Migraine
What is migraine?
It is a form of recurrent headache of episodic and benign nature i.e. it does not threaten health or life but has neurological association. It is throbbing, one sided headache which may be preceded by a set of symptoms known as aura. The aura may appear with a heavy feeling or tingling numbness in the arms or leg etc, occurring before the onset of Headache. Although aura is not always present in every case of migraine.
The exact cause of migraine is unknown. Few believes it is due to abnormal brain activity while few researches says it is due to dilatation of blood vessels inside the brain.
How big is the problem?
Migraine is one of the most common type of headache. It is the 2nd most common type of headache ( 1st being the Tension-type headache (TTH), with a population prevalence of about 2% and being 6th most disabling illness in the world. Female are more commonly affected.
Symptoms
It tends to follow classic of the following triad
- Aura : visual aura are most common like a blind spot in the visual field (scotoma),Photophobia, or light sensitivity, flash of light even temporary loss of vision may be present .There may be other kinds of temporary aura like difficulty in speech, numbness of face, hands or whole limb. However not everyone experiences the aura before onset of headache.
- Unilateral throbbing headache
Nausea and vomiting
- The attack may last for 1-72 hours. It may get triggered by certain food like chocolate, peanuts, alcohol etc, certain stimuli like sound, lights or sometimes lack of sleep or mental anxiety and stress too enhances the headache.
Why it happens?
It is caused by the activation of a mechanism deep in the brain that leads to release of pain-producing inflammatory substances around the nerves and blood vessels of the head. This activation may be due to various factors or triggers
Positive family history can play an influential role. Migraine tends to run in family. Female are 3times sufferer when compared to men. Sometimes pregnancy decreases the number of attacks. Some women experience increases in headache episodes before and during menstrual period too.
Self help
Observe & avoid the triggers! As Attacks gets triggered by bright light, sound, hunger, stress, lack of sleep, sudden weather change, physical exertion, some kind of food like cheese, alcohol, food additives etc., hence all these should be avoided.
A change in lifestyle like better sleeping habits, avoiding skipping meal, refraining from smoking and other intoxicants, managing stress helps a lot in managing migraine. Managing the stress through pranamaya, meditation, doing bit of yoga & consuming lots of fluid can be of great help.
When to seek medical help
If the headache become intolerable and it causes hinderance in day to day activity or if the frequency of attack increases or if the headache intensity or character of pain changes one should not hesitate to take medical help.
Homeopathic scope
Homeopathic treatment for migraine is proved to be very successful. It benefited a huge number of patients across the globe. Some of medicine for migraine are Belladona, Bryonia, Gelsemium, Gloininum, Ignatia, Iris versicolor, Natrum muriaticum, Nux vomica, Spigelia, Sanguinaria etc. But one should not self-prescribe the medicine as the selection of right medicine for your case, from the vast endless list of homeopathic medicine in Materia medica, and determination of right potency and dose under the guidance of a qualified Homeopathic Physician is the key to success and a long term relief.