allaboutmigraine.com

Doctor Brandes shared some tips she offers her patients for handling Migraine in the workplace:
1. Understand that Migraine is a real disease � not just a bad headache. Migraine sufferers sometimes tend to minimize their Migraines as �just headaches,� not a disease with a range of symptoms that are as debilitating as the pain itself. Migraine is a real medical condition just like diabetes or asthma. Understanding this will better enable you to manage your Migraines and seek effective treatment.

2. Be your best advocate. Talk to a doctor about your Migraines and how best to manage them. There are many effective new treatments specifically for Migraine. The newest class of these are called �triptans.� They relieve Migraine pain quickly and also relieve the other symptoms of Migraine such as nausea and sensitivity to light and sound.

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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?

Which is caused by people staying away from physical activity due to fear of initiating or causing migraine attacks. The decision to forgo physical activity can indeed cause obesity but that should be done so only with professional opinion. It is true that certain physical activity can aggravate migraines and even cause them but to steer away completely from exercise can create a totally new condition or health effect. The truth is that no exercise program has ever been approved of being migraine safe so proper medical testing and advise should be considered to take in all the factors that may be causing your migraine. Some migraines are caused by stress and some by activity but this warrants more study to ensure a link is either proven true or false. Read the rest of this entry »

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For some, migraines are infrequent. On the other side of the spectrum are people who have frequent recurrences and whose lives can be debilitated by pain. Fortunately, progress is being made in migraine management. Although an individualized treatment approach is often necessary, most people can be helped.

Migraine headaches are severe, usually one- sided headaches that often occur with nausea, vomiting, and extreme sensitivity to light or sound. People often describe migraine headaches as throbbing or piercing. The pain may range from mild to terribly severe.

Although migraine headaches are usually one- sided, there may be pain on both sides of the head. In some people, the pain may switch sides each time they have a migraine.

Migraine headaches sometimes occur with an aura, a group of symptoms that usually develop 5 to 30 minutes before a migraine begins. Visual disturbances, such as flashing lights, distortion, in the size or shape of objects, or blind or dark spots in your field of vision are the most common symptoms of an aura.

One of the main causes to trigger having a migraine is not eating on time. We all know that this has a great effect in our digestive system especially in our stomach. Not eating on time does not just give you an ulcer but a migraine also. If skipping meals for a day or two does not give you any harm, I tell you, you’re wrong! You can not feel the pain right now but as time goes by you might develop illnesses like migraine. And I tell you it’s not easy to overcome and manage. Beware if it attacks you!

Do you have a migraine? People with migraine usually prefer to have a good rest by sleeping to avoid feeling the painful thing caused by severe headache. It is not just a simple headache huh, it is like your head is being squeezed and torn apart! Exaggerated? I think it is not! I wonder what people with this kind of sickness do to tolerate the pain.

I asked my mom who has a migraine and she said that she keeps trying to vomit every time her migraine attacks. She puts her finger inside her mouth near her tonsils to trigger vomiting. According to her, this helps lessen the pain. I don’t know how and I don’t know why but as for her this is effective.

Scientific studies have not consistently demonstrated an association between chocolate consumption and headaches although it has been reported to trigger migraine. Red wine has shown to be a migraine stimulator to some migraine sufferers but white wine is not sure to cause it. Tyramine, a chemical found in cheese, beer, wine, dry sausage and sauerkraut can sudden migraine headaches but there is no further evidence that having a low-tyramine diet can reduce its frequency. MSG has been reported as well to cause migraines when consumed in high doses on an empty stomach. Nitrites which are chemicals found in hotdogs and hams as well as Aspartame, a sugar-sub found in diet drinks have been reported to cause migraine as well.

Doctors who treat migraines should give and prescribe preventive medications. The doctor should know your medical history because of possible side effects. The preventive medications should not have a vast side effect on the patient and it should complement other medicines the patient is also taking and his/her medical conditions. Propranolol (Inderal) is often used first but this should not be prescribed to patients with asthma, COPD or heart diseases. Amitriptyline (Elavil) is also one of the common migraine medications. These medications should be taken first at low doses and would increase in higher doses gradually, if needed. And also, it should be gradually taken for months or years in a daily basis.

It is either migraine, tension-type head-ache, sinus, cluster. Your headache seems to give you other symptoms you have.
So you think diagnosing yourself is easy?Think again. It can could be more complicated than you think.
You need to consider these factors

* 89% of the population think that sinus or allergy headaches are just normal when they are actually migraines
* Only a fraction of people with migraines have visible auras
* A “rebound” from pain medicines can be the cause of your daily headaches

An educational site sponsored by the Michigan Headache Treatment Network called Headache Central is a tool designed to help people classify their headaches. The program asks several queries about your headaches, choosing random questions to ask based on your previous answers.
When you have answered the questions, you’re given a webpage with your answers and a possible diagnosis summarized in a friendly format that can be printed and given to your doctor on your next visitation.

Headache Central however is not designed for you to diagnose yourself. It was designed to give your doctor with a more comprehensive view of what you’re going through. Going to your doctor’s clinic well-informed is helpful but you should be open to what they have to say as well.

Like many migraine sufferers, i follow scale of 1 to 10 to rate the intensity of my headaches, where 1 is tolerable, and 10 is the most painful event imaginable. Here are the categories:

Scale Description

1-2: I can still do my work and tasks and can still talk properly.

3-4: I cannot work properly and I tend to look for a quiet place to relax.

5-6: A very agonizing headache. Cannot concentrate. Cannot work even the simplest of tasks.
Physical activities like walking makes pain even more excruciating.

7-8: I lie face down in a quiet room. Turning to the other side makes me feel like my head is crushed.

9: I am crying very hard because of the pain.

10: Indescribable pain. Makes me catatonic but with a war going on inside my head.

Looking back, I thought these were mere sinus headaches because that’s what my mother told me but somehow I have a feeling .