How to Understand More About Migraines and their Causes and Symptoms
Everyone has probably experienced a headache at some time - but not everyone will know what it is like to have a migraine.
What is a migraine?
A migraine is a recurring headache with throbbing pain on one side of the head. Migraines usually affect one eye and parts of the face and neck muscles. As well as the pain, there are other symptoms that accompany the painful headache.
These symptoms include:
- nausea or vomiting. Often the actual vomiting will relieve the pain of the migraine.
- sensitivity to light and sound.
- dizziness or vertigo (feeling off balance).
- numbness or tingling in the affected area.
- weakness or fatigue/blurred vision or other visual changes like seeing spots before your eyes.
- Tinnitus.
How common are migraines?
Women suffer more than men with migraines with some one billion people worldwide being affected. Approximately eight percent of adults in the USA experience migraines annually.
What are the causes of migraines?
If you have a family history of migraines, you could be more likely to suffer from them.
Females are twice as likely to suffer from migraines than men. This is because of the many hormonal changes that occur during:
- Pregnancy.
- Menstruation.
- Menopause.
In addition, if you have already had a migraine, it is more likely that they will appear again.
Smoking and/or drinking alcohol are habits that can cause blood vessels in the brain to expand and contract too quickly.
This link will explain the different types of migraines.
Apart from causes, triggers are another factor
These are common migraine triggers:
- Stress. Stress causes us to take short and shallow breaths, leading to an increase in the level of carbon dioxide in the body. This in turn can cause the dilation of blood vessels in the head, the result being a painful migraine or headache. When suffering from stress try to inhale slowly through your nose, count up to five before exhaling slowly and count to five again.
- Hormonal changes (for example those that occur during menstruation and menopause).
- Sleeping difficulties or insomnia.
- Certain foods or beverages such as chocolate, food preservatives (MSG), alcoholic drinks and certain wines.
- Weather changes, such as extreme temperatures and barometric pressure.
- Physical exertion including exercise.
- Smells and odors (for example those from cleaning products, toxic chemicals or perfumes).
- Changes in your surroundings. This could be from moving from a darkened room to bright daylight.
- Florescent lighting.
- Certain medications including birth control pills, hormone replacement therapy and other medicines that contain estrogen.
How to prevent and deal with migraines
- Make the effort to find out what acts as a trigger for you as if you can avoid your triggers, you may be able to prevent migraines occurring in the first place.
- In addition, knowing the symptoms is also important so you can stop a migraine from becoming unbearable.
- Make sure you have plenty of rest but exercising regularly is helpful too. This is because exercise boosts endorphins, highlighting the brain’s natural mood enhancers and helping to prevent headaches and migraines.
- Eat a healthy diet with plenty of fresh fruits and vegetables included.
- Drink plenty of water and other liquids so you are well hydrated. If you become dehydrated, this can trigger a migraine.
Use a natural solution as soon as you become aware of the onset of a migraine. Applying H-Headaches Formula targets the symptoms associated with the headache such as throbbing on the head and over the eyes and pain at the back of the head.
The botanicals in the Formula provide a natural analgesic effect while the homeopathic ingredients work systemically to relieve symptoms such as throbbing head and pain over the eyes. The Formula is highly effective in targeting the symptoms of migraines and other types of headaches, providing fast relief.
The Formula is applied topically by massaging into the temples and the back of the neck with only a few drops per application required.
This link will take you to our image gallery, showing images of the various symptoms that can be treated with our specific Healing Natural Oils products.
And this link will take you to our health articles covering all the conditions for which we have products.
SOURCES:
Headache: Hope through research. National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke. https://www.ninds.nih.gov/Disorders/Patient-Caregiver-Education/Hope-Through-Research/Headache-Hope-Through-Research. (Accessed, Feb 13, 2021).
Migraine information page. National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke. https://www.ninds.nih.gov/Disorders/All-Disorders/Migraine-Information-Page. (Accessed, Feb 13, 2021)
Bajwa ZH, et al. Acute treatment of migraine in adults. https://www.uptodate.com/contents/search. (Accessed, Feb 13, 2021)
ABC's of headache trigger management. American Migraine Foundation. https://americanmigrainefoundation.org/resource-library/abcs-of-headache-trigger-management/. (Accessed, Feb 13, 2021)
Written by Jane Chitty
Jane writes for Healing Natural Oils, a producer and retailer of high-quality, all-natural treatments for a variety of conditions as well as a range of beauty products. Apart from writing about those various conditions, she also covers general health, environmental and other subjects of interest. She has lived in Kenya as well as Cape Town, South Africa and spent time in San Diego, USA. She now lives in Somerset, England with regular visits from her far-flung children and grandchildren. She is a keen gardener and enjoys growing fresh fruit and vegetables with her husband on their joint allotment. As a result, there is something available to use in the kitchen virtually all year round. Her regular posts can be found on our blog.