A migraine is considered to be an increased excitability of the nerve cells in the brain. You can learn more about migraine by checking these 10 interesting and useful facts about migraine.
10 Facts about Migraine
Reports say that about 14 million people in the US or approximately 1 in 19 people(5.15%) suffer from migraine which is not diagnosed.
Migraine is a neurological syndrome characterized by painful headaches together with nausea and a heightened sensitivity to light and noise.
Some people get a preceding aura in which the patient feels a strange light or unpleasant smell, triggers which may precipitate migraine or stress of menstruation. For children, abdominal pain may be predominant.
The different types of migraine are basilar type migraine, familial hemiplegic migraine, abdominal migraine, acephalgic migraine, and menstrual migraine.
The exact cause of migraine is yet to be ascertained but the widespread theory is that migraine is caused by a disorder of the serotonergic control system and the aura is due to spreading cortical depression due to increased blood flow.
Another fact – migraine attacks could be triggered by allergic reactions, bright light, noise, emotional stress, a change in sleeping patterns, smoking, alcohol, tension headaches, and certain foods.
Migraine can be treated by diet restrictions, reducing a large amount of caffeine or red wine and dairy products, change in lifestyle, less salt intake, and reduced stress.
Medicines such as analgesics and their combinations, gastric motility agents to reduce vomiting, and tolfenamic acid which is an anti-inflammatory non-steroidal drug are suggested for migraine. However, only a combined treatment and prevention approach can help the patients.
Migraine affects women more than men and about 21 million women in the USA suffer from migraine. 60% out of them suffer from menstrual migraines.
Ben Affleck(actor), Fredrik Ljungberg(Footballer) Julius Caesar, French emperor Napoleon Bonaparte and Thomas Jefferson are only some of the famous people who have suffered from migraine.
