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Over decades of intensive research into migraine pain and its causes, knowledge of this debilitating condition has improved greatly. There’s still lots to do to fully understand what happens in the brain to cause so many diverse symptoms, but thankfully it’s now widely accepted that migraine is not simply another term for ‘headache’.
One of the most common migraine triggers is the weather. In a recent study, 75% of sufferers reported headaches brought on by changes in atmospheric pressure. It’s a simple matter to avoid something like red wine if you know this is one of your personal triggers, but what can you do about headaches brought on by fluctuations in barometric pressure?
The first step is to understand what the term means, and how it can potentially affect you.
In many migraine patients, the exact cause of the headaches is unknown. Individually, sufferers can discover their (often unique) pain triggers and learn to avoid them as far as possible, but this doesn’t explain why flashing lights, for instance, will cause a migraine in one person and leave another completely well.
We sit too long, use computers for hours, work in unhealthy buildings, and get too little fresh air. If everything else in health and life is equal, we cope even though those things are bad for everyone.
For migraine sufferers, conditions at work can escalate an already hard-to-manage condition. The good news is there are some things you can do at work that will help and, if those fail it’s possible co-workers or bosses can step in and make necessary changes.
Many migraine sufferers find that their headaches are often associated with feelings of anxiety or depression, and wonder if the two conditions are related. Plenty of research has been done to investigate the likelihood of either anxiety or depression leading to migraine, with results indicating that there is actually a connection.
Cluster headaches are one of the most debilitating conditions you can experience, particularly if you get them often. They’re also one of the most frustrating to identify and diagnose, and medical science is unclear as to the real cause. It’s believed that overstimulation of the hypothalamus is the primary cause, however. This is the section of the brain that regulates our sleep patterns, and its disturbance results in the development of headaches.
On the popular television sitcom, The Big Bang Theory, a recent episode dealt with a physiological issue that affects millions of people around the world, but not most of them are barely aware of it. One very interesting aspect of The Big Bang Theory is the way it cleverly makes fun of scientific topics, particularly those dealing with physics, but a recent episode actually dealt with an anatomic condition that is known to be a trigger of migraine attacks.
Some migraine specialists believe that most of their patients are not aware that they suffer from sleep breathing disorders. These are patients who tend to blame their migraines whenever they don't get a good night's sleep or when they feel restless and anxious. Sleep apnea is a condition that causes a temporary cessation of breathing when patients are in a soporific state; the most severe cases are obstructive and result in harsh snoring and gasping for air that may interrupt sleep several...
Despite its growing popularity worldwide, the National Football League (NFL) seems to be in a constant state of turmoil. One of the NFL's most complicated legal challenges is the ongoing lawsuit filed by former and current players who accuse the league of not doing enough to prevent serious concussions and the high incidence of traumatic brain injuries (TBI) that have become an unfortunate staple of the most popular spectator sport in the United States.
When summer comes around and the temperatures become warmer, perfume designers and manufacturers tend to switch their marketing efforts away from fragrances that have earthy, musky, woodsy, and spicy overtones in favor of fruity and flowery scents that are lighter. There is a clinical reason behind this change from full scents such as pine to lighter ones such as citrus, and it has to do migraines.
