Migraine: what you need to know if the aching head
Health / / December 19, 2019
Every seventh person knows very well in the world, that is a migraine. The symptoms described even by the ancient Greeks. They are, incidentally, blamed the disease of evil spirits and tried to drive them out of his head, making a hole in the skull. Now we know about migraine is not much more, but it began to be treated humanely.
What is a migraine?
Migraine - a hereditary disease whose main symptom - a throbbing pain in my head. Sometimes the pain is connected nausea and sensitivity of hearing and vision: the usual sounds and soft light seem harsh, irritating.
Sometimes a migraine is signaled neurological disorders: dizziness, temporary blurred vision, lethargy.
Some types of migraines (for example, hemiplegic, whereby a feeling of weakness in one half of the body) caused by a mutation in a single gene. Because of it, people predisposed to hyperactivity of neurons. This means that parts of the brain that are responsible for the processing of sensory stimuli, easily excited.
But most forms of migraine polygenic, that is, over the disease run for a few genes. Migraine depends on external stimuli: hunger, lack of sleep, feelings.
Scientists are more versed in neurological processes, but some parts of the puzzle are already forming into a meaningful picture. For example, new medications that inhibit expansion vessels - one of the causes of migraine.
Why, no one knows where it come from?
Scientists have only recently took up the study of migraine. Many doctors believed and believe that it is a psychosomatic illness that appears in anxious people are not able to cope with stress, more often affects women than men. So it is not treated seriously.
In addition, the main symptom of migraine - pain, but it is a subjective feeling. Its nothing to measure, so people find it difficult to believe that it exists at all. In addition, the attack begins and tested, and in between, a person looks healthy.
Migraine generally began to study in 1960, due to market product "methysergide". It was used to prevent recurrent attacks. medicine is not used now because of serious side effects, but it has helped to study the disease. The causes of migraine are no longer sought in psychology, because the physiological study found.
Many medicines. Migraine is widespread, lasting for years - is a gold mine for pharmaceutical companies. And drug companies continue to fund research. But not enough, especially if you compare how much money is allocated for other diseases.
Migraine affects only women?
Migraine affects both sexes, but the statistics show that women are more likely to collide with it. Migraine affects up to 30% of all people in the world, women - about three times more often than men.
Scientists suspect that the blame hormones of the menstrual cycle. The sharp fall in estrogen and progesterone in the late phase of the cycle provoke migraine. As we age, hormones become smaller, their level does not jump, so during menopause migraine weaken and tested.
Women more often diagnosed with migraine, because they are increasingly turning to the doctor complaining of headaches. Some studies show that men put other diagnoses the symptoms of migraine. It is the fault of doctors, who do not see the real reason for the patient's complaints.
I have a migraine. What to do?
To begin to see a doctor and to specify the diagnosis: not all headache, even a strong - a migraine. The doctor will help find drugs that alleviate suffering, and for the prevention of attacks, such as antidepressants.
Then you need to figure out what triggers an attack, that is, to understand what are your migraine triggers. The most common:
- stress;
- lack of sleep;
- some foods: chocolate, sugar, coffee, salty, cheese, meat;
- alcohol;
- sharp odors, sounds, lights;
- too high physical activity;
- changes in the weather.
Try these triggers to exclude from life. can not rule out - get ready. If you feel a migraine approaching, do not wait until the pain will not move, and immediately take a drug that is advised by the doctor. Try a couple of hours in a quiet place to hide and rest. If you make it in time, the migraine can retreat. It is better for a short while to break away from business than to suffer and fall down with a bout of pain, which can last several days.
If the attack does occur, try to experience it in comfort: in peace and tranquility, with tea in bed. Spend any procedures that help you: Make a cold compress on the forehead, a massage, take a bath.
Head ever stop hurting?
Perhaps, in the elderly. Migraine is rampant among people 30-40 years old, when a man on the peak of productivity. In Europe, this is one of the most common reasons that people miss work. But with age, migraine weakens.
In clinical practice older people rarely complain about the same strong attacks, as a young man. There are exceptions but they are rare.
It is believed that the processes leading to migraine, occur in the elderly is not as intense. walls of blood vessels lose their elasticity, so the attacks due to vascular disorders are not as sharp.
How to get rid of the attacks?
Typically prescribed drugs from the group of triptans. However, 30-40% of patients, they do not work, especially if you are registered for the first time and the patient has not yet found a drug from the group. In addition, triptans slowly relieve pain. To the drug to work, you need 45-90 minutes. Those whom triptans are not helping at all, few options. New drugs for migraine did not develop from the 90s, and other painkillers little help with attacks.
On patients with chronic migraine (who suffers more than 15 days per month) drugs are weak, but it can cause a variety of side effects: dizziness, confusion, mood swings.
Most drugs do not come up with for the treatment of migraine. They were created to help patients with epilepsy or depressionAnd then it turned out that these drugs help and migraines.
When will learn to treat migraine?
It is unknown. Pharmaceutical companies are looking for drugs that can prevent the pain.
It was found that the neurotransmitter levels of CGRP, which dilates blood vessels, increases sharply during a migraine attack. Trials are antagonists of CGRP-receptor that can block it. While the drug is tested in the form of injections to be administered once a month. The medicine does not eliminate completely from migraine attacks but frequency decreases: patients who suffered by 18 days a month, began to hurt at 6.6 days less (those who used the placebo became ill on day 4 less).
But here is not all rosy: This medicine is only for half of the patients, and predict, will give you an injection or not, has not yet happened. Yes, and it is unclear what long-term effects in blocking the neurotransmitter.
So too early to rejoice. New drugs are expensive, their side effects are not well understood. Maybe we are waiting for, and a breakthrough, but hard to say when you find a remedy for migraine.