We are a community of sufferers with our own way of describing our migraine pain as we were in the Iraq War: “Bombs going off in my head”, “Explosions one after another in my mind”. General Ulysses S. Grant was a migraine sufferer among other afflictions, might have said something like “Cannonballs hitting me in the head and exploding. Emily Dickinson likened her migraine pain to “a funeral in my brain”.
Migraines affect about 39.5 million Americans, including children and teens according to the National Headache foundation. Roughly “Seventy to eighty percent of them are women” states headache expert Alexander Mauskop, M.D., and coauthor of
What Your Doctor May Not Tell You About Migraines.
What does a migraine feel like? If you have a throbbing, penetrating pain in your head that lasts from 4 to 72 hours in addition to feeling sick to your stomach, or worse yet, vomiting; you are over sensitive to light and sound, experience double vision, tingling in you face or hands, chills or numbness, shimmers, flashes, plus pain in your cheek, jaw, or neck, there is a better than even chance you have a migraine.
What triggers a migraine? If both of us have a migraine, chances are the reasons will vary for each of us as individuals but in general anything from excessive humidity to a drop in barometric pressure to bright lights and loud noise can be the stimulus for a migraine. In women, hormonal changes of any kind can set off a migraine attack. Caffeine, lack of sleep, and a myriad of certain foods such as bananas can be migraine culprits as well.
How do you prevent a migraine? No is the really truthful answer; but you can decrease how often they occur and their intensity level when they do occur. Gradually find a way to eliminate the elements as above that “trigger” your migraine.
Keep a diary and write down when and under what circumstances your migraine attacks occur and what was involved (as above) at the time. Your diary is your solution to finding a way to combat a migraine.
Winning the migraine battle requires understanding the things that trigger them and guess what, avoiding or minimizing those things that “trigger” your migraine attack. Your battle is as simple and as complex as identifying the right elements and avoiding or minimizing them.
Believe it or not,
the best all around “proven” preventative medicine for a migraine is aerobic exercise because it improves circulation, releases endorphins, and relieves stress. Doctors continue to prescribe medications as the holy cure crowns but I think you will find that if Meds are the crowns of success then the treadmill in your gym, the sidewalk in front of your home, the track at the high school put to good use and a “walk don’t ride” attitude are the thrones.
By: RayHeyHeyHey