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Migraines sufferers, more than most people, know that the brain is a complicated organ, that can be affected by chemicals, electrical impulses, environmental factors and lifestyle. It is the complexity of the brain that makes pinpointing and treating the exact causes of your migraines so difficult, and often makes finding the best treatment a matter of trial and error.
Allergy sufferers have lots to deal with already. Rashes, nausea and breathing trouble are just some of the unpleasant side effects of allergies. Now, it seems you can add causing migraines (or worsening them) to the list of possible side effects. A study conducted in 2013 found that allergy sufferers were 33% more likely to suffer from frequent migraines.
They say New Year resolutions are made to be broken. We don’t believe it. Some may fall by the wayside, but the ones that help and make a difference are the ones you’ll keep up.
The holiday season is a challenge for everyone, with too few hours in the day and no let-up in everyday demands and commitments. Add on the frenzy of gift buying, food and drink shopping, event organization and the expectation that you WILL have a good time, and migraine sufferers often feel extra pressure and apprehension.
Light sensitivity creates an unpredictable trigger for migraine sufferers that can pounce without any warning, depending on the situation and circumstances. When aware that they are sensitive to light, sufferers often become anxious or fearful when they know a given situation could lead to an attack.
Tell someone you have toothache, and you’ll get sympathetic winces and lots of understanding. The same goes for just about any painful condition that’s common to most people. Except migraine. Despite being fairly common, those who’ve never had one just don’t get it. Go to bed for a headache? Surely not.
If anyone was ever in any doubt regarding the severity of migraine, they need only be pointed to a report produced by the World Health Organization (WHO). The report indicates that chronic daily headache (CDH), of which migraine is one type, is as disabling to sufferers as psychosis, quadriplegia, or dementia. Many sufferers find their migraines are controllable through conventional pain medications, but for a significant minority such treatments have little to no effect.
Migraine is far more than pain, with headache itself being just one of the symptoms. To non-migraine sufferers, migraine is simply a bad headache and this perception has freely percolated society causing confusion and misunderstanding. Newly diagnosed sufferers often struggle to make the connection between their mood swings and associated symptoms, not fully understanding how closely the two are related.
Migraine can be as unpredictable as a blind date, and is most likely to make its unwelcome appearance just when it’s most inconvenient. Important events like work meetings, job interviews, weddings or engagement parties can be especially scary for migraineurs and many avoid making commitments for fear of letting people down.
Notoriously tricky to treat, what works for one migraine patient will have no effect on another. Usually, various different types of migraine treatment or medication are tried before the option of surgery is considered.
