Migraine

The text is presented for informational purposes only. We urge you not to self-medicate. When the first symptoms appear, consult a doctor. Recommended reading: “Why not self-medicate?”. Experts suggest that approximately 50% of all cases of headaches in children and adults are undiagnosed migraines. And all because most of us simply do not seek help, because they do not perceive recurring pain in the head as something serious that requires the help of a neurologist. Meanwhile, ignoring the symptoms of migraine can end very badly. In some cases, even fatal.

Migraine – what is it

Migraine is a serious neurological disease caused by changes in the functioning of the brain. In the international classification of diseases, it is referred to as an independent disease (code / code MBK 10 – G43). But this is only a scientific definition of the disease, and in order to truly understand what is behind it, to realize the seriousness of the disease, you need to learn about the main thing: what causes a severe headache and how it affects the brain.

The main symptom of a migraine is throbbing pain, usually only on one side of the head (most often on the right). As a rule, during an attack, the patient feels sick, his perception of light and sounds is disturbed, it is difficult for him to move and speak, and in some cases even hallucinations appear. Hopes that the attack will pass by itself are rarely justified. Without the right medication, daily pain can recur throughout the week. But what causes the throbbing in the head of migraine sufferers: spasm, inflammation, or something else?

Experts often associate the onset of a migraine attack with the activity of the hormone serotonin. There is even the so-called serotonin theory of migraine. In our bodies, this hormone has a special function: it helps regulate the sensitivity of the nervous system. In other words, it prevents and alleviates pain. If the level of the hormone decreases, some parts of the brain become hypersensitive, including the trigeminal nerve. As a result, neuropeptides are released, which cause spasm and excessive expansion of cerebral vessels, and those, in turn, irritate pain receptors even more. That is, migraine pains are caused by inflammation and dilation of cerebral vessels.

Migraine is an extremely common disease. The total number of people with throbbing pains exceeds the number of people with diabetes, asthma or coronary heart disease. According to the latest WHO estimates, over 127 million people in the world suffer from chronic migraine. By the way, this is one of the oldest diseases known to man. Description of the signs of the disease (and in some cases even methods of treatment) is found in the texts of the Babylonians, Sumerians, Egyptian papyri, the writings of Herodotus, Hippocrates, Paracelsus and other ancient healers. Interestingly, in the most ancient times, evil spirits were called the cause of severe headaches, and craniotomy was often used to treat a patient. Nowadays, doctors use less radical methods, although there are surgical methods among them.

Some types of migraine are hereditary, and the tendency to the disease in most cases is transmitted through the female line. According to American researchers, approximately 10% of school-age children suffer from regular migraine attacks. In most cases, attacks in children begin at the age of 5-6 years, although there is also the so-called infantile migraine. Recently, more and more researchers have expressed the opinion that, in fact, colic in newborns is not a problem with the work of the stomach, but a real attack of abdominal infantile migraine. But still, more often, the first attacks in girls occur during puberty (at about 13-14 years old), less often in older girls (closer to 20 years old), and in boys, migraine usually begins at 8-10 years old. There are also exceptions. For example, in some women, the disease begins only after the first birth, while breastfeeding. The peak of the development of the disease in both sexes is approximately 20-30 years old, and after the age of 40, the frequency of attacks declines. In women, seizures usually end after menopause. By the way, the researchers calculated that among women suffering from excruciating headaches, there are about 3 times more than men, but in men, attacks are more severe.

An interesting fact is that the tendency to migraine is largely determined by the nature of the person. It is believed that headaches often annoy individuals who are strong, active, ambitious, perfectionists, that is, those who are trying to achieve success in life at any cost. Maybe that’s why in all ages migraine was considered a disease of aristocrats and the powerful of this world? They say that Julius Caesar, Alexander the Great, Peter I, Elizabeth I, Napoleon, Beethoven, Chopin, Tchaikovsky, Nobel, Pascal, Chekhov, Nietzsche, Heine and many others suffered from this disease. Of modern celebrities, headaches make life difficult for tennis player Serena Williams, actors Whoopi Goldberg, Lisa Kudrow, Marcia Cross, Ben Affleck, singers Janet Jackson and Sting. And this is only a small fraction of those who had to learn to live with migraine attacks.

Classification and forms of migraine

Experts identify more than two dozen varieties of the disease, and each of them has its own characteristics. Meanwhile, the most common classification proposes to divide the disease into types: migraine with and without aura. This system is based on the well-being of a person before the onset of an attack. In short, migraines with aura are always preceded by some warning signs. The second type of attack occurs instantly.

According to the official ICD-10 classification, the following types of migraine are distinguished:

• simple (no aura);
• classical (with aura);
• migraine status;
• complicated;
• chronic;
• unspecified.

Unlike other varieties, status migraine is manifested by more frequent, severe and prolonged attacks. Usually accompanied by severe vomiting and loss of consciousness. The danger of this form is that if you do not seek help in time, the attack may result in a stroke or heart attack, and the patient may even die. With regard to complicated migraine, it is considered as such if, after an attack, the patient did not recover auditory, visual or vestibular reflexes. Chronic migraine can be considered if the attacks last more than 15 days per month.

In addition to this classification, there are others. The disease can be systematized according to the focus of pain during an attack, the person’s well-being and other features of the course of an attack.

Hence the following types of migraine:

• vegetative;
• associated;
• vestibular;
• flickering (eye, flickering scotoma);
• beam;
• atypical;
• transformed;
• dysphrenic;
• occipital;
• acephalgic (headless);
• episodic;
• abdominal, or abdominal;
• catamenial (menstrual, premenstrual);
• postpartum;
• weekend migraine;
• infant;
• temporal;
• front;
• cervical migraine, it is also a posterior cervical sympathetic syndrome (the scientific name is Barre-Lien syndrome);
• pharyngeal.

And this is not a complete list of migraine varieties.

classical

Migraine with aura, or classic, is different in that shortly before the onset of an attack, the patient has some warning signals. It can be confusion, anxiety, a flickering rainbow line or blind spots before the eyes, tingling in the limbs, tension in the neck and back, numbness of the head or other parts of the body, intolerance to smells. Psycho-emotional disorders, impaired coordination and speech are also possible. In other cases, the aura may manifest as a slowly growing headache in the back of the head, temples or neck, chills, dizziness, diarrhea, frequent urination, weakness are possible.

These warning symptoms may last for several minutes and disappear once the attack begins. In other patients, they persist throughout the attack or even after it (if the nerve endings and blood vessels are very irritated). Often, patients, especially those who are experiencing a migraine attack with aura for the first time, are seriously frightened by this condition, since in many ways it resembles the symptoms of the onset of a stroke. The same applies to the elderly, who are often diagnosed with acephalgic migraine. Sometimes a disease with an aura is accompanied not only by severe spasms, but also by hallucinations (most often visual, although other types are possible). Every fourth case of the disease manifests itself in the classical form. In women with migraine, an exacerbation of the disease often occurs during pregnancy (in the first trimester). Without the use of drugs, an attack can take up to 3 days.

Migraine with aura is usually classified into several subspecies.

The most common of them are:

1. By duration: with a typical aura (lasts about 1 hour) and long (lasts several days).
2. According to the sensations: painless (visual and vestibular reflexes are disturbed, but there is no headache) and with an acute onset (there is pain).
3. Family (hereditary).
4. Basilar (the main vessels of the brain are involved, vestibular and auditory reflexes are disturbed).
5. Abdominal (abdominal migraine, accompanied by abdominal pain, intestinal upset).
6. With paresthesia and hemihypesthesia (numbness, goosebumps, impaired sensitivity on one side of the body).
7. With speech aura (manifested by a speech disorder).
8. Visual, it is also ophthalmic (it can be ophthalmoplegic and retinal, often accompanied by temporary blindness).
9. Hemiplegic (causes temporary paralysis of half of the body).

usual

Common, or migraine without aura, is the most common type of the disorder. It is in this form that the disease manifests itself in 70-90% of all cases. Unlike the classic type, the usual migraine comes on suddenly, the attack can begin in the morning or even in the middle of the night. An attack can be provoked by stress, fear, overexcitement, or other triggers. The attack is manifested by a rapidly growing pulsating unilateral headache, which radiates to the temple or the frontal part of the skull. Rarely is it bilateral.

Attacks of ordinary migraine can last from 7-8 hours to 2-3 days. This form of the disease is more often diagnosed in young people – up to 35 years old and in children. In women, migraine without aura is usually associated with a change in the phases of the menstrual cycle (usually coincides with PMS). In this case, constant throbbing pain occurs against the background of a change in the concentration of estrogen.

Eye migraine

Ocular migraine is one of the most common forms of aura disease. As the name implies, the onset of an attack is preceded by temporary visual disturbances. By the way, for the first time, ocular migraine was described by experts in the XNUMXth century.

Today, this form of migraine is considered in two subspecies: ophthalmoplegic and retinal. In the first case, the onset of an attack is preceded by signals associated with a malfunction of the external muscles of the eye. There is double vision, mydriasis (the pupils are greatly dilated), ptosis (the upper eyelid drops), the patient may temporarily completely or partially lose vision. During retinal migraine, so-called blind spots (atrial scotoma) appear in the eyes, which can last up to 60 minutes. An important point for diagnosing visual migraine is the complete absence of ophthalmic problems outside of a migraine attack.

Hemiplegic migraine

Hemiplegic migraine is a rare form of migraine that affects one in 10 migraine sufferers between the ages of 6 and 30. It is often confused with a stroke. The peculiarity of this form is that during an attack a person feels a strong weakness on one side of the body. According to scientists, the cause of hemiplegic migraine is a mutation of chromosomes 1 and 19. This pathology leads to violations of the relationship between the nerve cells of the body. That is, neurons cease to adequately respond to signals sent by the brain.

There are two forms of this migraine: sporadic and familial. Family belongs to hereditary diseases (transmitted from relatives of the 1st and 2nd degree of kinship). If one of the parents suffers from a disease, then the risk of an illness in a child is almost 50%. The first signs of the disease usually appear in childhood or adolescence. Sporadic hemiplegic migraine manifests itself in the same way as familial migraine, but is not inherited.

In addition to weakness in the body, hemiplegic migraine is accompanied by the same symptoms as the classical migraine. Possible drowsiness, memory loss, confusion in the mind, numbness, tingling of the face and limbs. In very severe cases (although this happens extremely rarely), the attack can end in a coma or even death. A migraine attack can last from 1 hour to several days. Stroke and transient ischemic attack should be ruled out before a diagnosis of hemiplegic migraine is made.

Causes of migraine

In our time, experts already know for sure that during a migraine attack in the patient’s body, the concentration of serotonin sharply decreases. But why this happens, there is no consensus yet. It is assumed that seizures may occur due to impaired blood supply to the brain. This happens when the lumens of the arterioles narrow excessively or the vessels dilate unevenly. A migraine attack can occur when blood pressure changes dramatically. In addition, burdened heredity also leads to the disease. Statistics say that if both parents suffer from migraine, the child will develop the disease in 8 out of 10 cases. But there are other causes of migraine. For example, people with disorders of the central nervous system and with unstable blood pressure are prone to the disease.

Today, many possible causes and factors contributing to the onset of an attack are called: from dietary habits and drug use to hormonal changes in the body. Migraine can occur due to nerves, due to physiological processes, against the background of other diseases or under the influence of the environment. These factors are referred to as the main migraine triggers. The etiology (origin) and pathogenesis (development mechanism) of this disease are the subject of research by many specialists around the world. Various sciences are studying the causes of migraine: neurology, therapy, psychology, neuro- and pathophysiology, and others. And each group of researchers finds its own causes of migraine attacks.

Take at least food. It would seem, how can food cause a headache? But research findings support the relationship between diet and migraine attacks. Most often, food culprits for seizures are drinks containing caffeine (coffee, strong tea), alcoholic beverages (wine, beer), citrus fruits, chocolate, and some types of cheese. Also, migraine sufferers should not abuse products with food supplement E621 or tyramine. In addition, a body that does not get enough water is also more prone to bouts of throbbing headaches.

Migraine triggers also include: bright flickering lights and noise, strong scents of perfumes and food, smoke and chemicals. Flights and jet lag trips, sudden changes in barometric pressure (including those caused by deep water diving), and bad weather can all lead to a migraine attack.

As for hormones, almost everything in our body depends on them. Including a tendency to migraine. Hormonal fluctuations are a normal part of life for women of reproductive age. And this explains why the fairer sex is more likely to suffer from migraines than men. Changing the phase of the menstrual cycle, taking oral contraceptives, pregnancy, lactation, the postpartum period, menopause, menopause, hormone therapy – all this also leads to migraine. Even a slight fluctuation in the hormonal background can end for a woman with another severe attack.

Other contributing factors include:

• lack of sleep or, conversely, chronic oversleeping (weekend migraine);
• colds and infectious diseases;
• excessive physical or mental stress, sports training;
• tension in the muscles of the neck and back;
• stress, excitement, strong emotional outburst;
• sharp relaxation after a long and strong emotional stress;
• taking certain medications (hormonal drugs, birth control pills, sleeping pills).

clinical picture

Despite the fact that migraine as an independent disease was isolated a long time ago, many still continue to identify it with a common headache or confuse it with other diseases with similar symptoms. Meanwhile, migraine, like any other disease, has a specific clinical picture. You can suspect the presence of the disease by certain symptoms, but only the results of medical examinations can confirm the diagnosis.

Symptoms

Knowing the main symptoms of migraine, you can determine what torments a person: a regular headache or something else.

Headache is the first, but not the only symptom of a migraine. In addition, the pain in this disorder is specific. Usually the pain appears only on one side of the head, has a throbbing character and increases during any physical activity. The intensity of pain in different patients can be different: from moderate to very strong, and with the so-called silent migraine, it is completely absent. The duration of the attack also has no clear boundaries: it can last from 4 to 72 hours, repeating from several times a year to several times a month or even a week.

In addition to the headache, a migraine attack is usually accompanied by other symptoms. Many patients show photo- and osmophobia, lights flash in the eyes or blind spots appear. During an attack, there are difficulties with focusing, concentration, coordination and articulation are disturbed, and some are diagnosed with confusion of consciousness. Also, against the background of migraine in patients, sweating increases, body temperature rises, numbness of the limbs (up to temporary paralysis), and loss of consciousness are possible.

In addition to the general symptoms, there are signs by which you can determine the type of migraine. So, a disease with an aura is easy to recognize by the appearance of warning signals (auditory, visual, vestibular, motor, tactile). The hemiplegic variety is defined by temporary numbness or paralysis of the limbs. Basilar, or migraine with stem aura, is recognized by severe tinnitus, convulsions, loss of consciousness, Vertigo syndrome, tachycardia. The vegetative form is accompanied by tachycardia, rapid breathing, fear, and often a panic attack occurs against its background. Severe pain in the central part of the abdomen and indigestion are a sign of the abdominal variety of the disease. It is most difficult for people with migraine status. They usually have all the possible symptoms of a migraine at once, and in a severe form.

Stages

A typical migraine attack consists of 5 stages, each of which has its own characteristics.

The first stage, which is also prodromal, begins about 24 hours before the onset of the attack itself. At this time, the first changes in well-being appear, but many do not pay attention to them (especially if the “experience” of the disease is short-lived). At this stage, the patient may have sharp jumps in mood and emotional state: from complete delight and overflowing energy to severe irritability and depression. The digestive system also reminds of itself. Some may experience nausea, diarrhea or constipation, changes in appetite (from no appetite at all to severe hunger or cravings for sweets). On the part of the nervous system, drowsiness, yawning appear, it is difficult for the eyes to focus, light and loud sounds begin to irritate, it can be difficult for a person to find the right word (dysphasia). Edema is also possible, changes in behavior (hyperactive or slow), muscles may hurt. All these signs are the result of excessive activity of the hypothalamus. By the way, according to French researchers, it is this part of the brain that is the main culprit for the onset of migraine attacks without aura.

The second stage is already more noticeable. From 20 to 30% of patients pay attention to it. Usually at this stage, various kinds of visual disturbances appear, which can last from 5 minutes to an hour. Then, as a rule, everything is restored.

The third stage of a migraine usually begins no later than one hour after the second. This is the headache phase itself, which can last up to 3 days. Most often, this stage is accompanied by throbbing pains on one side of the head, nausea, vomiting, intolerance to light, noise and smells. The fourth phase of migraine is the end of the attack. The fifth stage is the restoration of the body. In most cases, it takes about 24 hours for a person to return to normal life after an attack.

Diagnostics

Differential diagnosis of headache is the first and most important step for the future treatment of migraine. Pain in the head can occur for various reasons: with osteochondrosis and diseases of the spine, with a hangover, with colds and meningitis, against the background of influenza, otitis, sore throat. Occipital neuralgia, vegetative-vascular dystonia, increased intracranial pressure also cause pain in the head, which, however, is not a migraine. Toothache and otitis media are always accompanied by a painful pulsation from the affected side, which radiates to the temple or to the back of the head. And this pain also needs to be able to distinguish from migraine.

Perhaps the most famous counterpart of migraine is the cluster headache. Meanwhile, the nature and etiopathogenesis of both conditions differ. For cluster pain, one-sided (right or left-sided) localization is also characteristic, but during a cluster attack, the patient’s ears are blocked, and acute pain radiates to the eye. In addition, this disease is seasonal (usually autumn or spring).

Another “twin” of migraine is temporal arteritis. It is sometimes called Horton’s migraine, but the disease is not actually a migraine, although it causes similar one-sided pains. Temporal arteritis is a vascular disease that has its own ICD code 10 – M 31.5.

The main diagnostic criteria for migraine are the duration and frequency of attacks, as well as the patient’s well-being during them. But no matter how obvious the symptoms may seem, rarely does a specialist decide to make a final diagnosis without additional examinations that exclude other possible causes of headaches, including those caused by oncology. The presence of migraine will help clarify electroencephalography or MRI. To diagnose the disease, the patient may also be offered to undergo an angiography, an ophthalmologist’s consultation, and blood and urine tests. By the way, if a person has an increased headache and at the same time increased leukocytosis, then the cause, most likely, should be sought not in migraine, but in inflammatory processes (otitis media, meningitis, encephalitis).

Treatment

As a rule, each of us has our own proven remedy for headaches, but migraine treatment requires other methods and drugs. Experts say that you can’t endure a severe headache for a long time, as well as self-medicate, taking analgesics and dietary supplements uncontrollably (especially if headaches occur in a nursing mother, a small child or teenager). An incorrectly chosen treatment regimen will not only have no effect, but will also cause complications.

If we talk about special medicines, today several groups of anti-migraine drugs are used. Some of them are taken as needed to relieve acute headaches, others are designed to reduce the frequency of attacks and are used in courses. Most often, Aspirin, Paracetamol and other non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (Nurofen, Ibuprofen) are used to eliminate pain. For the treatment of severe migraine, stronger non-steroidal narcotic-type analgesics, triptan drugs that regulate the concentration of serotonin in the body (Antimigren, Zolmitriptan, Almotriptan), as well as Ergotamine, which eliminates spasms of cerebral vessels, are prescribed. In many cases, caffeine-containing drugs (Pentalgin, Solpadein), special anti-migraine drugs (Dihydroergotamine), as well as vascular tonics (Redergin, Vasobral) are used to relieve pain. To eliminate the nausea that usually accompanies migraine attacks, Metoclopramide, Prochlorperazine, Motilium are used.

The drugs listed above are prescribed to alleviate an attack that has already begun. But there are complexes, the reception of which can reduce the frequency and intensity of headaches. This applies to beta-blockers, the regular use of which improves the condition of the nervous system and blood vessels, prevents spasms in the brain. For people prone to migraines, it is useful to take courses of serotonin antagonists, antidepressants, calcium channel blockers (prevent sudden vasoconstriction), some antiepileptic drugs (reduce the intensity of migraine manifestations).

In addition, drug therapy is sometimes resorted to for the prevention of migraine (when the attacks are repeated very often). In such cases, patients are prescribed Azafen, Amitriptyline or Melipramine, Atenolol, Vasobral or Redergin, Pizotifen, Deseryl, Bellaspon, Anaprilin, Belloid. But if the usual antispasmodics and anti-nausea pills can be easily bought at any pharmacy, then most migraine prevention drugs are available exclusively by prescription. Many of them are contraindicated in pregnant women, while breastfeeding and children.

Meanwhile, migraine attacks are not a new disease, and many centuries ago people were also looking for ways to treat it. In our time, these methods are known as traditional and alternative medicine. Most of them are successfully applied at home. For example, many migraine patients benefit from acupuncture sessions, special exercises (including yoga), aromatherapy, homeopathy, hydrotherapy, massages (including head and neck), and some even resort to treatment through hypnosis. As testimonies testify, lifestyle correction helps many to reduce the frequency of attacks. In particular, it is important to maintain a sleep schedule, avoid stress, drink plenty of water, review your diet (a gluten-free diet helps for some), and engage in regular light exercise.

In recent decades, approaches to the treatment of migraine have changed significantly. Now, a doctor may also suggest that a migraine patient receive an injection of Botox (botulinum toxin). Probably, it will seem strange to many: how the substance used by cosmetologists against wrinkles affects the headache. To understand the focus of such a procedure, you need to know how botulinum toxin affects the body. And this substance has the ability to temporarily paralyze muscles and nerve endings. The peculiarity of the anti-migraine procedure is that the injection is made into the extracranial branches of the trigeminal and cervical spinal nerves. This group of nerves is associated with migraine attacks, and Botox injections allow them to “neutralize” them, making them insensitive.

Despite the variety of methods against migraine, one must still understand that it is impossible to completely cure the disease. Any therapy will only reduce the frequency and intensity of attacks. However, it is also impossible not to treat the disease.

Prevention and contraindications

If a person is at risk of developing migraine, then it is impossible to protect yourself from the disease, say, by vaccination. But if you know what factors increase the risk of an attack, and what, on the contrary, serves as a prevention, then you can protect yourself from frequent attacks.

The most important point of the prevention program is to avoid triggers that make you feel worse. And these are nutritional factors, stressful situations, physical overwork, emotional upheavals, lack of sleep or unreasonably long sleep. To reduce the frequency of seizures, it is important to follow the correct regime of the day. Including this applies to meals, sleep, walks, moderate exercise. By the way, it is important to choose food products for migraine very carefully, since many of them can provoke attacks. But regular aerobic exercise, on the contrary, helps relieve tension and prevent migraines. For potential and “experienced” patients, walking, cycling, and swimming are useful. However, one should not be overly zealous with physical activity, so as not to cause the opposite effect. Women suffering from migraines, among other things, need to constantly monitor the hormonal background, especially the amount of estrogen.

Consequences and why migraine is dangerous

Research indicates that people with migraine are also at risk for developing depression, panic disorder, epilepsy, stroke, manic-depressive illness, glaucoma, Raynaud’s syndrome, heart disease, asthma, and other disorders. The chances of falling victim to any of these diseases increase if migraine is not treated. And recently, scientists are finding a link between unilateral headache and multiple sclerosis.

American experts say that people with frequent severe headaches are three times more likely to enter depression than other people. Australian scientists have found that open glaucoma is more common in older patients who suffered from migraines in their youth. But a group of European researchers, based on their own observations, argues that women of childbearing age who suffer from migraine are at increased risk of stroke. This danger increases even more if the young lady takes oral contraceptives or smokes more than 20 cigarettes a day.

Another danger of migraine is that against its background, with uncontrolled drug therapy, serious violations are possible. For example, some painkillers (non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs containing ibuprofen) can cause pain and ulcers in the digestive organs if used frequently. Many prescription drugs are addictive. As a result, to eliminate the attack, another increase in the dose of the active substance will be required. Another danger of long-term migraine treatment is serotonin syndrome (an excess of serotonin, which is accompanied by a breakdown or, conversely, inexplicable euphoria, anxiety, fear, sometimes delusions and hallucinations). Therefore, if there are signs of migraine, you should not neglect the advice of a doctor, because self-medication with the use of strong analgesics can end badly.

F.A.Q.

People at all times associated the most amazing myths with migraines. In the era of antiquity, headache attacks were demonized, in the XNUMXth century they were called the disease of aristocrats. For a long time it was believed that migraines occur only in women, moreover, mainly in those who drink low-quality wine. Today, most of the old myths about migraine pain have been debunked. Nowadays, scientists know quite a lot about this disease, although not everything. But some questions about migraine still continue to torment the townsfolk. True, modern myths are more practical. For example, some argue that, citing a migraine, it is quite possible to go on sick leave and even “hang” from the army. Is it true?

Do they take in the army with a migraine

If you have read the article up to these lines, then you already know for sure that people of active age, including young men who have yet to serve in the army, are most often affected by migraine attacks. But how compatible are the army and migraine attacks? Those who have experienced attacks will likely agree that it can be very difficult for a soldier with a migraine. And what do doctors and the law think about it?

There is a legally approved list of diseases that limit the possibility of serving in the army. This list mentions cardiovascular disorders, disorders in the spinal cord and brain, as well as migraines in various forms. If the attacks are repeated from 3 times a year and last at least 4 hours, the young man is assigned the status of limited fit for service (category “B”). That is, with a migraine, they will most likely not be taken into the army, but they will be enrolled in the reserve.

Do migraines give disability

The short answer to this question is yes. If you have a migraine, you can get a disability of the third group. The reason for this is that frequent and prolonged unilateral headache does not allow the employee to perform the functions assigned to him. The second group of disability is determined in cases of complicated migraine. To receive a group, the patient must submit the results of examinations confirming the presence of the disease for medical and social examination. To do this, the patient must undergo a somatic and ophthalmological examination, MRI, REG, EEG, CT, as well as provide information on the frequency, nature and intensity of migraine attacks.

Do they give sick leave for migraine

Is it worth issuing a sick leave for migraine attacks, the neurologist decides on an individual basis. If the migraine is mild and the attacks are short-lived, then the doctor may refuse to take sick leave. With attacks of moderate severity, sick leave for 2-3 days is possible. Severe migraine with prolonged attacks is a reason for sick leave for 3-5 days. In the presence of migraine status, during which the employee has a severe headache, nausea and vomiting occur, perception and coordination are disturbed, a person can be on sick leave for 2-3 weeks.

It is only from the outside that a migraine looks like “the most common headache.” This attack can last for several days in a row, accompanied by nausea, vomiting, visual disturbances and even paralysis. Meanwhile, the timely detection of the disease, the correct formulation of the diagnosis and the appropriate treatment with medication or folk remedies make it possible to make a rather optimistic forecast. Millions of people around the world live with migraines. Many of them were able to curb their headaches and enjoy every day they live, reaching career heights and making their dreams come true.

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