Unveiling the Root Causes of Migraines: Understanding Your Triggers

A migraine is a headache that often affects one side of the head and may be very painful, throbbing, or pulsating. It often comes with high sensitivity to light and sound as well as nausea and vomiting. The agony from a cause of migraine episode may be unbearable and linger anywhere from hours to days, making it difficult to go about your everyday activities.

A warning sign known as an aura may appear before or concurrently with the headache in some persons. Auras may include speech difficulties, tingling on one side of the face or in an arm or leg, as well as vision problems like light flashes or blind patches.

Some migraines may be prevented and made less painful with medication. The correct medications, together with self-help techniques and lifestyle modifications, may be helpful.

Symptoms

Children and teens may also have migraines, which can develop through four stages: prodrome, aura, attack, and post-drome. Not every migraine sufferer experiences each stage.

Prodrome

You may detect little alterations one or two days before to a migraine that indicate an impending migraine, such as:

• Constipation
• Mood swings between pleasure and sadness.
• Yearning for food.
• Stiff neck
• Increased urination
• Retention of fluid
• Usually yawning

Aura

Auras may happen before or during migraines for certain individuals. Auras are temporary nervous system symptoms. The majority of them are visual, but they may also include other disruptions. Each symptom often starts off mildly, intensifies over a few minutes, and lasts for up to 60 minutes.

Auras associated with migraines include:

• Visual phenomena including the perception of different forms, bright spots, or light flashes.
• Vision loss
• Leg or arm tingling or pins and needles
• Weakness or numbness on one side of the body, especially the face
• Difficulty speaking

Attack

If left untreated, a migraine often lasts 4 to 72 hours. Each person experiences migraines differently. Migraines might hit seldom or often each month.

Symptoms of a migraine include:

• Pain often on one side of the head, but frequently on both
• Discomfort with a throb or pulse
• Sensitivity to touch, scent, and sometimes light and sound
• Vomiting and nauseous

Post-drome

You can have post-migraine drowsiness, confusion, and fatigue for up to a day. Some individuals claim to feel happy. A sudden head movement might momentarily reactivate the discomfort.

When To See A Doctor

Frequently, migraines go unidentified and untreated. If you often have migraine symptoms, maintain a log of your attacks and the medications you used to manage them. then schedule a consultation with your doctor to talk about your headaches.

Visit your doctor if the pattern changes or your headaches start to feel different abruptly, even if you have a history of headaches.

If you have any of the following indications of a more severe medical condition, see your doctor right away or visit the emergency room:

• A sharp headache that hits you like a bolt of lightning.
• Symptoms of a stroke include a headache accompanied by fever, stiff neck, disorientation, convulsions, double vision, numbness or paralysis in any area of the body, and seizures.
• After a head injury, a headache
• A persistent headache that becomes worse when you cough, work up a sweat, strain, or make a sudden movement
• Beyond age 50, a new headache

Causes

Although the exact causes of migraines are still not known, genetics and environmental factors seem to be involved.

A significant pain route, the trigeminal nerve, and its interactions with the brainstem may play a role. The same may be said for chemical imbalances in the brain, such as serotonin, which helps your nervous system control pain.

Serotonin’s involvement in migraines is being researched. The neurotransmitter calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP) as well as other neurotransmitters are involved in migraine discomfort.

Headache Causes

There are several factors that might cause migraines, such as:

• Female hormonal changes. Many women tend to have headaches when their estrogen levels fluctuate, such as before or during menstrual periods, during pregnancy, or throughout menopause.
• Oral contraceptives are one example of a hormonal medicine that might make migraines worse. However, some women find that using these drugs reduces the frequency of their migraine attacks.
• Drinks. A lot of alcohol, particularly wine, and coffee, which is high in caffeine, are examples of these.
• Stress. Migraines may be triggered by stress at work or home.
• Sensory arousal. Loud noises and bright or flashing lights may also cause migraines. Some individuals have migraines when they are exposed to strong scents like perfume, paint thinner, secondhand smoke, and others.
• Sleep changes. For certain individuals, sleep deprivation or excessive sleep may cause migraines.
• Physical pain. Migraines may be brought on by vigorous physical activity, including sexual activity.
• Weather shifts. A migraine may be brought on by a change in the weather or barometric pressure.
• Medications. Vasodilators like nitroglycerin and oral contraceptives may make migraines worse.
• Foods. Migraines may be brought on by aged cheeses, salty meals, and processed foods. As well as missing meals.
• Additives in food. These include the food preservative monosodium glutamate (MSG) and the artificial sweetener aspartame.

Risk Factors

You are more likely to get migraines due to a number of reasons, including:

Family background. You have a high likelihood of getting migraines if you have a family member who does.

Age. Although they may start at any age, adolescents are often the first to experience migraines. The frequency and severity of migraines tend to peak in your 30s and progressively decline over the next decades.

Sex. Migraines are three times as common in women than in males.

Hormonal changes. Migraine sufferers may have headaches that start either before or soon after the start of their period. Additionally, they could alter with menopause or pregnancy. Following menopause, migraines usually become better.

Complications

Overusing painkillers might result in severe headaches from pharmaceutical misuse. Combinations of aspirin, acetaminophen (Tylenol, etc.), and coffee seem to carry the greatest danger. If you use triptans like sumatriptan (Imitrex, Tosymra), rizatriptan (Maxalt), or aspirin for more than nine days in a row, such as over the course of a month, you may have headaches from overuse.

When painkillers cease working as intended to reduce pain, headaches result. Following that, you take additional painkillers, which keeps the cycle going.

Diagnosis

A neurologist, a doctor who specializes in treating headaches, will likely make the diagnosis of migraines if you have migraines or a family history of migraines based on your medical history, your symptoms, and a physical and neurological examination.

The following tests to rule out alternative reasons of your pain might be performed if your condition is rare, complicated, or suddenly becomes severe:

• MRI imaging. A magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scan generates fine-grained pictures of the brain and blood arteries using radio waves and a strong magnetic field. MRI scans aid in the diagnosis of neurological diseases affecting the brain and nervous system, such as tumors, strokes, infections, and bleeding in the brain.
• CT imaging. A computerized tomography (CT) scan produces fine-grained cross-sectional pictures of the brain using a sequence of X-rays. This aids in the identification of tumors, infections, brain injury, brain hemorrhage, and other potential medical conditions that could be causing headaches.

Treatment

Treatment for migraines aims to reduce symptoms and guard against further episodes.

There are several drugs available to treat migraines. There are two major groups of medications used to treat migraines:

• Drugs that reduce pain. These medications, sometimes referred to as acute or abortive therapy, are administered during migraine episodes and are intended to halt symptoms.
• Preventative drugs. To lessen the intensity or frequency of migraines, several kinds of medications are often used daily.

Your options for therapy depend on your medical history, the frequency and intensity of your headaches, if you have nausea or vomiting when you have them, how incapacitating they are, and whether they are accompanied by other medical issues.

Medicines For Pain Alleviation

When administered at the earliest indication of an impending migraine — as soon as symptoms of a cause of migraine start — medications used to treat migraine pain perform at their best. The following medicines may be used to treat it:

• Drugs that reduce pain. Aspirin or ibuprofen (Advil, Motrin IB, other brands) are among these over-the-counter or prescription painkillers. These may result in headaches from prescription misuse if used for an extended period of time, as well as ulcers and gastrointestinal bleeding.
• Excedrin. Migraine is a kind of migraine drug that contains caffeine, aspirin, and acetaminophen. It may be effective, but often just for treating moderate migraine discomfort.
• Triptans. Because they block the brain’s pain pathways, prescription medications including sumatriptan (Imitrex, Tosymra) and rizatriptan (Maxalt, Maxalt-MLT) are used to treat migraines. They may ease a number of migraine symptoms whether taken as tablets, injections, or nasal sprays. For those at risk of a heart attack or stroke, they may not be secure.
• Dihydroergotamine (Trudhesa, Migranal). For migraines that often last longer than 24 hours, this medication, which is available as a nasal spray or injection, is best effective when administered soon after the onset of migraine symptoms. The nausea and vomiting that come with cause of migraine may become worse as a side effect. Avoid dihydroergotamine if you have kidney or liver disease, coronary artery disease, high blood pressure, or any of these conditions.
• Reyvow’s Lasmiditan. This more recent oral pill has been given the green light to treat cause of migraine with or without aura. Lasmiditan dramatically reduced headache pain during pharmacological studies. People using lasmiditan are advised not to drive or handle equipment for at least eight hours since it might have a sedative effect and induce dizziness.
• Gepants, or oral calcitonin gene-related peptide antagonists. Adults with migraines may take the oral gepants ubrogepant (Ubrelvy) and rimegepant (Nurtec ODT). In clinical studies, pain relief two hours after taking this class of medications was superior than placebo. Additionally, they were successful in reducing migraine side effects such nausea and sensitivity to light and sound. The usual adverse effects include excessive drowsiness, nausea, and dry mouth. When used with strong CYP3A4 inhibitor medications, such as certain cancer treatments, ubrogepant and rimegepant should not be utilised.
• Zavegepant for inhalation (Zavzpret). This nasal spray was just approved by the Food and Drug Administration to treat migraines. Only one migraine medication, Zavegepant, is a gepant and is available as a nasal spray. After taking a single dosage, it relieves cause of migraine discomfort between 15 minutes to 2 hours. For up to 48 hours after taking it, the drug keeps functioning. Additionally, it may lessen other migraine symptoms including nausea and sensitivity to light and sound. Changes in taste, nose discomfort, and throat irritation are typical Zavegepant adverse effects.
• Opioids. Narcotic opioid drugs may be useful for migraine sufferers who are unable to use other migraine treatments. These are often only used if no other therapies work since they may be quite addictive.
• Anti-nausea medication. If your cause of migraine with aura is accompanied by nausea and vomiting, these might be helpful. Chlorpromazine, metoclopramide (Gimoti, Reglan), and prochlorperazine (Compro, Compazine) are all anti-nausea medications. These are often used together with painkillers.

Some of these medicines should not be using while pregnant. Avoid using any of these drugs if you are pregnant or attempting to become pregnant without first consulting your healthcare professional.

Preventative Drugs

Drugs may lessen the frequency of cause of migraine attacks. If you get frequent, protracted, or severe headaches that don’t improve with therapy, your doctor may advise preventative drugs.

The goal of preventive medicine is to lessen the frequency, severity, and duration of migraine episodes. Options consist of:

• Medicines that reduce blood pressure. These include beta blockers like metoprolol (Lopressor) and propranolol (Inderal, InnoPran, Hemangeol). Verapamil (Verelan, Calan), a calcium channel blocker, may help avoid migraines with aura.
• Antidepressants. Amitriptyline, a tricyclic antidepressant, may stop migraines from occuring. Other antidepressants may be recommending in place of amitriptyline due to its adverse effects, which include tiredness.
• Medicines for seizures. If you get cause of migraine less often, valproate and topiramate (Topamax, Qudexy, other brands) may be helpful, but they can have adverse effects such as nausea, weight changes, and dizziness. Pregnant or attempting to become pregnant women should avoid using these drugs.
• Botox. For certain individuals, onabotulinumtoxinA (Botox) injections every 12 weeks may help avoid migraines.
• Monoclonal antibodies to calcitonin gene-related peptides (CGRP). Newer medications for the treatment of migraines include erenumab-aooe (Aimovig), fremanezumab-vfrm (Ajovy), galcanezumab-gnlm (Emgality), and eptinezumab-jjmr (Vyepti). They are injecting monthly or every three months. An injection site response is the most typical side effect.
• Qulipta’s Atogepant. This medication, a gepant, aids in migraine prevention. It is a daily pill given by mouth. Among the medication’s possible adverse effects include tiredness, constipation, and nausea.
• Nurectal (Rimegepant). This medication is distinctive since it is a gepant that not only alleviates migraine symptoms but also works to prevent them.

If you’re unsure about whether these drugs are suitable for you, ask your doctor. Some of these medicines should not be using while pregnant. Avoid using any of these drugs if you are pregnant or attempting to become pregnant without first seeing your doctor.