Only a migraine sufferer understands the pain. Regardless of how the migraine starts the end result is the same - excruciating pain that renders you helpless. Walking hurts, breathing hurts. Even thinking hurts. There are any number of painkillers and pills available to help curb the pain. The issue here is that many of these painkillers require repeat prescriptions and involve an ongoing cost.

Migraine Headache

A migraine headache is a very painful, throbbing or pulsating headache that tends to recur. It is often associated with nausea, vomiting, sensitivity to light, sound, and smells. Hands and feet may feel cold and sweaty and unusual odors may be intolerable. Migraines may disrupt your sleep and can cause depression. Migraine pain is often intensified by routine physical activity, coughing, straining, or lowering the head. The headache is often so severe that it interferes with daily activity and may awaken the person.

Types of migraines:

There are many forms of migraine headaches. Migraines are classified according to the symptoms they produce. The two most common types are migraine with aura and migraine without aura. We will only reference these two types of migraines in this article.

The pain of a classic migraine headache (migraine with aura) is described as an intense throbbing or pounding felt in the forehead-temple, ear-jaw or around the eyes. The pain typically begins in a specific area on one side of the head, then spreads and builds in intensity over 1 to 2 hours and then gradually subsides

Migraine Causes and Treatment

Migraine is essentially a nasty headache, even a sick headache, which comes on suddenly in a healthy person, lasts a few hours or even a day or two and afterwards the sufferer is restored to full health once more. During an attack the patient feels and looks very ill and may vomit. It is this repeated and unexpected onset of attacks, which characterises migraine. A diagnosis of migraine is made if there are headaches, which come and go and if two of the following features are present.

Migraines are twice as prevalent in the population as asthma; in fact it is one of the commonest of chronic disorders. Women suffer more severe and more frequent attacks. The condition is age related and strikes in teens and early twenties, meaning that ¾ of sufferer are under 45, having a serious impact on work and family. The cost to industry of headaches is between £600 and £750 million every year in lost productivity due to time off work.

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