8 Ways to Defeat Migraine
It is estimated that 28 million Americans, nearly 10 percent of the population, mostly women, suffer from migraines.
Migraine is not "just a headache", but is a complex disease that causes severe and often disabling pain in one side of the head, often accompanied by nausea, sensitivity to light and sound, as well as other symptoms. Less than a third of people who suffer from migraine headaches, also experience a syndrome called aura, which may cause numbness and loss of feeling in the hands or face, and which may also cause flashing lights, blind spots, or zigzag lines.
Symptoms of migraine can be so incapacitating, and the pain can be so explosive that one quarter of people who experience migraine goes to the emergency room. On the other hand, more than half of people who suffer from migraines do not go to the doctor for diagnosis and thus deny themselves new and effective therapies that can prevent symptoms and may actually shorten the whole duration of headaches.
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Perhaps there is no cure for migraine, but you certainly do not have to live with the pain. Below you can find eight medically proven ways to defeat the strong headache.
Why a lot of people who suffer from migraines do not go to the doctor? Because some OTC painkillers provide adequate, if not totally reliable relief.
But many others do not know that a headache is medical disorder that can be treated. The migraines are often characteristic for the whole family, family members, and headaches can be normal, as if the pain is something that they just have to live with.
However, only a doctor can find the latest therapies that can help you control your migraines, or even to prevent them, reliably and permanently.
Triptans, available in the form of regular and effervescent tablets, injections and nasal sprays, can partly act by correcting the "trouble" in the chemistry of the brain caused by the decrease of the neurotransmitter serotonin. Triptans mimic serotonin, by binding to specific receptors for serotonin. In this way they provide pain relief, and also the relief from other migraine symptoms. Triptans also stop the release of certain neuropeptides, vasoactive and inflammatory substances that cause dilation of blood vessels and activate the nerve endings that are sensitive to pain.
Most family doctors can very successfully cure headaches.
But if your headaches remain uncontrolled after a few months, or if your doctor is not sure about your diagnosis, ask for a referral to a neurologist or a headache specialist.
A specialist can help you manage your treatment and avoid syndrome known as return headache that occurs at frequent use of medicines (more than two or three times a week)- drugs begin to cause you a headache rather than reduce it.
Some specialists also use Botox, a natural substance that can be injected in the forehead, temples, or scalp and temporarily paralyze the muscles and thus relax them. However, Botox and other anti-migraine therapy do not help everyone.
Never ignore the signs which show that migraine is coming. Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) such as ibuprofen and naproxen sodium can be effective if they are taken at the first sign of the headache. But when your headache reaches more intense phase, which causes stronger pain, nausea, sensitivity to light and sound, and other related symptoms, non-steroids and other simple drugs tend to be less effective.
Simple painkillers include aspirin, acetaminophen, or aspirin / acetaminophen / caffeine combination.
Walking, jogging, swimming, or any other type of aerobic exercise can prevent migraine headaches. Exercise stimulates the release of endorphins, which are the brain chemicals that improve mood. Exercise also helps to relieve stress, which is a known trigger of headaches.
Any form of aerobic activity will work, but try to find something you love to help you to continue to exercise. Aim to exercise 40 minutes a day, 5 days a week.
Exercise will not terminate a migraine that is in progress. On the contrary, if you practice while migraine lasts, it will only worsen.
Although it may sound boring, routine maintenance prevents migraine. This is because changes in your daily schedule like a long sleep on weekends, skipping breakfast, skipping daily cycling can trigger a migraine.
Go to bed at the similar time, do not skip meals and try to eat at the same time every day. If your blood sugar drops too quickly, it can cause migraine.
Stress is one of the most common triggers of migraine, so it is very important to learn to deal with stress in order to reduce the strength and frequency of the attacks.
What proved to be effective in helping many people who suffer from migraine is biofeedback. Using special equipment to measure muscle tension and body temperature, biofeedback teaches you how to control muscle contraction and swelling of blood vessels - two physical reactions that play a significant role in all kinds of headaches. Once you become accustomed to biofeedback, you can use what you learn to reduce or even stop the milder attacks.
You can try the low-tech as well. Progressive muscle relaxation can reduce, or even stop migraine pain. Find a quiet room where you can lie down on a flat, soft surface. Take some deep breaths. Then, slowly alternately tighten and relax different muscle groups, starting from the head down to the toes. While squeezing every muscle inhale deeply, and hold the tension for several seconds. Relax, and exhale slowly.
Other activities that relieve stress are yoga, meditation and visualization. Basically, all the things you can do during the day, which take your mind off the worries will significantly help in the prevention of migraine.
The old expression "you are what you eat" can be very painful for the person who suffers from migraine: For a long time it is thought that certain foods and food additives can start a headache.
Chocolate, for example, contains vasoactive amines that can cause headaches because they dilate blood vessels. Headache can be also connected with processed meats that contain additives called nitrites. As amines, nitrites lead to swelling of the blood vessels, causing headaches in people who are susceptible to migraines.
Other common food triggers include: aged cheese, alcohol, pickled and marinated foods, citrus fruits, bananas, onion, monosodium glutamate (MSG), foods containing preservatives, food and drinks containing aspartame / phenylalanine.
Discovering your food trigger can last a long time. You can be more susceptible to food triggers when other triggers, such as stress, strong light, or intense noise are also present. Another thing is that the food which represents a migraine trigger for one person may have very little effect on the other.
Keeping a headache diary is one of the best ways to identify your triggers and to prevent future attacks. The diary also helps your doctor to make a plan of prevention and treatment, which will have a positive impact on you.
Write in your diary daily, even if you do not have a headache. Include the following information and note any factors that may have contributed to your headache, including the food triggers, emotional stress, alcohol and lack of sleep.
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