Once a month, just before my period, I begin to feel a little bit… weird. When I’m under a lot of stress, my neck tightens and becomes painful; in addition, I find that my mind becomes cloudy, and my ability to concentrate diminishes.
I’ve learned throughout the years that a sluggish sensation in the brain is not a positive sign, and it predicts the onset of a migraine for me. That’s when I know I need to be extra cautious, avoiding things like red wine and sugar (both known to set off my anxiety attacks) and making sure I get plenty of sleep (not getting enough sleep can also send me over the edge).
Still, I can always count on a miserable day or two if anything about my schedule is off, such as if I don’t eat frequently enough or if I get extremely worried—devastating, stomach-churning, tear-inducing stress.
Sound awful? My migraines aren’t nearly as bad as they are for many of the 30 million people who suffer from them in the United States. Half of the migraine sufferers cannot perform basic housework, and one-third avoid family and social activities, according to the enormous American Migraine Prevalence and Prevention Study conducted a few years ago.
That’s a lot of pain. According to Andrew Charles, M.D., professor, and director of the Headache Research and Treatment Program at the UCLA School of Medicine, it affects three times as many women as men, likely because the fluctuations in our hormones make us more vulnerable.
The extreme pain of a migraine is the consequence of a domino effect in the brain that is triggered by various factors, including stress, particular foods, and even fluctuations in the weather. Women between the ages of 20 and 50, typically in a hectic job and family life, are the most common demographic of migraine patients. The people we’re talking about are multitaskers who cannot afford to be sick for more than a day or two.
Despite widespread accessibility to excellent therapies, most patients don’t receive care. A headache specialist from the Cleveland Clinic’s Center for Headache and Pain, Dr. Stewart Tepper, believes that many individuals are still unaware of what migraines are and that effective treatment is readily available.
In reality, many females misattribute their headaches to something else. Most severe headaches, the kind that makes it hard to function during the day, cause nausea or make you overly sensitive to light, are, in fact, the Big M.
Charles argues that “they’re more frequent than we used to suppose.” Statistics show that over half of all females will suffer from migraines.
Tension headaches are more common but less severe and more manageable than migraines. Migraines account for the vast majority of doctor visits for headaches, and studies show that over 90% of persons who report having sinus headaches have migraines.
This is why it’s crucial to learn everything we can about migraines, including their causes, their symptoms, the factors that can set them off, the best ways to minimize them, and the most efficient treatments.
Anticipatory Headache Relief
Prevention is the best treatment for migraines, as with many other health problems.
The director of the headache clinic at the University of California, San Francisco, Peter Goadsby, M.D., argues that typical behaviors and attempting to maintain your life on an even keel is among the most beneficial things you can do.
You can avoid migraines by regularly eating, sleeping, and exercising (cardiovascular exercise and stretching have been demonstrated to reduce headache severity).
To avoid a full-blown headache, it may be possible to intercept the attack in its pre-headache phase or prodrome. In 2004, researchers at the Headache Center of Atlanta found that nearly a third of migraine sufferers reported warning symptoms such as fatigue, irritability, diarrhea, and neck discomfort eight hours before their headache began.
Adopting a new way of life
Biofeedback and cognitive behavioral therapy are both effective treatments. Biofeedback training involves electrodes on your head and neck to monitor muscle tension and relaxation changes. This allows you to become aware of and gain command over your emotional and physical states.
Additionally, CBT teaches you how to calm down using techniques such as meditation.
According to Donald Penzien, Ph.D., director of the Head Pain Center at the University of Mississippi Medical Center, “you get around a 55% reduction in headache frequency, on average, with behavioral approaches” (provided that the methods are put into practice).
Insurance often covers the $70 – $250 per session cost of training. In addition, Penzien and coworkers showed that most people could master the methods taught in only a handful of sessions, significantly reducing the overall cost of behavioral therapy.
Penzien argues that while stress is the primary cause of migraines, relieving stress for even a short period of time may be enough to prevent a headache.
- You can try diaphragmatic breathing for five minutes by lying on your back with a pillow supporting your head and another supporting your knees, bending your legs slightly. (You can do this from a chair if you want.) One hand should be placed on the upper chest, while the other should be placed directly below the rib cage. Put your left hand on your stomach and take a few deep breaths through your nose. Then, when you let your breath out through your pursed lips, draw your stomach in and tense your abdominal muscles. Keep your right hand as motionless as you can while you breathe in and out.
- Try to rest in a darkened, quiet area at the first hint of a headache, whether it’s the aura stage or the pain itself.
- Do a gentle head tilt to one side for 10 seconds, then the other, to stretch your neck. Charles adds, “Stretching may relieve neck tightness and discomfort.”
- Do some yoga or progressive muscular relaxation (in which you progressively contract and release your muscles, beginning with your calf muscles and ending with your shoulder muscles). Migraines and stress are linked; finding ways to de-stress can be helpful.
Supplements
If even one or two headaches per month are incapacitating, consider taking a supplement as a preventative step. You may want to test a few different approaches before settling on the one that works best for you because results will vary depending on the individual.
- Butterbur, also known as the Petasites root, is a herb that has shown promise in reducing attack frequency, ostensibly via lowering inflammation. Study participants who took 75 mg twice daily for four months experienced almost half as frequent migraines as controls.
- For those who suffer from migraines, taking vitamin B2, also known as riboflavin, may be helpful because it accelerates brain metabolism and reduces the number of times per month that they experience a headache from four to two. According to Goadsby, “the effective amount is 400 milligrams per day.”
- Coenzyme Q10 is a vitamin-like compound typically discovered in animal products. Also, it might help the brain burn through energy more efficiently. According to the research, the frequency of headaches can be reduced by roughly 50% with a dose of 100 milligrams three times a day.
- Numerous cellular processes rely on magnesium, and research suggests that insufficient stores may bring on migraine attacks. Charles recommends a daily intake of 300–500 mg.
Meds
Goadsby advises patients who suffer from “many crippling bouts each month and can’t control the agony” to consult their physician about taking preventative medication daily. A few of the alternatives are:
- In addition to lowering blood pressure, beta-blockers like propranolol (trade name Inderal) and timolol (trade name Blocadren) can also reduce the frequency and severity of headaches by increasing blood flow to the brain.
- Because similar tendencies produce epilepsy and migraines in the brain, anticonvulsant medications like topiramate (marketed as Topamax) and valproic acid (sold as Depakote) may alleviate your symptoms.
- Since serotonin, a feel-good chemical in the brain, is thought to play a role in the onset of migraines, tricyclic antidepressants like amitriptyline are used for migraine prevention.
- Botox injections have been deemed safe and effective for patients who suffer from severe migraines (more than 15 headaches per month). Goadsby suggests that Botox affects the facial nerves that contribute to migraines, leading to fewer and milder headaches.
Recent studies have shown that taking a triptan like Imitrex during the “aura” stage can reduce the severity of a migraine attack by as much as 50%. These medications (if appropriate, your doctor will write you a prescription and advise you on the optimal dosage) reduce inflammation and narrow blood channels in the brain. Ibuprofen and other OTC pain relievers may also help (400 to 600 milligrams).
Avoiding getting a headache in the first place is preferable, but sometimes that’s not possible. When a migraine strikes, it’s helpful to know that effective treatments are available to alleviate the discomfort.
Whether or whether you’re experiencing pain at the time, Tepper advises taking painkillers as soon as you notice the onset of a headache. “Also, be wary of using any meds more than ten days a month; otherwise, you may turn your sporadic headaches into a chronic disease.”
Common analgesics like aspirin or acetaminophen and over-the-counter NSAIDs like naproxen and ibuprofen can help alleviate pain by reducing inflammation in the blood vessels that cause it. Drugs that mix acetaminophen and aspirin with caffeine, which narrows blood vessels and boosts the efficacy of pain medicines (such as Excedrin), are another viable alternative.
The most effective prescription treatment for migraines, triptans, can’t be taken by those with a history of cardiovascular disease or stroke since they narrow blood arteries.
Dihydroergotamine, marketed under Migranal, is a recently approved prescription nasal spray or injection that constricts brain blood arteries. According to research, it helps with pain, nausea, and hypersensitivity to light and sound.
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