Do You Know These Facts About Migraine Headaches ?
A typical migraine headache involves pain on one side of the
head, either starting in, or staying centered around the eye,
although suffers can experience the pain bi- laterally as well.
Because migraines cause an irritation and swelling of the blood
vessels and nerves in the brain, pain is often described as
throbbing or pounding that is so severe, the patient is unable
to function at daily tasks, or to sleep, since many migraines
can start at night.
This should not be confused with cluster headaches that can also
start at night, but which are associated with sinus problems or
nasal stuffiness, producing a one-sided orbital (eye) headache.
While labeled "migrainous neuralgia", cluster headaches are not
migraines.
They are a distinctive order of their own, occurring in bursts
of 1-3 headaches in a day, over a period of days or weeks, with
a long remission between episodes. Typical migraine sufferers
will average headaches on a fairly regular basis.
Migraine headache sufferers may or may not experience an aura.
These auras can be visual in nature, e.g. fuzziness around
objects, sparks on the outer edge of their field of vision, or
they can be physical, e.g. numbness in the face or extremities,
tingling, vertigo.
Those who do have auras, generally find they occur 10-30 minutes
prior to the onset of a headache. People who do not have auras,
may find after keeping a headache diary, that their migraines
are sometimes preceded by depressions or tiredness.
Migraine headaches tend to build in intensity for 1-2 hours from
the first symptoms, and then gradually subside. They can last up
to 24 hours, and in extreme cases, for several days.