A migraine is a medical condition that causes multiple symptoms, including severe recurring headaches.

Migraine Symptoms

Symptoms of migraine usually occur in stages. The Prodrome stage is the stage where migraine symptoms begin one or two days before the headache. One may experience the following symptoms during this stage:

• Depression
• Food cravings
• Frequent yawning
• Low energy or fatigue
• Irritability
• Neck stiffness
• Hyperactivity

At times, an aura can occur. You may encounter problems with your movement, vision, speech, and sensation.

During the headache, you may experience a severe pulsing or throbbing headache, dizziness, nausea, neck pain, vomiting, nasal congestion, and increased sensitivity to sound and light.

Common features experienced after the headache are irritability, tiredness, and head pain that gets worse due to straining or physical activity.

If you are having a migraine, you can visit our emergency room.

What Causes Migraines

Experts think that migraines can occur when there are brain changes that affect the balance of chemicals, blood vessels, or the way nerves communicate.

Migraine triggers vary in different people. They include:

• Hormonal changes in women like progesterone and estrogen fluctuations during pregnancy, menstruation, or menopause
• Emotional triggers such as depression, stress, excitement, and anxiety.
• Use of certain medications, including sleeping pills, oral contraceptives, and hormone replacement therapy (HRT)
• Dietary factors such as alcohol, chocolate nuts, caffeine, citrus fruits, cheese, and foods with additives like monosodium glutamate (MSG) and tyramine
• Environmental factors including strong smells, flickering screens, loud noises, secondhand smoke, bright lights, stuffy room, temperature changes, and humidity

Some other possible triggers are tiredness, poor posture, lack of sleep, neck and shoulder tension, physical overexertion, jet lag, dehydration, low blood sugar, and irregular meal times.

Avoiding triggers can help lower the frequency of migraine episodes.

People with the following conditions are more likely to develop a migraine:

• Depression
• Fibromyalgia
• Bipolar disorder
• Overactive bladder
• Irritable bowel syndrome
• Sleep disorders

You can visit an emergency room near you to get migraine treatments.

Types of Migraines

Migraine with aura and migraine without aura is the most common types of migraine. Some people experience both types. There are other types of migraines.

Migraine without aura

It is also known as common migraine. Many people with migraines don’t have an aura.

The following characteristics are common with migraine without aura:

• A headache attack that lasts 4 to 72 hours if you don’t receive treatment or if the treatment fails to work
• A headache will have two traits: pulsating or throbbing pain, which occurs on one side of the head, moderate or severe pain level or the pain worsens when there is movement such as climbing stairs or walking.
• Headaches have one of these features: sensitivity to light, sensitivity to sound, and experiencing nausea without or with vomiting or diarrhea.

Migraine with aura

This type of migraine is referred to as classic migraine, hemiplegic migraine, and complicated migraine.

An aura that fades away is reversible, and some of its symptoms include:

• Visual problems
• Language or speech problems
• Sensory problems of the face, tongue, or body such as tingling, numbness, or dizziness
• Weakness or problems moving that can last for 72 hours
• Brainstem symptoms such as difficulty talking, ringing in the ears, vertigo, double vision, problems hearing, decreased consciousness, and inability to control body movements
• Experiencing eye problems in one eye, including blind spots, temporary blindness, or flashes of light

An aura can continue after the headache begins, but it usually occurs before the headache pain starts.

Do you need emergency care in Abilene? contact Express ER (Abilene).

Chronic migraines

It used to be called mixed or combination headaches because they can contain features of tension and migraine headaches. At times, it’s referred to as severe migraine and can be a result of medication overuse.

People with chronic migraines may experience:

• Severe headaches
• Depression
• Chronic pain such as arthritis
• Other serious health issues like high blood pressure
• Previous neck or head injuries
• More disability at and away from home

If you experience such symptoms, please visit an er near you.

Optical migraine

Optical migraine is also called ocular migraine, monocular migraine, eye migraine, retinal migraine, and ophthalmic migraine. It is a rare type of migraine with aura, and it only affects one eye, unlike other visual auras.
Symptoms of retinal migraines include:

• Flashes of light
• Loss of vision in one eye
• Partial loss of vision or blind spot

Sometimes eye migraine is painless.

If you experience optical migraines, don’t hesitate to reach out to our emergency room near you.