More and more young people suffer from migraine headaches. Migraine is the most common neurological disease in society and causes many dangerous complications that threaten health or life. Doctors sound the alarm not to underestimate the symptoms and undergo treatment.
Migraine generates a strong, paroxysmal, usually unilateral headache. This is accompanied by nausea, vomiting, hypersensitivity to light. The pain is mostly located in the temporal region and can last from 4 to 72 hours, after which there is usually an interval of about a few days or weeks.
Women suffer from migraine even 3 times more often than men. The highest risk of the disease is observed in obese people, with hypertension, with hypothyroidism as well as with sleep disorders (between 25 and 55 years of age). However, migraine triggers are more diverse and can be related to genetics, poor diet, long-term stress and fatigue, hormonal changes and injuries in the neck and head area.
It is assumed that migraine appears in two forms. The first is migraine with aura, which is characterized by a specific visual disturbance. The patient sees spots before the eyes, glaring, flashing lights, bright spots, objects and figures become blurred or may be completely invisible (temporary loss of vision may occur). Often the aura is accompanied by a headache.
Migraine without aura is pain of vascular origin. The blood vessels dilate to the point of inflammation and severe pain. It is sometimes referred to as an atypical aura because it can manifest itself in different ways in each patient. Neurological immersions may take the form of sensory symptoms – numbness, hemiparesis; motor symptoms – weakness, movements are then less coordinated; cranial nerve dysfunction – tinnitus, double vision; ataxia – imbalance.
Depending on the type of migraine and its symptoms, the doctor chooses prophylactic treatment, i.e. preventive or ad hoc treatment. Prophylaxis in the fight against migraine consists in reducing the frequency of attacks and improving the patient’s quality of life. Currently, antiepileptic drugs, antidepressants, β-blockers and drugs from the group of calcium channel blockers are used. triptans. They cause cerebral vasoconstriction and inhibit the release of specific substances that “transmit” pain to nerve endings. Triptans not only reduce migraine pain, but also fight other accompanying symptoms.
A correct diagnosis is extremely important in this disease. Unfortunately, migraine is often misdiagnosed due to the wrong causes. It seems to us that it is just a stronger than usual headache and will soon pass, and the accompanying symptoms are a completely different story. Complications caused by migraine can lead to its chronicity, migraine states lasting more than 72 hours, seizures, epilepsy and even in the worst case to migraine cerebral infarction, i.e. fatal stroke.
Contact your doctor with any pain that lasts more than a few days.