The word ‘headache’ often doesn’t do justice to the debilitating experience of a migraine. They are more than just simple pain in the head. Instead, they are complex neurological diseases that can bring your daily life to a halt. Migraines are often accompanied by intense throbbing pain, nausea, and sensitivity to light.
Eastshore Healthcare understands the pain and offers a holistic approach to pain management beyond symptom relief. Our team is skilled and experienced in making accurate diagnoses, which allows us to deliver effective treatment for migraine attacks.
Don’t let migraines stop you from doing the things you love Contact our office to discover our all-natural treatments for migraine relief Call today(717) 652-5550
Types of migraines
Migraines, debilitating headaches with a broad spectrum of symptoms, manifest in several distinct types. From the visually disruptive Migraine with Aura, which precedes pain with sensory disturbances, to the sudden onset of the Common Migraine without any warning, the diversity of this condition is vast.
Other notable forms include the Silent Migraine, characterized by aura symptoms without head pain, the Hemiplegic Migraine causing temporary one-sided paralysis, the vision-impacting Ocular Migraine, frequent Chronic Migraines, and Menstrual Migraines which are closely tied to the menstrual cycle.
Each type presents its unique challenges and understanding them is crucial for effective treatment of migraines.
- Migraine with aura: Approximately 20% of people who suffer migraine headaches get an aura.
- Common migraine (migraine without aura): These severe headaches occur without warning. The symptoms are similar to migraines with aura, but the aura phase is skipped.
- Silent migraines: These are migraine headaches that don’t come with head pain. You’ll experience aura symptoms without the headache.
- Hemiplegic migraine: This is the type of headache that causes temporary paralysis or neurological changes on one side of the body. The start of the headache can be accompanied by changes in vision, dizziness, or a tingling sensation.
- Ocular or retinal migraine: It causes complete, partial, or temporary loss of vision in one eye. You may also experience a dull ache behind the eye, which spreads to the rest of the head. The vision loss may last for a minute or several months.
- Chronic migraine: Migraines are categorized as chronic when they happen at least 15 times a month.
- Menstrual migraines: These are headaches that are linked to the menstrual cycle. They occur two days before the period starts.
Symptoms of migraines
Migraine headaches are primarily characterized by intense throbbing head pain that can severely disrupt daily activities. Accompanying symptoms may include nausea, vomiting, and heightened sensitivity to bright lights and sound. It’s worth noting that migraine attacks manifest differently in each individual:
Prodrome
This is the first stage of a migraine, often lasting a couple of hours or days. It may or may not happen every time you get migraine headaches. The symptoms at this phase include:
- Fatigue
- Mood changes
- Lack of appetite and food cravings
- Smell, sound, and light sensitivity
- Severe thirst
- Bloating
- Diarrhea and constipation
Aura
This phase can last for five or sixty minutes. Sometimes, the aura stage is skipped, and other times, it happens with the headache. The symptoms include:
- Tunnel vision
- Seeing wavy lines, black dots, flashes of light, or hallucinations
- Loss of vision
- Numbness or tingling on one side
- Difficulty in speech
- Ringing in the ears
- Heavy feeling in the legs and arms
- Changes in touch, taste, or smell
Headache
This phase lasts between 4 and 72 hours. The pain may be mild or throbbing and drilling typically on one side of the head, spreading to the rest of your head. The symptoms include:
- Nasal congestion
- Vomiting and nausea
- Insomnia
- Anxiety and depression
- Stiffness and neck pain
Postdrome
It’s also known as a hangover and often lasts for one or two days. The symptoms for this phase include:
- Depressed mood
- Reduced concentration
- Euphoric mood
- Fatigue
Causes of a migraine
The exact cause of migraines isn’t completely understood. When you’re experiencing a migraine, specific nerves in the blood vessels send pain signals to the brain. While the cause isn’t fully understood, there are some commonly known triggers:
- Skipping meals
- Hormonal changes: Many women experience migraines when pregnant, during their period, or ovulating. Migraines can also be caused by birth control and menopause.
- Stress: When stressed, the brain releases chemicals that trigger changes in blood vessels leading to migraines
- Caffeine: too much or too little caffeine can result in a migraine
- Foods: some drinks and foods like alcohol, cheese, and food additives can cause migraines
- Weather changes
- Bright lights, strong smells, and loud noises
- Medication like vasodilators
- Intense physical activity
- Tobacco
- Too little or too much sleep
- Emotional stress
Migraine treatment
While there’s no cure for migraines, they can be treated and prevented. Some migraine treatment options include:
- Over-the-counter medication: the main ingredients are ibuprofen, caffeine, aspirin, and acetaminophen. When using OTC pain meds, stick to the dosage; otherwise, you’ll get a rebound headache.
- Celecoxib
- Triptans
- CGRP receptor antagonists
- Nausea medicine
- Ergotamine
Can ultrasound-guided needle injections alleviate headaches?
Ultrasounds offer some unique benefits to migraine sufferers. Since most of our nerves travel with arteries, nerves can be evaluated and injected using landmarks and images. The main cause of a headache can be identified and then treated with ultrasound-guided injections that can diagnose and treat the underlying condition.
Using high-resolution ultrasound, we can easily target the superficial branches of your facial nerve and its deep branches by recognizing the nearby muscles and bones. We use Doppler imaging before intervention to avoid injury to surrounding vessels.
Ultrasound-guided needle injection (imaging) provides a safe, effective solution in cases where patients are not responsive to or cannot tolerate oral medications and for patients who are not appropriate candidates for surgery. Pain relief from ultrasound-guided needle injections typically lasts from 3 weeks to 3 months, though the maximum duration of pain relief has been 8 months after a single injection.
Can physical therapy alleviate headaches?
Yes, physical therapy can decrease the intensity, duration, and frequency of headaches. It can also speed up recovery and teach you how to avoid conditions, including inactivity, which can worsen the pain. Based on the diagnosis, your health care provider can develop a custom but effective plan.
There are fourteen joints in the cervical spine. The uppermost segments are most likely to cause symptoms of pain. A well-trained therapist can assist and differentiate which joints a headache is coming from. Whenever you experience a headache, blood vessels supplying blood to the brain get inflamed, causing a clog in blood vessels.
Consult with East Shore Healthcare
Migraine headaches can make it difficult to function properly during our normal routine. Luckily, there are ways you can protect against them and manage and endure symptoms. Work with a professional medical expert to prevent migraines from ruining your life.
Eastshore Healthcare has a team of medical experts you can trust to unearth the cause of your migraines and treat them effectively to avoid frequent recurrence. Contact us today for a no fee initial consultation regarding the effective treatment for your migraines.