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Imagine discovering that you were suffering from a headache, though you were not experiencing any headache pain? Sometimes, people who are experience odd unexplained symptoms are found to be afflicted with what is often called a silent migraine.

Silent migraines are known by other names such as migraine auras without headache, ocular migraines or painless migraines.

The signs of this usual headache are similar to those a person may experience at the start of a typical migraine, but they are never joined by headache pain.

A silent migraine may be accompanied by visual migraine symptoms, such as seeing flashing lights off to one side, feeling dizzy or experiencing tingling or numbness in their fingers. Sometimes people even have trouble talking, or suffer pain in odd places on their faces.

These unusual symptoms are more often found in older women rather then young, and they are even rarer in men.

The main problem with silent migraines is that these symptoms can be incorrectly attributed to other ailments. Without the symptom of headache pain, it is difficult for many health care providers to identify headache as the source of the difficulty.

As an example, many symptoms experienced with painless migraines are similar to typical stroke indicators. Patients have been misdiagnosed because doctors thought the patient suffered a minor stroke. These symptoms can also be attributed to seizures or serious vision problems. It is no surprise, given the symptoms, that doctors look first to these more serious conditions.

You should allow your doctor to do whatever tests they feel are necessary to eliminate more serious health issues. They may order a CT scan, an MRI, blood tests and possibly an eye examination. Once these tests are completed, if everything comes back negative it is time to point your health care provider in a different direction.

The first step in working with your health care provider to identify silent migraines as the cause of your symptoms is to explain your family history. Migraine sufferers typically have immediate family members who also suffer with migraine headaches.

Carefully describe your symptoms to your doctor, and show the similarity to those associated with migraines. If you have had multiple episodes , that should also go a long way to convincing them that you are indeed suffering from a painless migraine.

Treatment of silent migraines is generally the same as for regular migraines. The same medications are used, including medications used to try to prevent a migraine from coming once the aura has begun. Injections and nasal sprays are better forms of medication because they provide relief more quickly.

You may have been told by your grandmother that drinking Coca-Cola or other caffeinated products when you have a headache can help you feel much better. Well, guess what? Grandma was right. In some instances, caffeine can treat a headache. Don’t believe me? Consider this scenario: You’re a heavy caffeinated soda drinker, specifically Coca-Cola, and you decide to give up caffeine cold turkey. So, you stop drinking your regular four to six glasses of Coca-Cola a day.

You’re fine for the first day or so, and then you end up with an aching headache. In this case, if you were to drink a caffeinated drink then you would likely feel much better because your headache is likely caused by caffeine withdrawal. So, as you can see, caffeinated drinks can cure certain headaches. In this article, we’ll discuss caffeine, its effects on headaches, pros and cons of caffeine, and much more.

Caffeine is a stimulative substance derived from a certain plant. It is a drug because it changes the way the body works by acting on the central nervous system. In fact, it has been known to cause nervousness and agitation in some individuals. In addition, when caffeine is coupled with sugary substances, it can dramatically increase your blood sugar levels and can actually bring on a headache. In addition, if one consumes four to six cups a day, they can become addicted to it and can experience an increase in blood pressure or elevated heart rate.

As for the positives, caffeine can make you feel more energized, alert, and mentally focused, help you work longer, and may even improve your muscle coordination when you drink it. In addition, caffeine allows our bodies to absorb many medications faster and seems to make most medication about 35% more effective. Therefore, many pharmaceutical companies utilize caffeine as the main ingredient in both over-the-counter and prescription headache medications. For instance, Excedrin Extra Strength contains caffeine, aspirin, and acetaminophen.

In conclusion, although caffeine can cure a migraine or caffeine withdrawal headaches and can make you feel more energized and alert, one should not use caffeine excessively. This is because it can cause addictive behavior, nervousness, and agitation. Therefore, it is paramount that you not only watch your intake but also be aware of the ingredients of over-the-counter and prescription medications, as well.

MYTH: A MIGRAINE IS JUST A BAD HEADACHE.

REALITY: MIGRAINE IS A DISEASE, A HEADACHE IS ONLY A SYMPTOM. IN ADDITION, THE CAUSE OF MIGRAINE PAIN IS THE OPPOSITE OF THE CAUSE OF HEADACHE PAIN.

Migraine is disease, a headache is only a symptom. Migraine pain is caused by vasodilation in the cranial blood vessels (expansion of the blood vessels), while headache pain is caused by vasoconstriction (narrowing of the blood vessels). During a migraine, inflammation of the tissue surrounding the brain, i.e., neurogenic inflammation, exacerbates the pain. Therefore, medicine often prescribed to treat a headache, such as beta-blockers, dilate the blood vessels and therefore can make a Migraine worse.

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Knowing that there are 29.5 million Americans suffer from migraine, surely, there are even a lot more people around the globe who are also suffering from this. Since there are various treatments, symptoms, preventions, tips, and other issues related to migraine, it is good to be updated with the latest news. With the power of the internet, you can learn so many things and you can also help so many people.

With the mymigraineconnection.com, you can connect with those people who can relate with your experiences most especially regarding migraines. You can join the forum and share different issues about migraine. Good isn’t it?

Before, I thought only people of old age suffers from migraine. But now I realized that even children are not safe from the attacks of migraine. According to www.emedicinehealth.com, ten percent of kids can get migraine. Migraine is hereditary that is why it is expected that at the early stage of childhood, this head pain can be experienced already.

Children with migraine usually feel headaches, vomiting, nausea, dizziness, cramps in the abdomen, and sensitivity to light, smell, and sound. The ultimate medicine for children migraneurs is basically, SLEEP. There are medicines available to reduce headaches but as for children, it is not that advisable to apply this. Thus, avoidance from eating or drinking migraine triggers is recommended.

By nature, in the early stage of life, migraine usually occurs among boys rather than girls before they experience puberty. By the age of 12, when girls already have menstruation, they became more prone in suffering with migraine. This is the time wherein there is already hormonal imbalance among them that is why migraine attacks.

Some women prefer to take oral contraceptives to reduce pain. But the truth is, these cannot ease the pain thoroughly, in fact, this can trigger migraine more. This can even cause a stroke among women who take contraceptives. What an enlightening one! Visit womenshealth.about.com for more information.

According to www.headaches.org, there are 29.5 million Americans who experience the pain caused by migraine. And among these, the number of women who suffers from migraine dominates men. Based on the article in the mentioned site, women are more commonly affected with migraine three times than men. But why is it women are the usual victims?

Based on www.womenshealth.about.com, estrogen fluctuation among women can be the main reason why most of them suffer from migraine than men. We all know that part of women’s life is having menstruation; this is the time wherein migraine usually attacks because of the normal hormonal fluctuation experienced by them.

There are many factors that trigger migraine. These are the food you eat, beverages you drink, time of sleep, and condition of your environment. Take note of the following points:

Food – chocolates, nuts, cheese, Chinese food, shellfish, and other kind of sweets
Beverage – coffee, alcohol, and other caffeinated drinks
Activities – staying up late, lack of sleep, crowded environment, too much heat, and skipping meals

Discipline can be your key to avoid suffering from migraine. If you cannot cure it, avoid it! It can be easy for you to overcome and manage this illness if you are a good follower and master of your health.

The link has been surmised for a long time but no solid proof of the relationship between these environmental factors and migraines has ever been compiled. Researchers now have solid proof of the link between these factors through a larger study group numbering more than 5,000 that has provided more of an acceptable data group and the results. There is indeed a direct link between migraines and high temperatures or sudden altitude differences which may give credence to migraine sufferers being more from those who fly more often. There can also be some association with cluster headaches, another painful disorder that has been linked to migraines due to the similarity of the pain and the location of where the pain in perceived by the sufferer. More information is coming out of the study which has already shed light to the many environmental factors that does cause the painful disorder that are migraines.

A very common link between migraines and cluster headache, pain has been found to be similar in many respects which may point to the same parts of the brain that may be affected by both illnesses. Severe cases of a condition known as cutaneous allodynia, a rare condition which has sufferers getting pain from the most unlikely stimuli that normally doesn’t bother normal people seems to manifest the same pain and in the same areas of migraines that has spurred interest in their relationship with each other. Such a physiological illness that is migraines. These two forms of debilitating pain being so similar has attracted more interest that may spell the end to all pain for the many sufferers.