Migraine Headache Overview

Just under 30 million people in America suffer from migraine headaches, a severe type of headache that is often disabling.  Within the millions of Americans suffering from migraines, there are three times more women afflicted with this condition than men.  Sometimes, you may see flashes of light, blind spots or tingling in your arm or leg before the onset of a migraine. A migraine may be accompanied by other signs and symptoms, such as nausea, vomiting, and extreme sensitivity to light and sound. A migraine headache can be excruciatingly painful, and disable you for hours or days.

Medical migraine management has made great strides in the last 10 years.  If you were frustrated previously with the outcome of your doctor's visits, you may want to try again.  There is new medication available to treat the pain of a migraine, as well as medications to prevent and/or reduce the frequency of a migraine.  Often times, a combination of medication and lifestyle changes are what finally makes the difference for many migraine sufferers.

Treating a Migraine Headache?

The first step in treating your migraine is to pay attention to any patterns that might surface.  Do you get a migraine after intake of caffeine, alcohol, or unhealthy food?  Do you find that you're more likely to get a migraine if you haven't had enough sleep?  Maybe you will get a migraine if you go too long without eating.  Familiarity with the causes or catalysts for migraines is key to treating the condition.  If you know what causes it, you can avoid it.  You may find that limiting caffeine and alcohol drinking, eating healthy and on a schedule, and getting enough sleep will greatly diminish the frequency with which you experience migraine headaches.  Many people have even been able to single out particular foods that trigger their headaches, and can therefore prevent them by eliminating that one dish or ingredient.  

There are ways to cope with migraines.  Defining the type of migraine you have and working with your physician are the two main steps toward effective treatment. 

If you can find no discernable pattern that your migraines follow, you may fall into the category of people for which migraines can not be prevented.  However, their impact can be minimized by taking the following steps:

• Adhere to the plan that you and your physician have developed to manage your migraines.
• Make sure you never leave home without your migraine pain relief medication.
• Recognize the precursors to a migraine, such as flashes of light. 
• Take your migraine pain relief medication at the very first sign of pain.
• Do things to take care of yourself like resting in a cool, dark and quiet place or putting a cool washcloth on your forehead. 

In addition to the medicine that treats the pain of migraines, there is preventative medicine that you can take every day, even when you are not experiencing a migraine headache.  Commonly prescribed migraine preventative medicines include:

• Periactin (an antihistamine)
• Elavil (an antidepressant)
• Depakote/Depakene
• Tegretol
• Topamax
• Inderal