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More than 28 million Americans three times more women than men suffer from migraine headaches, a type of headache that's often severe. Migraine is a form of headache which is severe and usually one sided, frequently associated with nausea and vomiting. Migraine is three times more common in women than in men. Some individuals can predict the onset of a migraine because it is preceded by an "aura," visual disturbances that appear as flashing lights, zig-zag lines or a temporary loss of vision. Migraine pain can be excruciating and may incapacitate you for hours or even days. Migraine attacks commonly activate the sympathetic nervous system in the body. The increased sympathetic nervous activity in the intestine causes nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea . The sympathetic nervous system is often thought of as the part of the nervous system that controls primitive responses to stress and pain, the so-called "fight or flight" response. Sympathetic activity also delays emptying of the stomach into the small intestine and thereby prevents oral medications from entering the intestine and being absorbed. For many years, scientists believed that migraines were linked to the dilation and constriction of blood vessels in the head. Investigators now believe that migraine is caused by inherited abnormalities in genes that control the activities of certain cell populations in the brain. Although there's still no cure, medications can help reduce the frequency of migraine headaches and stop the pain once it has started. The right medicines combined with self-help remedies and changes in lifestyle may make a tremendous difference for you.

The pain of a migraine headache is often described as an intense pulsing or throbbing pain in one area of the head. Migraine headaches usually involve one side of the head. Migraine headache is caused by a combination of vasodilatation (enlargement of blood vessels) and the release of chemicals from nerve fibers that coil around the blood vessels. In some cases, these painful headaches are preceded or accompanied by a sensory warning sign (aura), such as flashes of light, blind spots or tingling in your arm or leg. Other symptoms, together known as an aura, may also occur before a migraine headache , or they may begin when the headache starts. Fortunately, management of migraine headache pain has improved dramatically in the last decade. If you've seen a doctor in the past and had no success, it's time to make another appointment. People with migraine tend to have recurring attacks triggered by a lack of food or sleep, exposure to light, or hormonal irregularities (only in women). Anxiety, stress, or relaxation after stress can also be triggers. Some people do experience a variety of vague symptoms before common migraines - mental fuzziness, mood changes, fatigue, and unusual retention of fluid. The increased sympathetic activity also decreases the circulation of blood, and this leads to pallor of the skin as well as cold hands and feet. The increased sympathetic activity also contributes to the sensitivity to light and sound sensitivity as well as blurred vision.

	Migraine Basics			Migraine Types			Migraine Treatment
		Migraine Causes Migraine Symptoms			Basilar Artery Migraine Ophthalmoplegic Migraine Stautus Migraine			Migraine Treatment

Causes of Migraine

The common Causes of Migraine :

• Foods, eg caffeine, cheese, chocolate, red wine.
• Head trauma.
• Smoking .
• Physical exertion or fatigue.
• Medications (ie, birth control pills, vasodilators).
• Fatigue or emotional stress.
• Specific foods or alcohol .
• Metabolic or infectious diseases.
• Motion sickness .
• Exposure to bright or fluorescent lighting .

Symptoms of Migraine

Some common Symptoms of Migraine :

• Nausea and vomiting, stomach upset, abdominal pain .
• Sensitivity to light, noise, and odors.
• Head pain with a pulsating or throbbing quality.
• Constipation or diarrhea .
• Anorexia (diminished appetite, aversion to food).
• Fatigue.
• Loss of appetite .
• Dizziness.
• Pain that worsens with physical activity.

Treatment of Migraine

Some effective treatment methods of Migraine are :

• Sometimes bathing your head in cold water or using a cold compress on the forehead is helpful.
• Migraine-specific medications and analgesia are the keys of ED care.
• Triptans like sumatriptan (Imitrex), rizatriptan (Maxalt), almotriptan (Axert), frovatriptan (Frova), and zolmitriptan (Zomig); these are available as a tablet, nasal spray, or self-administered injection .
• Your doctor may prescribe something along the lines of the above, or possibly one of the more modern specific antimigraine treatments, which work on one of the chemical pathways in the brain.
• Sometimes relaxation and meditation techniques may be helpful as may some of the complementary therapies.
• However, since these medications seldom completely banish attacks an acute treatment should be close to hand to treat those attacks that still occur.
• At the first symptom of an attack take a pain killer eg aspirin or paracetamol, even if this means waking yourself up when you notice symptoms while half asleep in the early hours of the morning. (Often by getting up time it is too late to abort the attack.)
• Some patients find cool compresses to painful areas helpful.
• If the attacks are frequent and disruptive, then your doctor may prescribe a drug to be taken daily as a preventative.