Unlike many people’s beliefs, a migraine is never just a bad headache. Instead, it’s a neurological disease that causes throbbing pain in one particular area of your head. This throbbing can vary in intensity, depending on your condition. A bad headache is one of the symptoms of migraines. Other symptoms include dizziness, light-headedness, malaise, light sensitivity, and distorted vision. Before going ahead to buy and use tablets for headaches or migraines, you need to understand the different types of migraines and identify the one you’re currently experiencing.
What exactly causes migraines?
According to medical experts, the exact causes of migraines are still unclear. However, the belief is that this disease results from abnormal brain activity, which temporarily affects the brain’s nerve signals, chemicals and cranial blood vessels. The best way to address this problem is by using the right migraine medication (UK), such as Sumatriptan tablets.
Today, migraines can be triggered by many factors, including the following:
- Hormonal factor
- Emotional factor
- Physical factor
- Dietary factor
- Environmental factor
- Medicinal factor
Hormonal triggers mostly affect women suffering from migraines. This trigger often surfaces around the time of a woman’s menstrual cycle. This trigger is not general but only affects certain women.
Emotional triggers for migraine affect both men and women. These triggers include stress, anxiety, depression, tension, shock, or even excitement.
Speaking of physical triggers; they include lack of good-quality sleep, shift work, improper posture, neck tension, shoulder tension, and low blood sugar.
Certain foods and drinks can also trigger migraines. A few examples are chocolate, citrus fruits, caffeine-containing products, alcohol, tyramine-containing foods, and many more. Dehydration and missed/delayed meals can also trigger your migraine symptoms.
Understanding the different types of migraines & their symptoms
As earlier mentioned, migraines are available in different types. Your migraine symptoms may be different from that of another person close to you. This is normal! Below are the common types of migraines that different people experience l, including their symptoms:
- Migraine with aura symptoms
- Chronic migraine
- Migraine without aura
- Abdominal migraine
- Acephalgic migraine
Aura symptoms
According to studies, migraines affect roughly 10% of the entire UK population. Out of these migraine sufferers, further studies reveal that about 15% to 20% of patients experience aura symptoms.
Aura means the symptoms a patient experience about 30 minutes before the migraine headache starts. Aura symptoms for migraines are usually visual. Yes, you may start seeing flashes of light or even wavy lines. Numbness and speaking difficulty are a few other symptoms.
No aura
Migraines without aura are very common. This explains why they are referred to as “common migraines”. Pulsating headache, homophobia are a few symptoms of this type of migraine.
Chronic migraine
Have you been experiencing your migraine symptoms for roughly 15 or more days per month for the past 3 months? If yes, you need to understand this is a chronic migraine. Episodic migraines, when left untreated, will most likely cause you to experience more and more headaches, which can be triggered by any of the aforementioned factors.
Acephalgic
Acephalgic is also known as “silent migraine.” This migraine often attracts many classic migraine symptoms excluding headaches. Vision issues and alterations in colour perception are two common symptoms that Acephalgic sufferers (usually between the ages of 50 and above) experience.
Abdominal migraine
Abdominal migraines mostly affect children between the ages of 5 and 9 years. This type of migraine rarely affects adults. Vomiting, nausea, and abdominal pains are a few common symptoms of this migraine. Abdominal migraines don’t usually come with headaches. However, you can expect children with this condition to experience migraine headaches when they become adults.
Treatment of migraines with medications
To treat your migraine effectively, you need a doctor’s prescription for the right drugs. Prescription drugs, such as sumatriptan tablets and rizatriptan are often recommended for migraine treatment. These drugs work by helping you to block the pain pathways in the brain.
Other drugs that work for migraines include:
- Pain relievers, such as Ibuprofen or aspirin.
- Lasmiditan
- Opioid medications
- Dihydroergotamine
- Ubrogepant
- CGRP antagonists
All these migraine medications have their strengths and weaknesses. Ensure to get familiar with the pros and cons before you consider taking them to address your migraine condition.