit the predisposition for headaches, but there are many external and internal triggers that can affect their frequency and intensity. These triggers include hormone fluctuations, environmental triggers (such as perfumes and exhaust fumes) and dietary triggers.
There are several theories as to the cause of migraines, but overall, it is agreed that there is a migraine center in the brainstem that can be activated by a number of triggers, creating inflammation that results in pain.
Medication overuse and caffeine-related headaches are also a common problem. This can occur if you are using medications to treat individual headaches three or more days a week or when you drink large quantities of caffeinated beverages. Patients with these headaches often wake up with them, and over time the headaches become more and more difficult to treat.
Fortunately, there have been great advances in the treatment of migraine headaches in the past 10 years. Headache treatment falls into two categories, preventive and abortive.
Preventive therapies can decrease the intensity and frequency of headaches. There has been a new drug recently approved for migraine prevention.
Abortive therapies help to get rid of the headache when it occurs. These medications, called "triptans," can usually be taken without affecting your ability to work and function. These treatments come in a variety of forms, such as tablets you swallow or melt in your mouth, nasal sprays and injections.
Physicians, usually neurologists, who specialize in the treatment of migraines can tailor a treatment plan that will take into account the frequency and severity of the headaches, how quickly they develop and how disabling they are to you.
I suffered with migraines for years before I knew what it was.....now I thank God for Imitrex.
For me, chiropractic got rid of them. I was a frequent migraine sufferer. After seeing (and marrying) a chiropractor my headaches are a thing of the past.
Oddly, my headaches BEGAN when I got married....
Help! Help! I hav migraines during early mornings and I also experience them during late afternoons. Not that a carbo- rich diet helps though.
Trepanation ping?
Same here. Until Imitrex became available in pill form, a trip to the doctor for a shot of a strong pain medication was my only solution.
Can't figure out where they come from, heredity-wise. Neither parent has ever HAD a headache. Mine tend to come in clusters.
Wow. Someone stayed up an extra 1/2 hour after bedtime to reach that obvious conclusion!
Have a friend whose son had them at an early age. He got them after he had been playing hard. He was one of those kids whose head just got soaked when he perspired, and he learned to take it easy especially in hot weather.
He is grown now, and I believe he has little or no problems with migraines now.
Bad news because I can hardly see to walk when this happens, much less drive.
However, it's good in that it's a signal to me that I need to get home before the pain hits.
Our 12 year old son has had them for several years. We've found Ibuprofen suspension to work well for him. It's absorbed faster than pills and gets right to work on the migraine. If he gets the medicine quickly enough, we can usually prevent the nausea from taking hold. Medicine plus a 30 minute lie-down in a dimmed room usually revives him. Once the migraine develops to the point of nausea, it can take hours for him to improve, usually requires a nap and often involves vomiting.
He has learned to speak up as soon as he feels it coming on, and the school nurse has a bottle of his medicine and instructions on his situation. It took a while for us to realize that it was migraine. We both suffer them, but he didn't initially describe it as headache in a way that we recognized it. We would get a call from the school nurse that he was sick to his stomach and seemed to be coming down with something. After a few rounds of this, we put two and two together.
We try to prevent them as much as possible. Things that help him are getting enough sleep, adequate food intake, minimizing refined carbs, avoiding caffeine, wearing his glasses on car rides, wearing sunglasses and hat on bright, hot days, and keeping up his fluids. Ever since he was little, he's been very sensitive to blood sugar levels. He gets cranky when his blood sugar drops. Now we also find that he tends to get migraines when his blood sugar drops. Snacks help, as does adequate protein intake.
Each kid is different, but there are some common triggers that affect a lot of migraine sufferers. She can probably be helped in a number of ways, even if she won't take medicine.
My son had migraines which were caused by nitrates in lunch meats.
Im used to get Ocular Migraines. No head pain, but I could barely see a thing for about 40 minutes when they'd hit. Just a big, bright, shimmering semicircular mass in the center of my vision. I'd feel kind of tired afterwards, but that was all. I'd just have to sit and wait for it to go away.
No one ever believes me, but I not get them and have never had a headache.
Thanks!
Thanks, I will pass this information on to Felicity's parents. Being tired is usually one of the first clue's.
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