Migraine  –  Causes, Symptoms, Stages, And Treatment

A Migraine is usually identified as a moderate or severe headache accompanied by the pain, which is normally felt on one side of the head. The pain may not subside immediately and can last for hours together stretching to even 24 hours. These headaches are recurring with attack frequency varying between once in a year to once in a week. People also develop increased sensitivity towards the light or sound during the migraine attack.

Types of Migraine:

Migraines are generally classified into:

1. Migraine with Aura: When migraine attack commences with warning symptoms, such as high sensitiveness to flashlights or sounds, it is migraine with aura.
2. Migraine without Aura: Here migraine occurs without any specific warning symptoms.
3. Silent Migraine: An aura or other symptoms can be experienced, but a headache may not follow. Usually, the patient may feel the heaviness of the head.

Causes of Migraine:

There is no one specific cause identified to trigger a migraine attack. It could be due to the temporary changes in the chemicals, nerves, and blood vessels in the brain. From the clinical history of patients treated for migraine-related problems, one can generally summarize the following as the stimuli for the cause of migraine attacks:

1. Stress: Stress has usually got a strong interlink with migraine problems. Any form of anxiety, tension, and sudden shock can trigger a migraine.
2. Sleep: Insufficient sleep or sudden change in the sleep pattern can also result in the onset of a migraine. Even too much and too little sleep can also affect migraine headaches.
3. Hormonal Change: Women normally complain about migraine pain during puberty and menstruation. The body is expected to experience some hormonal change during these times. Hence, a close relation of hormonal changes affecting migraines cannot be ruled out.
4. Environmental Factors: Environmental factors, such as humid weather, exposure to the polluted air, etc. may trigger a migraine headache. Sensitivity to the light and sound may indicate the commencement of a migraine attack and hence may not be considered as a direct contributing factor.
5. Diet: A lack of food intake at regular intervals or a diet heavy on caffeine products, such as chocolates, aerated drinks, and high intake of coffee, all have an impact on migraine attacks.
6. Dehydration: Lack of sufficient intake of drinking water can also trigger a migraine problem in people. One should ensure that they drink a minimum of 2 liters of water a day.
7. Alcohol: High dependency on alcohol has also shown to increase the frequency of migraine issues in the patients. Alcohols are found to have tyramine, a migraine stimulus in a high proportion.
8. Medication: Medications which can have a bad impact on hormonal imbalance are generally found to increase the risk of migraine in people.

Symptoms of Migraine

The common symptoms of migraine include:

1. Headache felt with pinching pain mostly on one side of the head
2. Sensitivity to the light and sound
3. Nausea (feeling sick)
4. Vomiting
5. Lack of energy

Stages of Migraine 

A migraine attack can be fairly divided into 4 to 5 stages. They are broadly classified as below.

(i) Premonitory or Warning phase: This could be identified with mood swings, tiredness, feeling of the stiffness of head and neck, increased thirst, etc.

(ii) Aura: An aura of migraine includes a wide range of neurological symptoms which may last from a few minutes to about an hour. During this phase, changes in the cortex area of the brain can occur resulting in colored or black spots in the vision, numbness, dizziness of body, etc.

(iii) Headache: One will start experiencing headaches with severe pinching pain starting on one side of the head. In some cases, it may not be confined to just one side and can spread on either side also. This headache can be accompanied by vomiting or nausea also.

(iv) Resolution Phase: Most migraine attacks do fade away slowly only. But, in cases where the patient experiences sickness or able to manage a bit of rest/sleep, the headache may stop suddenly.

(v) Postdrome stage: Typically, it is identified as the last stage of the attack, and it is symbolized with mild hangovers, urge for appetite, etc.

Homeopathic Remedies for Migraine:

A few of the homeopathic drugs which have shown excellent results in treating migraine are listed below:

(i) Belladonna: Symptoms, such as intense headaches with throbbing pains, pain aggravated on the exposure to light, a loud noise, pungent smell, pain located typically on the forehead portion, etc., can best be treated with the medication of belladonna.

(ii) Bryonia: When migraine symptoms include headache covered over the left eye, headache accompanied by vomiting and nausea, pain aggravated by motion, sense of touch, etc. Bryonia is recommended.

(iii) Pulsatilla: Pulsatilla is suggested as a remedy for the patients complaining of headaches related to the menstrual period and headache affecting the forehead and changes location frequently.

(iv) Nux vomica: Nux Vomica has shown excellent results in the patients coming up with symptoms, such as increased pain during morning hours, the loss of sleep, stress-related problems, digestive upsets, alcohol consumption, etc.

(v) Spigelia: Usually, Spigelia is recommended for symptoms, such as pulsating pain in the frontal part of the head, pain on the left forehead, stiffness of neck and shoulders, and pain in and around eyes.

(vi) Iris: Iris is the best-suited remedy for headaches occurring at regular or fixed intervals. When nausea and vomiting accompany with the increase in the pain, this homeopathic medicine can help. If vision gets diminished in acute cases, Iris is indicated.

(vii) Gelsemium: When the initiation of pain is from the back of your head and it extends further upwards, the sensation of pain like wearing a headband, and pain concentrating on the right side of the head affects the patient, Gelsemium is prescribed as a suitable remedy.

Migraine is one particular disease wherein the recurrence is pretty high. However, one common factor is the type of stimuli, which causes migraines well-defined for a patient. In that scenario, if one can identify the repetitive causes which are acting as stimuli and contain them, the disease can be managed to a greater extent without repeated medication. Some of the better management practices that can be inculcated are as below.

1. Ease out stress by doing meditation, yoga, and regular exercises.
2. Try not to disturb your sleep cycle. Going to bed and waking up in the same usual routine with enough hours of sleep.
3. Avoid or reduce the proportion of caffeine in your diet, if you identify it as one of the triggering factors.
4. Do not dehydrate. Drink sufficient amount of water in all the weather conditions to maintain the water balance in your body.
5. Avoid exposure to bright light, loud sound, and contaminated air as much as you can.
6. Avoid self-medication. Make sure that you consult an experienced medical practitioner in case you get a migraine attack. Self-medication can only make the situation worse.

Now that you know how effective and safe homeopathy is in treating migraine, count on homeopathy without a second thought if you happen to suffer from it anytime.