What is the best treatment for migraine?

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What is a Migraine?

Usually characterised by a throbbing pain on one side of the head, a migraine is a moderate to severe headache. Additionally, a lot of people have symptoms like feeling or really being nauseous and heightened sensitivity to light or sound.

A frequent medical disease, migraine affects one in five women and one in every fifteen males. Early adulthood is typically when they start.

The majority of individuals discover that the best thing to do while suffering a migraine attack is to sleep or lie down in a darker place. Others discover that eating something beneficial, or they begin to feel better after being ill.

Symptoms

You could see one or two days before to experiencing a migraine:

  • A lot of yawning
  • Hunger pangs
  • Decreased appetite
  • Crankiness
  • A short depressive episode
  • Anxiety\Moodiness
  • Constipation
  • Rigid neck
  • You urinate more frequently and are thirstier

Aura

 A migraine with aura, often known as a classic migraine, is a chronic headache that develops after or concurrently with sensory abnormalities known as aura.

These signs and symptoms could appear just before or during a headache. Usually, they begin gently and increase. They often last 20 to 60 minutes. You may observe:

  • Unrealized noises being heard
  • On one side of your body, you feel weak or numb.
  • absence of vision
  • Visual signs like zigzag or wavy lines, flashing lights, or other such phenomena sometimes appear an hour or less before a headache begins.
  • feeling of pins and needles in the arm or leg
  • Problems speaking
  • Moves you're not in control of

Medications for relief

When taken as soon as migraine symptoms and indications first appear, medications used to treat migraine pain perform at their best. The following medicines can be used to treat it:

  • Medicines that reduce pain. Aspirin or ibuprofen are some of the over-the-counter or prescription painkillers available (Advil, Motrin IB, and others). These may result in headaches from pharmaceutical misuse, ulcers, and gastrointestinal bleeding when used over a lengthy period of time.
  • Excedrin Migraine is a kind of migraine drug that contains caffeine, aspirin, and acetaminophen. It may be effective, but generally just for mild migraine discomfort.
  • Triptan, Because they block pain pathways in the brain, prescription medications including sumatriptan (Imitrex, Tosymra) and rizatriptan (Maxalt, Maxalt-MLT) are used to treat migraines. They can ease a number of migraine symptoms whether taken as tablets, injections, or nasal sprays. For people at risk of a heart attack or stroke, they might not be secure.
  • Dihydroergotamine: This medication, which is available as a nasal spray or injection, works best when used soon after the onset of migraine symptoms, particularly for headaches that frequently last more than 24 hours. The nausea and vomiting that come with migraines may get worse as a side effect.

 

Therapy

  • Electrical stimulation of the nerves is known as transcutaneous supraorbital nerve stimulation (t-SNS) and is used to treat migraines.
  • Learning to Cope (LTC): Exposing yourself to stimuli gradually to lessen your sensitivity to them.

Diet

One may discover that altering their diet helps them avoid migraine attacks. This is because some meals may cause migraines in some people. Here are a few typical instances of meals that might cause migraines:

  • processed meats
  • alcohol
  • chocolate\caffeine

Choosing Migraine Surgery to Treat Your Migraines

Surgery for migraines is often performed as an outpatient and takes one to two hours to complete. It is given to patients while they are under local or general anaesthesia and frequently aids in lowering the frequency, duration, and severity of migraines.

A patient must be diagnosed with a chronic migraine by a neurologist and discover that their current treatments are either ineffective or have unbearable side effects in order to be a candidate for migraine surgery.

A patient may be an excellent candidate for migraine surgery if they respond well to Botox or other local anaesthetic injections.

The risks associated with migraine surgery are quite low. Near the treatment site, there may be a little amount of bruising and swelling, but these side effects usually go away two weeks after surgery.

After a migraine operation, patients can encounter bleeding, nerve difficulties, or challenges with wound healing. For up to three weeks after a migraine operation, a doctor could also advise a patient to refrain from doing any hard activity.

Prior to starting therapy, a doctor informs a patient about the potential adverse effects of migraine surgery and addresses any concerns they may have.

By doing this, a doctor assists a patient in deciding if migraine surgery is the best choice for relieving migraine symptoms.

Self-care

Always with your doctor and pharmacists before beginning any new regimen. 

  • Practice the proper sleep-wake cycle, eat your meals on schedule, and learn stress management.
  • Avoid physical laborious tasks, such as vigorous exercise.