Migraine Headaches

Migraines are a neurological disorder which usually cause repeated episodes of severe pain with many other symptoms. A Migraine has many stages however, and pain is only one of the stages. A Migraine attack can involve one or more of the stages, but does not necessarily even involve pain (acephalgic Migraine).

A brain aneurysm is a bulge in a blood vessel in the brain. This is often due to an congenital abnormality or weakness in a blood vessel (an abnormality present since birth). The head pain caused by an aneurysm is usually a one time event. The vessel bleeds - many times causing the "worst headache of your life"- and either you are able to catch it in time to repair it and stop the hemorrhaging, or you die.

People who end up having an aneurysm may or may not have a history of migraine. If a person does suffer from both, it is coincidence. There are no studies that state the two are related.

Very rarely, people who have migraines end up having a stroke. This is thought to be caused by extended ischemia (loss of blood flow) to an area of the brain due to migraines causing a change in the blood flow due to constriction and dilation of blood vessels. Strokes are not the same as aneurysms.

Migraines have many, many different triggers. Diet, sleep patterns, dehydration, weather changes, hormone changes, and stress are just a few of these triggers. In order to find out what is triggering your migraines, it is very helpful to begin keeping a migraine diary - so that you can look back and try to remember what happened in the 24 hours leading up to the attack. You may be able to identify a pattern and then prevent the trigger.

If you are having more than two migraines a month you should seek the care of a neurologist to try preventative migraine medications. It is trial and error to find the medication combination that works for you, however, it can reduce the frequency and duration of your migraines significantly.

--just to add to this, caffeine is actually a vasoconstrictor- it is a stimulant- and can compound problems by creating dependency and inducing migraines when caffeine is not consumed... it helps to soothe the pain of migraines presumably by decreasing pressure in the brain because there is a theory that migraine pain is caused by increased blood vessel size in the brain...waking up at the same time every day is indeed a great suggestion though- and drinking more water, getting adequate amounts of rest, eating a balanced diet, and regular exercise--keeping blood pressure in check can curb off headaches that could lead to migraines as well--and destressing on a regular basis...if you're having recurrent episodes of migraines you should keep a record of how often, how intense, and how long they last- and see a physician...

Usually, they are right near the regular Excedrin. (An actually, if you see regular Excedrin, the same ingredients are in each)

In January 2012 the company who makes the line of Excedrin products recently did a voluntary recall of a certain number of products because of broken or stray pills.

So at the moment they might be a little bit hard to find.

However, whatever pharmacy you go to should have a generic replacement.

These are the ingredients you want to see per tablet:

Acetaminophen - 250mg

Aspirin - 250mg

Caffeine 65 mg

The National Headache Foundation estimates of the 30 million Americans who are known to suffer migraine headaches, this number is about half of the estimated 60 million total people who have migraines on a regular basis but have not been diagnosed.

Migraine headaches often follow a pattern of that a person can soon recognize once they are alerted to be aware of certain triggers, circumstances and situations in their lives within an hour or two of the onset of the migraine headaches.

When a person eventually figures out what thing or things are triggering the headaches to occur, the answer to what helps migraines best becomes rather apparent. By paying very close attention to what you are eating, feeling, touching and breathing, immediately prior to a migraine headache you are well on your way to learning how to avoid or at least control your contact and doing what is best to help your migraines.

A good place to begin your review is to consider common migraine headache triggers:

• Emotional stress, tension and worry. Strong emotional states causes what is called the "flight or fight response" that begins a release of brain chemicals that dilate blood vessels in the brain, leading to a migraine headache.
• Sensitivity to certain foods, food preservatives and food coloring agents.
• Caffeine, found in coffee, tea, cola drinks, and chocolate, as well as certain prescription and non-prescription medications.
• Rapidly moving weather fronts that cause storms.
• Fatigue, lack of sleep and heavy exercise.
• Hunger, and/or a rapid drop in blood sugar levels.
• Changes in the normal sleep pattern, even when not accompanied by fatigue or lack of sleep; just a simple alternation of a normal sleeping pattern can cause a migraine headache for some people.

The best help for migraines is to eliminate all known triggers if possible, or at least to control them. The more triggers are kept out of your life, the fewer migraines you will have.

Yes. There is definitely a cure for migraines. I have been a migraine patient for years and have recently been cured through the treatment of acupuncture. It's been 4 months now and there has been no sign of a migraine or a headache.

Clarification

There is no universal "cure" for migraine. Some people have hypersensitivity in their neurological functioning that makes them prone to developing migraine headaches. In those people migraines are triggered by various physiological, biochemical and environmental conditions and sensitivities. Some people rely on prescription drugs to control migraine episodes. Others are more pro-active, taking charge and making necessary life changes, exploring alternative therapies, and closely monitoring their migraine episodes to identify triggers. Through sacrifice (of many foods and activities that trigger migraine) and diligence many find relief by learning ways to mitigate, lesson and relieve their migraines. They can often reach a point when drugs are only needed for break-through migraines. A situation that triggers a migraine episode in one person doesn't bother another migraineur at all. Alternatively, what helps to relieve symptoms in one may have no therapeutic effect on another. In some cases the conditions that trigger the migraines are no longer present. In some cases the person for whom the headaches ceased to be a problem didn't have true migraine. Relation oriented massage, such as Swedish massage, has been helpful in decreasing the frequency of migraine occurrences. One recommendation is that you wait at least 48 hours after a migraine before having a massage, this allows your body to normalize and reduce the possibility of of a relapse.