So, how do you know if it's a headache or migraine that you're suffering from?
Well, migraines can start at any age but mostly seem to start between the ages of ten and forty. If you have recently started getting severe headaches, when previously you had none, or noticed an increase in frequency, then the first step is to visit your doctor as he or she will first want to rule out other, potentially more serious causes.
Migraines are often preceded by a "visual disturbance" which for me takes the form of a distorted spot in my field of vision, similar to the effect you're left with after someone takes a flash photograph in your direction. Over the course of time (thirty minutes to an hour) the spot gets bigger and bigger, but less intense, almost as if it's coming closer towards me, until finally it fills my field of vision and then disappears behind me, leaving me able to see clearly once more. It's at that point, that the headache usually starts.
Although, in my experience, the visual disturbance is always followed by a migraine, a migraine is not always preceded by a visual disturbance, so don't rule migraines out just because you don't get the visual part. I only get the visual sign in about one in ten migraines. It can be useful if you do get it because it gives you a head start to take your medication and start fighting back before the headache takes hold.
In my experience if you don't get in quickly and do something about it, the headache gets a grip and no matter what you try, you just have to wait until the migraine has taken it's course. Unlike a normal headache a migraine causes the body to release chemicals which make absorption of medication more difficult.
I use Migril for my headache pain relief and over the years I've gradually reduced the dose from two pills, until I can stop the onset of a migraine with only one quarter of a pill, if I take action at the very first signs. If however I try to fight it off and resist taking the medication, then no mater how much I take it has no effect.
Once the migraine has run it's course one of the first signs that I'm on my way to recovery is a rumbling, gurgling sound from my stomach, which indicates to me that my digestive system has started work again! It's never very long after the "rumble" that the headache disappears as quickly as it came.
Please leave a comment or let me know about your headache pain relief experiences.
