Dealing With Headaches

The second most important things you can do to get treatment for migraines or headaches is to get properly diagnosed so you can get effective treatment. The first most important thing is to ask for help. Buut since headaches and migraines are often signs of so many conditions, it can be hard to narrow the diagnostis down. For one kind of migraine (a kind that apparantly doesn’t have it’s own name yet), the diagnostic process has just gotten easier.

In this kind of migraine, one side of the body becomes very weak. This obviously makes a person pretty helpless during attacks. Since this also happens to be a sign of epliepsy or stroke, most people with this severe kind of migraine are treated for epilepsy or a stroke instead of migraines.

Enter Genetic Test, Stage Right

Since both epliepsy and stroke are such severe conditions, a doctor will most likely go with the worst case scenario for a diagnosis with the patient’s life uppermost in the doctor’s mind. But at least a genetic test can now help the doctor get you the right treatment quicker.

The Lieden University Medical Centre in the Netherlands has discovered that this severe kind of migraine usually runs in families and therefore, all people in those families carry one of three specific genes. This test lets you know whether you have these genes or not.

The genes are (drumroll, please):

• CACNA1A
• ATPIA2
• SCN1A

More details than you ever wanted to know about the study and the findings are in the Dec 4 issue of Neurology.

Hope this helps. Now go look at some yummy Brad Pitt photos. Looking at Brad Pitt does help some people with migraines, although I have yet to find a clinical study on it. This needs looking into!

Abominal migraines are proof that the conventional medical profession really needs to start naming conditions more accurately. The word migraine implies head pain. This migraine is still in the head, not in the abdomen, but apparantly the pain is worse in the abdomen than in the head. These are really nasty experiences that you wouldwish on your worst enemies. Abdominal migraines are most common in children ages 5 - 9, but you never really outgrow them, do you, folks?

Where Is The Abdomen?

If you aren’t familiar with the word “abdomen”, don’t be embarrassed. Please never be afraid to ask any question of your health care professional or pharmacist. You need to understand what’s going on and where.

Anyway, the abdomen is a term meaning the entire belly area, pretty much from the bottom of your breasts to your pubic hair. This is a bit different from the abdomens in insects, but I do not know if insects can get abdominal migraines.

Symptoms

Your face turns a sickly pale (called “pallor”) often accompanied by dark shadows around the eyes. Some will not get pallor but will flush red, like when you have a fever. There’s not much pain in the head or eyes. The pain that’s taking up most of your attention is in your abdomen — your belly feels sore, you get very nauseated and usually vomit. Not suprisingly, you don’t have any appetite. This lasts from one hour to 72 hours.

Why Is This Linked With Migraines?

One of the reasons for the peculiar name is that is seems children with abdominal migraines grow up into adults with migraines (with or without auras). Treatments for migraine pain also seems to work on abdominal migraines, if the attacks are frequent.

There isn’t any one diagnostic test for abdominal migraine — your family medical history and other factors are taken into account. You might be tested for other consitions like irritable bowel syndrome, peptic ulcer, duodenal obstruction or Crohn’s Disease to rule them out, as the early signs for them feel much the same as abdominal migraines.

Although distressing, abdominal migraines usually aren’t dangerous. The sooner you can get a diagnosis, the sooner you can get treatment. Please don’t use this article in place of a doctor’s advice.

Hope this helps.

There’s positive things about headaches? Well, yes, in very few instances — and I don’t mean faking one to get out of a family reunion or other horrible event — a headache can be helpful. Since I am headache prone (I get both headaches and migraines — lucky me) I have learned to recognise what some of the pains mean.

I get a peculiar headache about 2pm if I forget to take my Prozac in the morning. Now, I need my Prozac, and the rest of Western civilization needs me to as well (just trust me on this one). Prozac helps me to eat regularly and sleep regularly, which has made a tremendous headway on my recurring endogenous depression (which used to be called clinical depression).

In other words, remembering to take my morning Prozac is pretty important. And yet, somehow, I manage to forget.

Headache To The Rescue!

I can’t be the only Prozac-taker who gets a mild pressure over my right eye as a reminder to take my Prozac. (”Yes, Rena, you ARE!”) Do you get any peculiar symptoms that means you forgot to take your vital medicine (or remind you to eat, which is a malady that befalls freelance writers and video game enthusiasts a lot)?

Getting a headache because you forgot to take your medicine is a form of rebound headache, whish means your body is going through a withdrawal symptom. Rebound headaches are very complex and will later get posts devoted just to them. but they are cureable.

And, in my case, occassionally helpful.

And…oh God…there’s that pressure over my right eye. I couldn’t have forgotten to take my pill AGAIN, could I?

I better go!

Caffeine withdrawal migraine is yet another item on the long list of proofs that life is not fair. Caffeine is found in deliscious beverages like tea, hot chocolate, fizzy soft drinks and that other popular drink coffee. Caffeine is also found in chocolate and in certain over the counter painkillers like Excedrin (America) and Panadol (England).

Caffeine is a natural substance tht occurs in some botanicals like Kola nuts, coffee beans and tea leaves. Even decaffinated coffee and black tea contains trace ammounts of caffeine. Some scientists think mankind began the love-hate relationship with caffeine during the Sone Age (or Stoned Age, whichever you prefer). Back then, our species needed any excuse to get out of a nice warm pile of leaves and face the rigourous tasks of survival. Not much has changed since then, has it?

Over The Counter Drugs With Caffeine

Monitoring your caffeine intake is very important to keep healthy — and to prevent caffeine withdrawal migraine. I nicked this list from this site.

OVER-THE-COUNTER PREPARATION CAFFEINE (mg) per tablet
Stimulants
NoDoz tablets 100
Vivarin tablets 200
Pain Relievers
Anacin 32
Excedrin 65
Excedrin P.M. 0
Midol 32
Vanquish 33
Cold Remedies
Coryban-D 30

This list is for American over the counter drugs — sadly, I could not find an equivelent for UK drugs. Basically, if it is listed as a painkiller, check the ingredients — odds are, there is some caffeine in it. It is usually mixed with paracetamol.

The Pain, Oh The Pain

Caffeine withdrawal migraines are right up there in the pain department with stomach flu. You shake, you’re dizzy, your eyes have the distinct sensation that they are leaking hot blood (even though they are not), you cannot tolerate light, you are incredibly nauseasted, vomiting, rib and abdomen pains, you can’t tolerate sounds, light or tastes — basically, you wish you were dead.

I get these is I do not have caffeine at least once every 21 hours. I used to be worse — I used to get them every 12 hours. Ironically, cutting down on caffeine gradually reduces the frequency of caffeine withdrawal migraines. I say ironically, because the fasted way to get is of a caffeine withdrawal migraine is — you guessed it — ingest some caffeine.

People have successfully gone off for three or four days incapacitated in bed until the symptoms ease off, as reported by best selling author, Dr. Andrew Weil, (who is from the Philadelphia area like myself). Afterwards, whenever a migraine seemed to come about, a quick cure was a cup of coffee.

Quite frankly, I’m too much of a wuss too purposefully face a few days in agony. So, I worked on cutting my caffeine consumption. Instead of taking two Excedrin pills, I take one. Instead of drinking the equivelent of three liters of Pepsi a day, I know only drink four or five cups of black tea.

Yes, this is very complicated issue!

Even though I love science-fiction, I highly doubt that reasonably intelligent alien life forms would have bugger all to do with human beings.

Well, until I have a migraine, that is.

Then, I can’t help but wonder if human migraines are some kind of alien plot to take over the planet through controlling NASCAR. No - no — hear me out. Aliens tend to show up where NASCAR fans live, right? But now NASCAR is spreading in popularity to the mainstream. Why is that? It’s not a sport and it wrecks what’s left of our enviornment. But yet migraines are prevelant — and so is NASCAR.

Aliens. It’s got to be aliens. Why they want this crappy little planet, I don’t know. I only started this conspiracy theory this morning so give me some time. There must be something that they want to harvest.

Migraines! That’s it! They get off seeing people bent double moaning with migraines. It’s their version of watching NASCAR or reality TV. They probably judge it with Olympic skating judge ratings. And some sort of alien TV producer is making zillions from the demand for more migraine people filled programs.

And how do we get migraines, then? Through all of those patches on the uniforms of NASCAR drivers and those stickers all over the cars. Watching a car go round and round puts all viewers in a hypnotic state and thus suseptable to alien suggestion to control our minds.

They’re up there now, over my home, up in their posh spacecraft, sipping alien beer and munching on earthly Cheese Puffs. “Hey, Zort, you wnat to see somthing funny?” says one.

“Sure,” says Zort.

So, the first alien pushes a button which triggers my head to go off and my stomach to do a complete somersault. They’re watching me and laughing their heads off.

At least now we know that our migraines entertain somebody.

On October 8, 2007, 18 year old college student Erica Oritz died in New York from bacterial menigitiscaught in the greater Boston area. Although menigitis is considered a disease affecting small children, it can happen at nearly any age. This is different from viral meningitis, which is the kind of meningitis usually talked about and normally is not lethal. One of the first signs is a killer headache very akin to migrain pain, but it comes with other signs such as a stiff neck, high fever, nausea, vomiting, sensitivity to light and red or purple blotches on the skin, especially from the trunk of the body on down.

How Do You Get It?

You have to contract bacterial meningitis from someone else, say through contact with saliva through kissing or sharing food or drink from the same plate or cup.

Onset of symptoms develop very quickly. They can all come in a several hours or two days.

Another one of the symptoms is perhaps the most dangerous — disorientation. The victim probably will not think much of the condition. If you notice it in a loved one — 911 time! (999 in England). If not treated, the victim will eventually go into seizures which eventually kill them.

You don’t need to panic and check everybody’s bellies for splotches. (”But, I feel fine!” “Show the belly NOW!”) Bacterial meningitis is quite rare, but since there have been cases on the East Coast this month, it might spread. Since the symptoms minic a bad migraine, you need to know the difference between a “mere” migraine and the definately lethal onset of bacterial meningitis.

Forewarned is forearmed.

Is It Treatable?

The early stages of bacterial meningitis can be sucessfully treated with a round of antibiotics, no matter what your age when you get it. You also might have had a vaccination for it, for check your medical records. There are a couple of kinds of bacterial strains responsible for bacterial meningitis. For some more information about bacterial meningitis and about the vaccines, click here. Some colleges and universities require all of their students to have such vaccinations before they are allowed to attend. College and university students and health care workers are thought to be the groups at highest risk.

Hope this helps.

Did you know that one of the least frequent signs of a sinus infection is pain in your upper teeth? The most common sign of a sinus infection is a massive headache, because the swollen sinus passages press against every single part of your body. Sinus headaches are not fun, but usually can be sucessfully treated. Toothaches, well, that’s another story.

If you have pain in your lower jaw or lower set of teeth, then I’m sorry to say that you do have a toothache and will have to go to a competant dentist. But if it’s pain in your upper teeth, or upper jaw, then there is a possibility that you might not have to go to the dentist (which is is good news for those terrified of dentists’ offices, like me.)

Signs of a Sinus Infection

You don’t have to think very long to determine whether you have a sinus infection or sinusitis. You will usually have a multitude of problems that all add up to you feeling absolutely miserable. You may have a few or all of the following signs and symptoms:

• A killer headache
• Very sore throat
• Constant stuffy and/or runny nose
• A constant trickle of mucus in the back of your throat, which leads to
• Persistant nausea and sometimes vomiting
• Since your taste buds are coated with mucus, most food will taste really peculiar
• Tenderness all about your face, making you very senitive to any kind of contact, even pleasant contacts like kissing, or sleeping on your side.
• Sore upper jaw or upper teeth

If you don’t have any other problems other than a toothache in the upper jaw, get to the dentist for X-rays. It could be an abcess, peridontal disease or a result of you grinding your teeth in your sleep (which often happens to those experiencing caffeine withdrawal).

What To Do

If you’ve never had sinusitis before, you really should go to the doctor for a proper diagnosis and also to see if you need perscription medicines. If, however, sinusitis visits you on a regular basics, you learn how to self-medicate. By treating the sinusitis, you treat the sinus headache and the upper toothache(s).

Self-medications include steam inhalations, drinking plenty of clear fluids (not dehydrating beverages like coffee or alcohol), over the counter decongestants and rest. Rest could include watching television that doesn’t make you think, but distracts you from the pain.

Could You Have Both?

There is a very slight chance that you could have both a sinus infection and a toothache. Not fair, is it? Misery should only be confined to one body part at a time. But, as noted many times in this blog, life is rarely fair. However, both sinus infections (including sinus headaches) and pain in the upper jaw or teeth are treatable, and sometimes you get access to amazing (and legal) painkillers.

Hope this helps.

Doctors and other medical sundries have been quibbling for years whether a persistant headache (not migraine) was a sign of high blood pressure. A 2002 report insists that there is no link between a constant headache and high blood pressure. However, the American Heart Association says that high blood pressure medication can, as a side effect, help ease headaches, if not prevent them.

Although it seems high blood pressure is not the main culprit of persistant headaches, the National Headache Center reports that often a blood pressure of 200/110 or higher will precede a headache. Considering that a normal blood pressure reading is 120/80, be thankful a headache is all you get.

What Does This Mean?

Well, this means several things. First off, everyone should get their blood pressure checked whether they get headaches or not. Secondly, if you do have high blood pressure or hypertension, you might as a benefit have your headaches prevented by your new medications. And thirdly, DON’T take high blood pressure medication just to see what it does to your headaches. These medications include beta blockers and calcium channel blockers.

The best news is that there is always hope, no matter how long you have headaches, in any avenue of healing.

Just for the record, I happen to have low blood pressure — and I get several kinds of headaches as well as migraines. So taking any medications for me to lower my blood pressure would be very dangerous.

And as usual, this article is not to be taken as a replacement for a doctor’s advice. So use your head.

Hope this helps.

The two most prominant times to get migraines are Monday morning and, beleive it or not, Friday night, as mentioned here is a BBC report on migraines. This happens mainly to people who work the traditional Monday-Friday gig. Why do people get migraines at a time when they are usually relaxing?

Sometimes Stress Is Good

Remember the movie The Blues Brothers? Specifically, their ex-cop car? It did all sorts of incredible cross-country stunts and only fell apart when it didn’t have to go anywhere any more. This is very much what happens to those with Friday night migraines, or who get migraines when everything has come out for the best after a bad patch.

Say you’d been under a lot of stress becuase of the work week. You survived the week, and now can kick back. Your body has been stressed out for five days and in a constant fight-or-flight mode. Now, suddenly, all the stress is over. It’s as if the body can’t beleive it and has a Friday night migraine in order to compensate.

Treatment

Sometimes Friday night migraines are called “weekend migraines”. Treatment does not mean being stressed all of the time — that would lead to other dangerous health issues. What you need to do is see what your Friday night routine is. Do you stay up really late, hit the booze and party or perhaps eat a lot of really fattening food? The triggers for the weekend migraines might actually be the sudden change in sleeping and eating pattens and not just because you are relaxing.

Treating a weekend migraine is the same as treating any migraine — do whatever it takes to get rid of the pain. If you consistently get Friday night migraines, then perhaps you should take any migraine medicine before you even leave work. And try to keep to your usual sleep schedule — it’ll be less of a shock to your body.

Hope this helps. And good luck this weekend, everyone!

Getting a concussion will definately give you a headache. Not only headache, but often dizziness, extreme confusion, sudden sleepiness and nausea. This is a serious head pain condition. Most concussions do get better on their own — provided the patient rests — but sometimes a concussion is the warning sign that there is more serious damage to the head.

What Is A Concussion?

A concussion is a head injury where some other object clonks into your head. In a famous and beloved episode of M*A*S*H, Hawkeye get s concussion from having his jeep overturn. Falling onto the road gave him the concussion. He then is taken in by a Korean family that can’t understand a word he says.

One thing Hawkeye says is that he is scared of falling asleep because he knows he has a concussion. This is actually an irrational fear — but one you’ll probably have. But sleeping is actually one of the best things you can do (provided it’s safe for you to nap where you are). The body often seems to reapir itself when you sleep.

My Last Concussion

Unfortunately, becuase I’m partially blind, I’ve had more concussions than I can remember…uhh, probably because I’ve more concussions than I can remember. My latest misadventure was when I was working at a *a-hem* famous department store. They had a T-shirt display that I accidentally walked directly into. I was told the blow spun me in a half circle, and shoppers in the entire department heard the CLONK. I was also told me face went chalk white.

I had quite a red mark on the left side of my forehead. I was shaky and suddenly groggy…and quite embarrassed. That display had been there for months and I was the first person to walk right into it.

I was given an ice pack and my lunch break, and was able to eat. However, I then nearly fainted and couldn’t figure out what was going on. The human resources manager called the ambulance, which was the best thing she could’ve done. Then she called to have the T-shirt display removed.

I was given x-rays and then told all I had to do was stay in bed for a week. What do you know — it worked.

Concussion First Aid

Rest, ice packs to the area of impact and painkillers (but NOT aspirin! — it could make your head more prone to bleed.) Ibuprophen and acetominophen are OK.

Repeat as necessary.

When To Go To Hospital

Any child getting a concussion and then passes out should go to the hospital immediately.

If you still aren’t feeling any better after an hour, get an ambulance. Don’t drive yourself!

You should call an ambulance for yourself or anyone else with a concussion if there are:

• Siezures (Something has definatley been injured badly)
• Vomiting or extreme nausea
• Dizziness or vertigo (vertigo is when the room keeps spinning)
• Ringing in the ears or any sudden hearing loss
• Sudden loss of memory
• Hallucinations
• Sudden loss of smell
• Sudden loss of taste

You need to go for x-rays (at least) to determine that there isn’t a fracture in the skull. Often, you’ll need a CAT scan, especially if you are under 16, can’t recall getting clonked on the head, had the concussion as a result of a motorcycle accident or fell at a height of more than three feet. The doctor may admidt you to the hospital overnight, where you are checked every two hours to see if you can wake up and remember who and where you are.

Personally, I cannot remember what machine my head was stuck into. All I know was that I was there in the emergency room for ten hours. But it could’ve been much worse.

Hope this helps.

When you have to get up, you have to get up, whether for work, school, emptying your bladder or taking the dog out to empty his or her bladder. You might not consider yourself a morning person. One of these reasons may be because you tend to gt headaches in the morning. They’re not as bad as migraines, cluster headaches or getting hit in the head with a sledgehammer headache, but they are pretty painful and can definately get the work week off to a bad start.

Well, you are not alone. This kind of headache has a name — chronic morning headache. And if it has a name, then many people must suffer from it. Correct. According to a 2004 European study, 1 in 13 people have chronic morning headache. The two groups most affected were women and anybody in the age group 45-64.

What’s Up With That?

At first, it was thought that chronic morning headache was from such sleep disorders as grinding your teeth, night terrors (where you act out your bad dreams) or sleep apnea. But in this 2004 study of over 19,000 European volunteers, most of those afflicted with chronic morning headache also had some form of depression.

Depression’s worst symptoms can often hit especially bad in the morning. Not all of those diagnosed with depression will get chronic morning headaches (some feel worse in the evening and adore the mornings) but if have chronic morning headaches, be really honest with yourself that you might have depression. The disease depression (also called major depression or clinical depression) can often manifest in strange physical symptoms. At the very least, get your blood pressure checked.

If you are daignosed with depression or high blood pressure, there are many medications and diet changes you can do to help ease not only your overall condition, but your severity and number of headaches in the monring.

What If You’re Not Depressed

There are other reasons that you may be getting chronic morning headache other than depression, high blood pressure or sleep disorders. Headaches — even to the point of migraines — are a main withdrawal symptom from caffeine. The easiest way to diagnose if you have a caffeine dependency is to, on your day off, not touch anything with caffeine in it for 24 hours. That means no coffe, no soda, no tea (except herbal) and no chocolate. If you get a migraine then BINGO you have discovered you are caffeine dependent and need to start reducing your caffeine intake.

The National Headache Foundation also has this information about some of the physical changes that may be goin on when you wake up:

Between about 4 AM and 8 AM, the body tends to produce less of its natural painkillers, the endorphins and enkephalins, than at other times of the day. Adrenalin is released in larger quantities during the early morning hours. Since adrenalin affects blood pressure and the regulation of dilation or contraction of the blood vessels, it may play a role in migraine attacks.

Rarely, serious diseases may cause early morning awakening headaches. These diseases may include brain tumors, sleep apnea, and severe high blood pressure.

Treatment

If you have morning headaches for over 15 days in a row, congradulations, you have chronic morning headache. Since we have seen that there are so many possible sources for chronic morning headaches, you need to get a proper diagnosis in order to be able to treat them. The good news is that they are treatable, since they do seem to be a part of an overall health problem rather than just a mysterious pain in the brain. Many people — especially if they are caffeine dependant — find that first cup of coffee gets rid of the headache for that morning. Some people also get relief from over the counter medications targeted for tension headaches.

Hope this helps. And happy Labor Day.

You can more than one kind of headache. You can even get migraines and different kinds of headaches, although they usually don’t hit simultaneously. You either get one or the other. One of the kinds of headaches I get is when the barometer pressure drops. For some reason, I get a “weather headache”, usually referred to as barometric pressure headache. Whenever I get it, I know there will be rain soon.

Folk Sayings

Long ago, when we lived more closely with nature, a rainy day meant a lot more than it does now. To be able to forecast the weather was a tremendous blessing. However, it was not always a blessing for those doing the forecasting. In one old Eglish folk poem, called “Old Betty’s Joints” (sometimes called “Signs of Rain”), Old Betty must’ve hated her job as family weather forcaster:

That’s a pretty accurate description of what my “weather headaches” feel like — even my feet hurt. My Mom’s arthritis acts up and we know that at least a heavy cloud system is on it’s way, if not actual rain.

It makes me wonder if cavemen noticed this. “Ooo –whenever Og has a headache, it rains. We need rain. So, let’s give Og a headache!” Times must’ve been really tough for a headache prone person then.

Recent Studies

In a clinical study done at Jefferson university in Philadelphia, 75% of those prone to migraines also got barometric pressure headache. Individuals with anxiety issues also were more prone to barometric pressure headache.

Another earlier study done in 1981 thought that a variety of weather factors had to be in place before you get a weather headache. Perhaps the barometic pressure drops, but also the humidity is high. Or perhaps the barometric pressure drops and it’s time for a woman to have her period. There does not seem to be a definate cause for barometric pressure headache, despite the name.

But it does seem that those prone to migraines were also more prone to having barometric pressure headaches.

What Can Be Done

Once again, the best advice for those with any kind of headache, let alone barometric pressure headache, is to keep a headache journal. If you’re like me, whenever the clouds gather is when I can expect a headache to form on my immediate horizon. But for many others, they might find that they need other circumstances to happen, such as what temperature it is, what they’ve eaten that day or even how much sleep they’ve gotten the night before. By keeping a headache journal, you can determine quickly when to worry and when to not worry if you see a cloud in the sky.

In my case, for example, when the clouds gather, I know that I have less than a half hour to take an Excedrin. If I can’t get to the Excedrin in time, I’ll have to spend at least two hours lying down in a dark room with my eyes covered. This way, I can mostly cut the headache off at the pass.

And, as always, this article is not meant to substitute for medical advice. If you get any kind of headache or migraine, talk to your doctor.

Hope this helps.

If you are pregnant or live with someone who is pregnant and they get a headache, you just can’t reach for an aspirin. Most perscription and over the counter drugs have been known to cause birth defects or cause premature birth. But, unfortunately, the body doesn’t care. What to do when the expectant Mommy (or Mummy) has a headache?

Try To Avoid Pills

The first trimester is usually the time of the most headaches during pregnancy, which is fortunate in some ways as this is the time when your baby is pretty firmly anchored in there.

It is still recommended to avoid medications, but if if you really can’t stand it, then acetaminophen is safer than aspirin. Take just one pill — that might be all you need. If you have a history of migraines, you need to talk to your doctor. There might be painkillers with added narcotics to help you. But that is best determined by your doctor.

Other things you can do:

• ice packs on the head
• accupressure
• armoatherapy: massaging your temples with lavender oil blended with a carrier oil and resting can help ease the pain. Lavender is one of the most gentle oils on the market. There is no general consensus among doctors, aromatherapists and pregnant women if lavender oil is safe after the second trimester.
• shoulder massage: you don’t need any particular massage technique. You just need a freindly rub of your neck and shoulders.

Prevention

It’s easier to prevent a headache during pregnancy than to cure one you already have. Here are some suggestions taken from this article:

• Keep active: some gentle doctor approved excericises keep the body in balance and is thought to prevent headaches during pregnancy. Types of gentle excercise include some of the postures in yoga, walking, swimming and tai chi.
• Avoid all alcoholic beverages, which you should be doing anyway. Now you have two reasons for abstinence.
• Keep your posture as good as possible,which helps ease tension-related headaches
• Eat a healthy, balanced diet instead of relying on super fatty foods loaded with preservatives and sugars.

One Last Hint

I’ve talked with some women who recommend plenty of orgasms during pregnancy. This relaxed them totally. Since I’ve never been pregnant, I’ve never personally tried this. You might want to talk to your doctor (in private) before experimenting with this form of pregnancy headache treatment!

Migraines without headache? Isn’t that a bit like salt without sodium? Doesn’t one mean you have to have other? Apparrantly not. Although at first migraines without headache sounds like a great thing to have, people who do experience this rather bizarre phenomenon usually have a long, painful history of migraines with headaches.

So, What Is It?

Migraines without headache is when you have an aura, but then never actually get the head pain. Auras are dicussed in detail here in a previous post. The technical name for heache-free migraines are acephalgic migraine or silent migraines and thought to only affect about 3 - 20% of people with migraines (with and without auras), depending on what doctor or neurologist you talk to.

Is It Serious?

Unfortunately, yes. People with silent migraines often have not only extremely loud migraines, but often problems with vertigo, dizziness and a lot of visual hallucinations. These can sometimes be accompained by confusion and nausea. Since migraine head pain seems to end an aura, without having the horrible head pain, you wind up continuing your horrible aura. The length of time for an aura seems to differ with each person. If you have auras with or without migraines, you need to be checked out by a doctor. You might need tests like an MRI just to be sure the silent migraines aren’t signs of anything more serious, such as eye problems or seizure disorders. You will be asked about the medical history of your family, too, to help in a proper diagnosis.

It’s never easy, is it?

Treatment

Even if you don’t get headache pain, if you get an aura, it it often recommended to take medication anyway, if your doctor approves. May of the medicines available to treat silent migraines are NSAIDs, anti-nausea medications and Midrin, which contains acetaminophen.

Hope this helps.

Perhaps “auras” is a misleading name. When most people hear the word “auras”, they think of various halo-like colors around the head or body, maybe even the images from Kirlian photography. But if you have migraines, “auras” take on a whole new meaning.

What Are They?

Auras usually are a visual hallucination of some sort. This warns the migrane sufferer that a migraine is on the way. The most common auras are flashes or huge wiggly shining shapes. When I had my first aura, it looked as if the lower half of my left eyeball was under water. I had no idea what was going on, until my first migraine hit full force. Then, the aura was gone, but I had a lot more to worry about.

Some people don’t get shining shapes or the illusion that they are partially under water. Some people’s vision blacks out or clouds substantiably. Whatever form it takes, the migraine aura is impossible to ignore.

The aura itself usually isn’t painful — it’s just very strange and even disorienting. It can happen about ten to fifteen minutes before the migraine pain first collides into your consciousness. You can use the aura as a warning that a migraine is coming and can either take preventative medicine or dive for cover.

Very rarely, the aura isn’t visual. It manifests as a loud sudden ringing in the ears. It can also effect your sense of balance, making you very dizzy, even if you don;t have any ringing ears or hallucinations. Some people even have a sudden difficulty speaking or even experience partial facial paralysis (parasthesia).

Why Do Auras Happen?

Auras only happen to about 15% of migraine sufferers. And they do not occur for every migraine of your life. You can have auras before migraines for years, and then they’ll just suddenly stop. You could spend all of the migraines in your life completely aura-free.

It is not known for sure why auras happen. Although it is thought that the eyes are only sometimes effected by chemical changes in the brain going on that fires the brain into migraine pain, why it happens only some of the time is unclear.

One of the theories is that migraine auras are caused by slow wave elctrical impulses that creep across the brain, causing general mayhem in the senses. Then, after being barrages by these impulses, the brain areas then go through a long period of being unusually still. It is thought that the back of the brain controls our vision, so any electrical impulse waves going across the back of the brain will screw up your eyesight. Could the flashing or blurry hallucinations actually be of an electrical impulse? Who knows?

Hope this helps.