How do I know if my headaches are migraines?
Who gets migraine headaches?
Why do I have migraines?
Are migraines hereditary?
How does a migraine differ from other bad headaches?
Are migraines caused by 'psychological problems'?
Are migraines caused by stress?
How will I know if my migraine treatment is working?
For what reason should I consult my doctor again after initial treatment has proven to be successful?
What should I do when I want to become pregnant?
Why can’t I use the medication that has been successful for my friend, neighbour, and colleague?
Will my headache not pass with time?
Is there a risk of developing a chronic migraine?
What if my preventive medication doesn’t seem to be effective?
How do I know if my headaches are migraines?
Click here for the
Three Questions Test.
Pain associated with migraine headaches is described as:
- Pounding, pulsating, or throbbing pain
- Most often, but not exclusively, on one side of the head, occurring anywhere on the face or head, but usually around the temple area
Accompanying symptoms include:
- Sensitivity to light, sound, smells, or movement
- Nausea and vomiting
- Difficulty functioning
Consult with your healthcare professional to determine whether your specific symptoms can be attributed to migraine.
Who gets migraine headaches?
Migraine is a common health condition that affects more than 72 million people worldwide. It is estimated that 18% of women and 6% of men have migraine headaches. Thus, migraine is three times more common in women than in men. This may be explained by the fact that migraine is also influenced by hormonal factors during the menstrual cycle.
Why do I have migraines?
While it is not yet completely known why migraines occur, researchers believe that migraines happen to people who have a predisposition for an attack. In other words, migraines tend to run in families.
Are migraines hereditary?
Yes, migraines have a tendency to run in families. Four out of five migraine sufferers have a family history of migraines. If one parent has a history of migraines, the child has a 50% chance of developing migraines, and if both parents have a history of migraines, the risk jumps to 75%.
How does a migraine differ from other bad headaches?
Migraine is an attack of mild to severe headache pain. Unlike other severe headaches, a migraine can have other symptoms associated with it, lasting anywhere from four hours to three days.
Are migraines caused by 'psychological problems'?
No. Migraine is a neurological disorder caused by biochemical changes in the body.
Are migraines caused by stress?
While stress may be one of the many possible ways to trigger a person’s migraine, stress in itself does not cause a migraine. You must have a predisposition to having migraine in order to experience an attack.
How will I know if my migraine treatment is working?
An effective migraine treatment will relieve not only the pain, but also the nausea and other symptoms of an attack. Your symptoms will improve or disappear and you will be able to work, go to school, or enjoy your leisure activities.
For what reason should I consult my doctor again after initial treatment has proven to be successful?
When indicated by the doctor
It is not uncommon for a patient with migraine who feels well because the medication has had an effect, to miss a scheduled appointment. The doctor is interested in knowing that his/her patients are better and is reassured when treatment has been effective. In addition, it may be the time to withdraw the preventive medication and avoid its prolonged and uncontrolled use.
When the patient experiences a significant change in the usual characteristics of their attack
Such alarm signals are, unexplained increase in its frequency for instance, the medication appears to be less effective, a headache that wakes you up during the night which had not happened previously, appearance of aura which had not been present before or an abnormally prolonged aura when previously it lasted only a few minutes, and for other changes.
When the patient has any major side effects
Some side effects occur shortly after the start of preventive treatment, such as a fall in blood pressure on beta-blockers or daytime drowsiness on flunarizine. However, other side effects may take weeks to become apparent, such as weight gain on amitriptyline or flunarizine. If the patient observes any side effect they consider relevant, they should not hesitate to consult their doctor.
What should I do when I want to become pregnant?
The majority of symptomatic and preventive treatments of migraine must not be taken during pregnancy, and even less so during contraception and the first weeks of gestation. Fortunately, since most migraine attacks in women are related to hormones, most patients tend to report a decrease in the frequency of attacks during pregnancy and the period of breast feeding.
Why can’t I use the medication that has been successful for my friend, neighbour, and colleague?
What is good for one person may not so for you. Ignore the comments of your relatives and friends and follow the recommendations of your doctor. If the prescribed medication has not been successful, mention this at your next visit. Keep a diary or timetable of attacks which lists, in summary form, all the episodes that you have had since the last visit; their intensity, duration, the medication taken and the response obtained. With these details to hand, your doctor will look for a more suitable therapeutic alternative for your situation.
Will my headache not pass with time?
It is an endless source of surprise that many migraine patients report to us that they put off for hours taking the medication in the hope that the attack will end of its own accord. They also realise that their personal experience in this respect has taught them the opposite, in other words, the longer they put off taking the medication the worse it will be.
An attack of migraine is very unlikely to disappear by itself. Try to take the medication in the initial phases of the attack when the probabilities of success (aborting the attack) are greater than if it is taken when the attack is fully developed. The chosen drug must be used "at full dose" for the migraine. Many people use subtherapeutic doses which, at best simply manages to slightly alleviate the situation but without completely halting the attack.
Is there a risk of developing a chronic migraine?
Some people tend to take analgesics compulsively or instinctively at the slightest sign of a headache. Analgesic abuse (particularly when combinations of analgesics or drugs with a potential for developing dependence are used) is the ideal breeding ground for migraine to stop being an episodic problem (happening now and again) and to become something chronic (transformed migraine or chronic migraine).
If you have already reached this situation (and take analgesics more than 3 days a week), discuss this with your doctor. A chronic headache situation requires an individualised therapeutic plan: control of trigger factors, optimisation of the symptomatic treatment of the attacks, implementation of preventive medication and so on.
What if my preventive medication doesn’t seem to be effective?
It is not uncommon for many migraine patients to say that “they have tried everything” to prevent their migraine and that “nothing has worked for them”. If this supposed refractory treatment is investigated in slightly more detail, it is not unusual for the patient to explain that, in fact, they had abandoned the preventive treatments a few days after starting them, either for some problem of intolerance to the medication or because the occurrence of an attack was interpreted as a clear sign of lack of efficacy of the treatment.
Follow the instructions of your doctor as far as preventive therapy is concerned. Preventive treatments must be evaluated in the medium term (after at least 2-3 months of treatment) before assessing their efficacy or inefficacy in a specific patient. Moreover, the lack of response to one or other treatment does not in any way imply that there are no other alternatives.
