Migraine & Headaches

What is Migraine?

Migraine is a bio-electrical disease caused by autonomic nervous system dysfunction. During attacks the primary functions of autonomic nervous system; vascular circulatory system and bowel movements fail temporarily. Migraine is not just a headache.  The most symptoms are headache, nausea, vomiting, and sensitivity for light, noise and smell. These symptoms are known as simple common migraine.

There are also painless migraine attacks. There may be neurological symptoms like visual disturbances, numbness and temporary paralysis in migraine with aura. In children, it might show itself as stomachache, nausea and vomiting mostly.

Migraine attacks may cause psychological problems. Migraine is the most common reason for losing one’s job. A study shows that 60% of the subjects complained about anxiety and depression.

A migraineur, having 2 attacks in a month on average, loses 1 month each year. “Migraine is like a regular thief. It steals money, time and joy in each visit.”

What is Headache?

Headaches are defined as primary and secondary. Primary headaches are no structural problem in the brain and related structures.  Headaches which are caused by brain damage or some metabolic condition are called secondary headaches. Infections, tumors, strokes, cerebral hemorrhages, temporal arthritis, hypertension and some drugs may cause headaches of this type.

Primary headaches; the most common one is tension type headache. Migraine is the best known, cluster headache, is rare but severe. Trigeminal neuralgia, pain is often excruciating, similar to an electric shock.

If the patient suffers from headaches more than fifteen days in a month, that means they developed a chronic headache. Chronic headache patients usually take excessive amounts of drugs and this condition is called chronic daily headache.