By Devin Kyle
A migraine is described as severe pain or pulsating feeling on the side of the head. It can induce nausea, sensitivity to environmental stimuli, and vomiting. Migraine attacks aren’t entirely life-threatening, but they’re a pain to deal with especially since it’ll leave you out of commission and unable to attend to work or holiday plans. Migraines can be easy to deal with if you’re familiar with its stages. Knowing your illnesses is an excellent way to prepare for them.
Migraine phases
The arrival of it is communicated through warning signs known as triggers that affect each person differently. To better equip yourself for dealing with the pain, you should know how to anticipate the phases of a migraine: the pro-drome, aura, attack, and post-drome.
- Pro-drome The pro-drome stage is experienced a few days before an attack. It can be highlighted by the feeling of constipation, stiffness of the neck or frequent mood changes.
- Aura stage. An aura can be compared to an initial shock before an earthquake hits. Auras are the response of your nervous system which signals to you that an attack is incoming. These symptoms are signifiers and can affect your sense of touch, smell, hearing, or all three. Muscle weakness is also a common aura response to migraines. These would start to build from roughly twenty minutes to an hour.
- Attack stage. The attack itself can last for up to three days if left untreated. Migraines aren’t a barrage of consistent waves of headaches but are more spontaneous and vary from person to person. The throbbing sensation could lead you to have blurry vision, a general feeling of being lightheaded, and sensitivity to the environment.
- Post-drome stage. After a migraine attack, you are left with the general feeling of being drained and will still be unable to perform tasks efficiently, but most of the pain has come and gone. Post-drome can last for up to a day, but after a few days of rest, you’ll be able to get back up on your feet.
Detecting your triggers
Triggers vary from person to person, and they can be crucial to avoiding the occurrence of migraines. Sources of triggers can be internal and external and natural.
Internal sources include hormonal changes in the body. Women are much more familiar with the threat of migraines as they can experience it before and during their monthly periods. Pregnant women also occasionally experience hormone imbalance that leads to frequent headaches. An unhealthy diet is also known to disrupt your physiological systems which could be a trigger for you. Excessive amounts of additives such as monosodium glutamate and aspartame in your body are well-known factors for food-related triggers in a person.
Environmental sources include electromagnetic frequency released by electronic gadgets. People who aren’t aware of EMF protection may have misattributed their migraines to overwork which is a different migraine trigger. Changes in the environment such as potent sources of light, loud noises, or even unpleasant smells can trigger a migraine.
Image: Pixabay.com
