| Pain & Inflammation
What is Migraine Headache?
A migraine is a vascular-type headache characterised by a sharp, pounding pain located within one side of the head. Although some migraines come on without warning, many migraine sufferers have warning symptoms (“auras”) before the onset of pain. Typical auras last a few minutes and include: visual blurring or bright spots, anxiety, fatigue, disturbed thinking, and numbness or tingling on one side of the body.
What Causes Migraine Headache?
Considerable evidence supports an association between migraine headache and instability of blood vessels. The mechanism of migraine can be described as a three-stage process: initiation, prodrome (time between initiation and appearance of headache) and headache. Although a particular stressor may be associated with the onset of a specific attack, it appears that initiation is dependent on the accumulation of several stressors over time. Once a critical point of susceptibility (or threshold) is reached, a “cascade event” is initiated that sets in process a domino-like effect that ultimately produces a headache. Food allergies, histamine-releasing foods, alcohol (especially red wine), stress, hormonal changes (e.g. menstruation, ovulation, birth control pills) and weather changes (especially barometric pressure changes) are examples of some common triggers of migraines.
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