What is Migraine?
Migraine is those painful and recurring headaches that take every second of your life to become worse. To understand migraine it is important to analyze the types and then what measures you can apply to treat the most severe migraine types.
Ask some of these questions to yourself is you want to know about your migraine:
What is your migraine type?
Which conditions can cause your migraine?
Are you surviving in those conditions?
How to treat migraines naturally?
In this article, we are going deep to understand the migraine types, migraine triggers and best remedies to treat migraine naturally.
So let’s start with:
Types of migraine
Migraine is not of a single type. It is basically a neurological disease that produces as people describe the pain as:
- pulsating
- throbbing
- debilitating
It feels like continuous headaches. The pain may start out as mild, but without treatment can become more intense. Migraine pain most commonly affects the forehead area. It’s usually on one side of the head, but it can occur on both sides or shift. Most migraines last for about 2-4 hours. If not treated timely can last for days and week.
Migraine with Aura (Classical migraine)
“Aura” is a symptom that occurs when you get a migraine. Symptoms like seeing black dots and zig-zag, tingling in arms, inability to speak clearly.
Aura can last for as long as 10minutes to 30minutes. Aura, as described, is the second stage of migraine.
If any such conditions prevail it is a warning sign for the severe head pain to be the next.
Migraine without Aura (Common Migraine)
Migraine is usual and common with no warning sign. The symptoms are usually nausea, vomiting, phonophobia, light sensitivity, anxiety, and depression. 70-90% of the people experience this type of migraine in three phases.
Prodrome (pre-headache)- You can experience short headaches for days before an extreme migraine. Signs are mood changes, food cravings, body aches, tiredness.
Headache– After the first signs when you experience the real headache, it’s a sign you have entered the second phase.
Postdrome- Common signs like tiredness, body pain, weakness and muscle stiffness.
Silent or Acephalgic Migraine
Migraine without head pain is very serious. In this type of migraine, you experience aura, nausea and other phases of migraine but no headaches.
It is difficult to suggest what triggers this migraine but those who get this type of migraine also experience other migraine types.
Retinal Migraine
A serious health problem as the doctor said. In retinal migraine, headaches can cause temporary vision loss in one eye.
This can last for a few minutes to months. This is a special and specific aura migraine but the main point is we know very little about this migraine.
People experiencing migraine of this type must consult a specialist.
Chronic migraine
Head pain for more than 2 weeks, is a sign you are suffering from chronic migraines.
Some days feel like extreme headaches and some as light as a tension headache. The severity of the migraine changes frequently.
Ice pick headaches
When you feel like you are getting poked or stabbed with an ice pick in the head. These headaches are sudden and incredibly painful.
Pain areas include orbit, temple and parietal area of the head. The trigeminal nerve, a nerve in the face for chewing and face tension are also present in this area of the head.
If you feel headaches in this area, you are more prone to ice pick headaches.
Cervicogenic headache
Neck pain develops the pain in the head. The pain usually starts from the spine and neck reaches to the head resulting in tiredness, difficulty to sit for longer hours, head bending forward.
People experiencing this type of migraine should consult a physiotherapist.
What actually triggers a migraine?
To find the right prevention, find what triggers the migraine. In earlier times, fluctuations in blood flow to the brain were thought to be the main cause but as researchers studied, the changes in the blood flow do not initiate the migraine and might contribute to producing severe migraines.
If we look today to the science, chemical compounds and hormones (serotonin and estrogen) create the sensitivity of migraines. For women, estrogen levels vary. During the fertile years, estrogen levels increase and decrease at a higher age. Fluctuations of hormones explain why women get more migraines than men.
Some more possible reasons that contribute to severe migraine are:
Sleeping patterns
Eating habits
Stress
Environmental change
Weather
How can you treat your migraine?
When it comes to treating, we think of medications. Some migraines can be avoided with simple and natural remedies.
Acupressure
It is simple. Apply the pressure to specific parts of the body with technique. Applying pressure on points relieve muscle stress and pain.
You can master this technique on your own if you’ve recurring migraines.
Change in diet
Diet change is a must avoid a migraine. As migraine is a neurological process foo smell, the taste can trigger a migraine.
Processed food
Alcohol
Chocolate
Caffeine
These foods stimulate the hormonal changes that result in a migraine. To get better results go for a diet chart or hire a dietician to create your migraine-specific diet plan.
Lavender and Ginger
Essential oils like lavender have been proved to be the best remedy for headaches, stress, and anxiety. A study revealed that lavender smell reduces the severity of migraines. And including ginger in food or tea benefit at some point to relieve the migraine pain.
Yoga
Yoga is all-time best to stay fit and manage stress. Stress is the main cause of some migraines. Stretching exercises provide relief to people with migraines, reduce muscle tension and improve blood flow.
Massage
Massaging with essential oils is the best home remedy. Massage on shoulders and neck, parietal area. These help decrease the migraine severity and relieve the long hours of stress.
Water and Sleep
Just minor dehydration can trigger a migraine. Drink enough water to stay hydrated. With a proper diet, a night of proper sleep is a must. Minimum sleep of 6 hours is required for a healthy mind. Less sleep or changes in sleeping patterns automatically affect personal lives.
Tiredness, body pain, headache, muscle stiffness all causes migraine. Take proper sleep for yourself and your body.
