HEADACHE-MIGRAINE

Migraine is not just a severe headache, but it’s a result of specific physiologic changes in the brain. Beside the headache there are many associated symptoms such as: sensitivity to light, sound and smells, nausea, vomiting. Usually the pain is unilateral on the one side of the head.

Migraine with aura is a term for migraine with specific warning symptoms. These symptoms can be blind spot in one eye, flashing lights or numbness of the one side of the body.  The aura lasts until the headache begins or may last until the end of the headache.

 It’s thought that the main reasons  for migraine are the changes of some neurotransmitters (hormone like substances that send messages between brain cells). There are many triggers for this condition such as normal hormone fluctuations( regular menstrual cycles, oral contraceptive(birth pills) ), some food such as red wine, chocolate, aged cheese, stress, oversleeping, changes in barometric pressure can lead to migraine.

The treatment depends of the type of migraine. The usually drugs are: ibuprofen, acetaminophen, triptans (sumatriptan, almotriptan, eletriptan can be very effective). Very important for the therapy are: the age, sex, blood pressure of the patients. In the therapy may be included antidepressant medications, anti-seizure medications, blood pressure medications and magnesium, butterbur, riboflavin. Some patients with very frequent headaches( more than 15 per month) might benefit from botox injections.