Migraine - symptoms and treatment of all kinds of illness, recommendations, how to relieve pain

About 20% of the world's population suffers from a chronic disease called hemicrania ("half of the head" in the translation from Novolatinsky "). It is more commonly known as migraine and is more common in women. Hemikraniya is one of the pathologies most violating social adaptation, sometimes it even becomes an occasion to establish disability.

Migraine - what is it?

This problem is a progressive neurological disease. Migraines are regular or recurrent bouts of painful headaches. Symptoms of hemicrania are not associated with traumas, strokes, brain tumors , indices of arterial and intracranial pressure. Predominantly, the pain is felt in one half of the head, less often in both.

Migraine without an aura - what is it?

This form of pathology is characterized by systematic attacks lasting 4-72 hours. It is difficult to understand in advance that a migraine begins, the symptoms and treatment become apparent only after the onset of the pain syndrome. It is localized in one half of the head, accompanied by a perceptible pulsation. Migraine without an aura can have medium or high intensity. Often gemikraniya increases against the backdrop of any physical or intellectual activity.

Migraine with aura - what is it?

This type of disease can progress both regularly and in separate episodes. Migraine with aura is accompanied by a set of neurologic symptoms that occur 1-2 hours before the attack or simultaneously with it. With this type of pathology, it is easier to fight, because with the appearance of characteristic signs of hemicrania, you can immediately begin treatment - take medication and prevent an episode of headache.

Migraines - Species

There is an official classification of headaches, which includes the described pathology. The diagnostic criteria for each type help determine what kind of migraine a patient has - the symptoms and treatment depend on the form. The main types of disease are considered (according to the 3rd revision of the classification):

The first type includes:

Chronic hemicrania can occur with persistent or recurrent symptoms. Pathology without an aura includes the following forms:

What is dangerous migraine?

The problem under consideration is not just intense headaches, it can provoke serious consequences. Complications of hemicrania symptoms often occur in the absence of treatment, but sometimes develop with adequate therapy. Major hazards:

Migraine causes

Researchers have yet to find out why some people have the disease presented. There are several hypotheses explaining what triggers a migraine - psychosomatic, alcohol and certain dishes, climatic factors, hormonal contraceptive treatment and sleep disorders. The main cause of hemicrania is heredity, other theories of its occurrence:

Migraine - signs

The main manifestation of hemicrania is a painful and prolonged headache, which gives to the eye, neck and jaw. On the eve of an attack, "predecessors" (a normal period) may appear or an aura is felt. Migraine - symptoms:

Migraine - where does the headache?

Symptoms are more often concentrated on one side. A person feels intense, throbbing pain in the right or left half of the brain. Sometimes she grabs the eye, ear, jaw and neck from the appropriate side. In rare cases, the head completely hurts, migraine of bilateral character is so strong that it deprives of working capacity until the end of the attack. The maximum discomfort is felt in the temples and the occiput.

Migraine and tension headache

Correct therapy is a guarantee of normalization of well-being and prevention of complications. It is important to know what features the tension headache and migraine have - the symptoms and treatment of these pathologies are different, specific medications are required to stop the discomfort. There are criteria that help to differentiate these diseases even without the help of a doctor.

How to distinguish a migraine from a headache:

  1. For gemikranii characterized by unilateral and very intense attacks, which are sometimes impossible to tolerate. The headache of tension is felt everywhere, it is weak or medium.
  2. With migraine, there is a ripple inside the brain. In another case, the pain is squeezed like a tight hoop.
  3. Hemikraniya is accompanied by additional symptoms - photophobia , rejection of loud sounds and sharp smells, nausea and vomiting, whose treatment is difficult. These signs are not characteristic of a tension headache.

Migraine - Diagnosis

To reveal this pathology is difficult, because it is often masked for similar ailments, can be associated with brain lesions. It is especially difficult to diagnose a migraine without a headache, when there is only an aura. To determine hemicranium and its differentiation with other problems, the following methods are used:

Migraine - treatment

Completely get rid of hemicranium is still unrealistic, as long as the causes of its occurrence are unknown. Variants, than to treat a migraine, are selected individually. There are several ways to treat the disease described:

Migraine - how to relieve pain?

People who suffer from hemicrania are often helped by basic methods of treatment. How to deal with migraine without medication:

  1. Relax in a dark and quiet room.
  2. Sleep a few hours.
  3. Dip your head in a basin of hot water or take a bath, diving into it 1-2 times.
  4. Take a contrast shower.
  5. Wet clothing with warm or cold water.
  6. Learn breathing exercises to relax the nervous system.
  7. To drink coffee.

There are other ways of treating the pain syndrome, each person selects them individually, according to subjective sensations. Especially useful are the listed tips, when there is migraine in pregnancy, than to relieve the pain of a future mother, it is difficult to choose, because during the period of gestation, most of the special drugs are contraindicated. To relieve the symptoms of hemicrania, a woman should maximally stabilize her emotional state and rest until the end of the attack, avoiding bright light, loud sounds, and sharp smells.

Migraine - treatment: tablets

Conservative therapy of pathology consists in taking pain medication. Their choice should be made by the doctor after it is established that presumably provokes migraine - the symptoms and treatment of the disease are interrelated with the factors that cause it. There are 7 groups of drugs suitable for the treatment of the described ailment. Migraine - medicines:

  1. Antipyretics, analgesics, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs with caffeine in the composition. These include Paracetamol, Solpadein, Ibuprofen, Naproxen, Diclofenac, Ketoprofen and others.
  2. Triptans. These drugs block vascular spasms and eliminate additional symptoms of migraine - Naratriptan, Eletriptan, Sumatriptan, Zolmitriptan and analogues.
  3. Preparations for ergot. This treatment is prescribed only by a specialist, alkaloids from plant raw materials can cause negative side effects, have many contraindications - Cofetamine, Digigergot, Dihydroergotamine and synonyms.
  4. Antidepressants. This option of therapy is suitable for psychosomatic migraine to stabilize the emotional background - Amitriptyline, Saroten, Doxepin, Ludomil and others.
  5. Beta-blockers. Medications increase the tone of the arterioles and improve the blood supply to the brain - Anaprilin, Metoprolol, Egilok, Atenolol, Corvitol, Methocard and analogues.
  6. Anticonvulsants. These drugs relieve spasms, prevent the occurrence of complications of migraine - valproic acid, Topiramate, Epiramate, Topilet and synonyms.
  7. Calcium channel blockers. These drugs have a pronounced vasodilator effect - Bepridil, Verapamil, Flunarizin, Nicardipine, Gallopamil and others.

Migraine - treatment of folk remedies at home

Alternative methods do not help all patients of a neurologist, in rare cases, recipes help to reduce the intensity of pain, but do not completely stop the attack. With such therapy it does not matter what triggered the migraine, the symptoms and folk medication are not interrelated. Recipes are considered universal and are designed to remove any pain syndromes in the head region.

The simplest folk advice how to cope with migraine:

  1. Drink a glass of freshly squeezed potato juice.
  2. Snort a mixture of camphor and ammonia (equal proportions).
  3. Attach to the temples fresh leaves of lilac or white cabbage.
  4. In the ear from the patient side, insert a cotton swab soaked in onion or beet juice .
  5. Eat a few slices of salted herring.

Herbal Remedy for Migraine Symptoms

Ingredients :

Preparation, application

  1. Mix the dry shredded herbs.
  2. Pour 1 tbsp. spoon of collection of boiling water.
  3. Insist means 1 hour.
  4. Strain the solution.
  5. Drink 1 glass of medicine 3 times a day.

Decoction of valerian for the treatment of headaches

Ingredients :

Preparation, application

  1. Pour vegetable raw materials with warm water.
  2. Boil the product on a steam bath for 15 minutes.
  3. Infuse liquid for 1 hour.
  4. Strain the medicine.
  5. Drink a solution of 1 tbsp. spoon three times a day.

Mint tea from migraine symptoms

Ingredients :

Preparation, application

  1. Pour mint 1 glass of water.
  2. Hold the solution on a steam bath for 10 minutes, stir it constantly.
  3. Insist tea 15 minutes.
  4. Strain, add honey.
  5. Add the boiled water to the volume of the drug was 240 ml.
  6. Drink 80 ml of the drug 3 times a day for half an hour before meals.
  7. Treatment continue until the end of the attack.

Migraine - prevention

Prevention of pathology consists in revealing all the factors provoking the symptoms of the disease, their elimination.

The following recommendations will help prevent both classical gimecrania and migraine with aura - how to avoid an attack:

  1. Always give up bad habits.
  2. Exclude alcohol from the diet.
  3. Normalize the schedule of wakefulness and sleep.
  4. Avoid excessive intellectual and physical overwork, stress.
  5. Balanced and eat regularly.
  6. Drink plenty of fluids per day.
  7. Stabilize the hormonal balance.
  8. To give time for physical activity, sports.
  9. Take medication prescribed by a neurologist.
  10. Begin treatment immediately if a normal period or aura occurs.