Category: Migraine Relief

Migraine Headache Triggers

Migraine Headache Triggers

Migraine headaches triggers are a long and varied list of events which bring on migraine attacks. For example, eating certain foods (migraine food triggers), emotional stress, sleep changes, travel, or skipping meals are some common migraine headache triggers.

An important distinction to understand is that these triggers are not the initial cause of your migraine condition, but rather activate an episode in a person who is already prone to getting migraines. If you have been diagnosed with migraine headaches, you are predisposed to having an episode that can be triggered by the long list of potential activators.

How these triggers activate a migraine is not exactly known. One theory is that the migrainous brain is in a constant state of baseline neuronal excitation. When a trigger comes along, it sets off the chemical changes in the brain that cause migraine.

One of the most important steps you can take toward reducing the frequency of your migraines is identifying your migraine triggers. Everyone has his or her own set of potential migraine headaches triggers. Your task is to identify your unique set of triggers. By learning what is triggering your migraine episodes, you can then take steps to avoid those particular triggers.

What triggers migraine headaches?Keep a record, in a migraine triggers diary, of which foods, emotional situations, physical activities, environmental factors, weather conditions, sleep changes, and other triggers which cause you to have migraines. You will then be able to see your own patterns of triggers and stressful factors.

Not all triggers you identify as problematic for you will set off a migraine headache. Whether and how you react to a trigger may depend on your overall stress level at that time in addition to your simultaneous exposure to other triggers.

Migraines often tend to occur when a number of migraine headache triggers occur simultaneously or when you happen to be in a vulnerable state because of high stress or major lifestyle changes. Often, it takes a combination of emotional, food, and environmental stressors to bring about the biochemical changes that result in a migraine.

Jul 12, 2011 | 0 comments View Post
Migraine Food Triggers

Migraine Food Triggers

Food is one of the biggest triggers of migraine. Food intake is another pattern that often can be discerned with a carefully maintained migraine food triggers diary. Given that so many foods and food additives can lead to migraine, it is not surprising that a person can eat many foods that are triggers without realising it.

One of the biggest migraine food triggers is caffeine. Caffeine is found in foods, soft drinks, coffee and tea. With the proliferation of espresso shops, we are now drinking more coffee and tea than ever before. In women, as little as two cups of coffee can be too much caffeine from a headache perspective.

Caffeine is a potent constrictor of blood vessels, which allows it to serve as a painkiller. This explains why many over-the-counter migraine medications contain caffeine. When you stop the caffeine, however, the vessels dilate which often results in a pounding headache. The caffeine in many prescription medications is believed the culprit in medication overuse headaches. Therefore it is critical that you keep track of all of your caffeine intake and replace as much as possible with noncaffeinated beverages.

Migraine Food Triggers DiaryBeware though, that you do not stop your caffeine intake abruptly or you will experience a rebound headache. Reduce your caffeine slowly. Be sure to carefully check labels of all soft drinks, sports drinks, and even herbal supplements.

The next most commonly cited food triggers of migraine are chocolate and aged cheeses. Both contain amines. The amines in many foods come together to make proteins, but those found in chocolate and cheeses are particularly problematic.

Tyramine is the amine in aged cheeses, of which blue cheese and cheddar cheese are the biggest offenders. It is very important that you keep track of the cheeses that you eat and record whether you have a headache afterward.

Chocolate is usually a more obvious food trigger of migraines. Many sufferers of migraine have discovered that if they eat a single bar of chocolate, they will develop a migraine of distressing proportions.

Totally eliminating chocolate from your diet may be very difficult. The best solution may be to monitor your cravings and avoid consumption in settings with other migraine food triggers. You may also try different brands of chocolates. Not all chocolates are equal, one type or brand may be better tolerated than another.

Many women crave chocolate around the type of their periods. The consumption of chocolate and the changes in hormones could be a disastrous combination if you are prone to menstrual migraines. Strict avoidance of chocolate perimenstrually (around the time of your period) may be the only solution in these cases.

Another class of foods that cause migraine is processed or preserved foods, which often contain nitrites. Nitrites are chemicals that dilate blood vessels, which can lead to a painful throbbing headache. Foods such as hot dogs, cold cuts, salami, pastrami, sausages, and smoked meats and fish all contain nitrites. Processed and packaged foods are prevalent in our society. Be sure to read all food labels and scout out nitrites among the list of ingredients on all packaged food that you eat.

Citrus fruits have been implicated as a migraine food trigger. It is not known why citrus fruits trigger migraines, but it has been postulated that food sensitivity or allergy could be the cause.

Alcohol is another food trigger of migraine. Red wines, dark beers, brandy and champagne are the most likely to trigger a migraine. Interestingly, vodka and other clear alcoholic spirits are believed to have the lowest potential for triggering migraines. Although you may not get a headache every time you have a drink, it is best to avoid alcohol altogether if you do not want to suffer from an alcohol-induced migraine.

When you suffer from a migraine headache, be sure to record what foods you ate during the 48 hours before the headache.Constantly updating your migraine triggers diary will allow you to better identify migraine food triggers and curtail your intake of these foods.

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Migraine Headaches In Children

Migraine Headaches In Children

Migraine headaches in children can begin as young as three years of age. The prevalence of migraine ranges from 1% to 3% in children younger than age seven and up to 11% from age seven to puberty. Prior to puberty, migraine is more commonly seen in boys. This finding is reversed following puberty, when migraine predominates in girls.

The criteria for diagnosing migraine in children are very similar to those used in adults. However, the more atypical types of headache are more often seen in children. The headache need not last as long in a child as in an adult to warrant a diagnosis of migraine.

Migraine Symptoms In Children

Children may present with dizziness and vertigo with vomiting as a variant of migraine. These children may appear pale and unsteady. Intermittent abdominal pain that is without any other cause may also be a migraine variant. Abdominal migraines in children may be related to cyclical vomiting. All of these variants may occur in children of migraineurs, and these children may or may not go on to develop migraine with or without aura as teenagers or adults.

Other children may have primary eye manifestations of their migraine, with blurred vision and paralysis of the nerves and muscles controlling eye movements. In fact, children tend to manifest some of the more alarming variations of migraine, such as hemiparesis (weakness on one side of the body) and acute confusional state. It is important to rule out other more dangerous etiologies of these types of symptoms; if no other etiology is discovered, however, migraine may be diagnosis of exclusion.

Before prescribing migraine medications for children, it is important to understand the triggers and frequency of the headaches. This requires the effort to understand the home and school situation and any potential stressors as well as to obtain a careful family history.

 

Migraine Medications For Children

Migraine Relief For ChildrenMigraine medications for children is similar to that for adults, with perhaps a greater emphasis on the first-line use of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs). Triptans are often used in lower doses in the pediatric population. When these drugs have been studied in children, the appeared to have safety and efficacy profiles. Many pediatricians and pediatric neurologists are comfortable using them because NSAIDs are quite effective in providing migraine relief for children. Because many children experience abdominal symptoms with their migraines, antinausea medications – which help both the headache and nausea – are often prescribed.

Preventive medicines are given to children as well. These medications are generally the same as those given to adults. Commonly used medications include valproic acid (an anticonvulsant), amitriptyline (an antidepressant), and propranolol (a blood pressure medication which works as an antihypertensive). All of these medications are effective in preventing migraine in children. As with all medications given to children, dosages are adjusted to their size and age.

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The Changes In The Brain That Cause Migraine Headaches

The Changes In The Brain That Cause Migraine Headaches

Historically, it was believed that the pain of migraine headaches resulted from an expansion of the large blood vessels (vasodilation) supplying the brain. This expansion led to a stretching of the nerve fibers attached to these vessels, which led to the perception of pain. Migraine headaches treatments were aimed at constricting these blood vessels.

Experiments in the early 1990s showed that when these nerves are activated, they also release neurotransmitters that cause dilation and inflammation of blood vessels. This interaction between neurotransmitters and the blood vessels is felt to take place in the trigemino-vascular junction.

The nerve fibers that surround the blood vessels are branches of the trigeminal nerve. When they are activated, electrical impulses travel along the trigeminal nerve into the lower brain stem, which is the most primitive portion of the brain. The brain stem is only about the size of your thumb, but many functions take place in this area of the central nervous system.

The trigeminal nerve has three branches: the ophthalmic division, which supplies the area around the eye and the forehead; the maxillary division, which supplies the cheek and the upper jaw; and the mandibular division, which supplies the lower jaw. This information is then passed on to cells that also receive information from the head, face, scalp, sinuses and neck.


Migraine Headaches Symptoms

Migraine CausesOnce the cascade is started, migraine headache sufferers will experience migraine headaches symptoms such as neck pain, scalp tenderness, facial pain, eye swelling, tearing, and nasal dripping. Many scientists also believe that the neurons in the brain are hyper-excitable in between migraine attacks. This hyper-excitable state makes these cells more susceptible to the processes leading to a migraine headache.

The membranes surrounding these cells have microscopic channels through which electrolytes pass and to which neurotransmitters attach, leading to a series of chemical reactions. When these channels are abnormal, it is referred to as a channelopathy. Migraines may be a type of channelopathy.

These channelopathies make the neurons unstable and susceptible to spontaneous activation or dysfunction. If this dysfunction occurs on the surface of the brain, a slowly moving electrical “wave” may spread across the brain in what is referred to as spreading cortical depression. This is experienced as an aura migraine by many people.

A migraine with aura may be accompanied by flashing, jagged lights or migraine aura zig zag lines moving slowly across the field of vision. Cortical spreading depression is capable of activating trigeminal nerve fibers, a mechanism that explains why a migraine headache often occurs after the aura has started.

Many substances and receptors play roles in the propagation of a migraine. Calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP) is known to be released from trigeminal nerve endings during a migraine attack. This neurotransmitter is thought to be the main culprit in causing the dilation of blood vessels.

Among the most important receptors are the serotonin or 5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT) receptors that sit on the blood vessels and tips of the trigeminal nerve endings. Newer drugs used to treat migraine, known as triptans, specifically attach to these 5-HT receptors, leading to the constriction of blood vessels.

With a better understanding of the causes of migraine headaches, migraine headaches are now recognized as a neurological disease. This has resulted in more attention and resources being aimed at developing and advancing the treatment for migraine headaches.

For a better understanding of the chemical changes in the brain that cause migraines, watch the video below:

Jul 12, 2011 | 0 comments View Post
Causes Of Migraine Headaches

Causes Of Migraine Headaches

Migraine CausesNeurologists currently believe that migraine is actually a chronic disease with intermittent headaches that vary in their degree of pain and disability. The specific causes of migraine headaches are not known. It is generally thought that many factors come together to trigger a migraine attack.

Factors that trigger migraine may be stress or food related, hormonal, or environmental, among others. If your genetic make-up puts you more at risk for migraine, exposure to multiple triggers might lead to a migraine headache.

Exposure to migraine triggers is believed to activate the cranial nerves. Studies have shown that when nerves in the brain are activated, they release neurotransmitters that cause dilation and inflammation of blood vessels. This interaction between neurotransmitters and the blood vessels may cause a neurochemical cascade which in turn causes migraine headaches.

How To Identify What Causes Migraine Headaches

Initially, it may be difficult to identify the causes of migraine headaches. To identify what triggers your migraine headaches, you should first scan your environment and lifestyle for possible triggers. Observe if you have been deprived of sleep, if you have been drinking alcohol or eating certain foods which you know are likely to cause a headache.

Keep a record of every migraine. Make a special notation in your appointment book or agenda. Record events, foods, thoughts and feelings that occur with a migraine episode in a headache diary. See if you notice a pattern. Be sure to record also what you thought, felt or did during and after an attack to better understand your coping responses to migraines.

Keeping track of your migraines is useful both before you see a physician and afterward. Your headache diary will aid your physician in making a proper diagnosis. The information you update in your migraine headache diary will help you identify the possible causes of migraine headaches and help both you and your doctor tailor your lifestyle to avoid frequent headaches.

Jul 12, 2011 | 0 comments View Post
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