By Betty Vedrine, Lifestyles Reporter

betty@nasguard.com

For years, Jenny suffered in silence. She was constantly off sick from work with a throbbing, pulsating headache that kept her inactive for days at a time. She would take the usual over-the-counter medications but they seldom worked.

Then one day, she was watching TV when a commercial was aired, featuring people who suffered from migraine headaches. As she watched, she realised that the sufferers were experiencing symptoms similar to hers. "Up to that moment, I had no idea that I could be suffering from migraines. I just thought that I needed glasses or needed to sleep," said Jenny. A migraine is a throbbing headache that is often one-sided. Usually, it is accompanied by nausea and vomiting. Migraine sufferers also complain of sensitivity to light, sound, and smells, sleep disruption and depression. Attacks are often recurrent and tend to become less severe as the migraine sufferer ages.

"I decided to do some research online to find out more about migraine. I was shocked to find out that there are so many different types of migraines," continued Jenny.

Migraines are classified according to the symptoms they produce. The two most common types are migraine with aura and migraine without aura. There are more less common types, including: Basilar artery migraine, carotidynia, headache-free migraine, ophthalmoplegic migraine and status migraine.

Some women experience migraine headaches just prior to or during menstruation. These headaches, which are called menstrual migraines, may be related to hormonal changes and often do not occur during pregnancy. Other women develop migraines for the first time during pregnancy or after menopause. According to statistics, migraines afflict about 30 million people in the United States. They may occur at any age, but usually begin between the ages of 10 and 40 and diminish after age 50. Some people experience several migraines a month, while others have only a few migraines throughout their lifetime. Approximately 75% of migraine sufferers are women. The cause of migraine is unknown. The condition may result from a series of reactions in the central nervous system caused by changes in the body or in the environment. There is often a family history of the disorder, suggesting that migraine sufferers may inherit sensitivity to triggers that produce inflammation in the blood vessels and nerves around the brain, causing pain.

A trigger is any stimulus that initiates a process or reaction. Some commonly identified migraine triggers include the following: Alcohol, certain types of food, environment, glare, hormonal changes in women, lack of sleep, hunger, perfume and stress. In addition, it is not unusual for hands and feet to feel cold and sweaty and unusual odours may be intolerable.

Sufferers describe the pain as a pulsating ache that is intensified by routine physical activity, coughing, straining, or lowering the head. Normally, migraines start on one side of the head, then spread and build up over a one- to two-hour period, lasting up to 24 hours, and in some cases, several days. The attack is debilitating and sometimes awakes the person. Sufferers often feel tired and weak once the headache has passed.

"There were days when I felt like my head was going to explode, especially when I was hungry," Jenny related.

Migraine with aura is characterised by a neurological phenomenon that is experienced 10 to 30 minutes before the headache. Most auras are visual and are described as bright shimmering lights around objects or at the edges of the field of vision (called scintillating scotomas) or zigzag lines, wavy images, or hallucinations. Others experience temporary vision loss. Non-visual auras include motor weakness, speech or language abnormalities, dizziness, vertigo, and tingling or numbness (parasthesia) of the face, tongue, or extremities.

On the other hand, migraine without aura is the most prevalent type and may occur on one or both sides of the head.

Tiredness or mood changes may be experienced the day before the headache. Nausea, vomiting, and sensitivity to light (photophobia) often accompany this type of migraine.

Basilar artery migraine involves a disturbance of the basilar artery in the brainstem. Symptoms include severe headache, vertigo, double vision, slurred speech, and poor muscle co-ordination.

This type occurs primarily in young people.

Carotidynia, also called lower-half headache or facial migraine, produces deep, dull, aching and sometimes piercing pain in the jaw or neck. There is usually tenderness and swelling over the carotid artery in the neck. Episodes can occur several times a week and last a few minutes to hours. This type occurs more commonly in older people.

Headache-free migraine is characterised by the presence of aura without headache. This occurs in patients with a history of migraine with aura.

Ophthalmoplegic migraine begins with a headache felt in the eye and is accompanied by vomiting. As the headache progresses, the eyelid droops (ptosis) and nerves responsible for eye movement become paralysed. Ptosis may persist for days or weeks.

Status migraine is a rare type involving intense pain that usually lasts longer than 72 hours. The patient may require hospitalisation.

(Information retrieved from the following web sites: neurologychannel.com, mayoclinic.com and medicinenet.com)