Migraine symptoms and treatment

Migraine is not a new word for everyone. When the headache is severe, it will affect work, study, etc. There are many factors that lead to migraine. For example, some female compatriots may not have had migraine before, but they will have migraine after giving birth. It will be more obvious before and after menstruation, and it is very painful. Going to the hospital for treatment is generally not ideal, but if you don’t go to the hospital for treatment, the migraine will be more serious.

How can we treat migraine? The painkillers prescribed by Western medicine can only help relieve the pain temporarily. When the effect of the medicine wears off, the condition may be worse than before. Chinese medicine treatment may be slower and require a longer process.

60% of migraine sufferers experience prodromal symptoms hours to days before the headache begins. Prodromal symptoms are not auras and can occur regardless of whether the patient has migraine with aura or without aura. It may manifest as mental and psychological changes, such as depression, fatigue, laziness, drowsiness, and emotional agitation. Irritability, anxiety, upset or euphoria, etc. It may also manifest as autonomic nervous system symptoms, such as pale complexion, chills, anorexia or obvious hunger, thirst, oliguria, frequent urination, difficulty urinating, yawning, stiff neck, nausea, increased intestinal motility, abdominal pain, diarrhea, palpitations, shortness of breath, rapid heart rate, and excessive sensitivity to smells. The prodromal symptoms vary greatly among different patients, but are relatively stable in each patient and each attack. These prodromal symptoms may appear during the prodromal phase, during the headache attack, or even continue after the headache attack and become subsequent symptoms.

General Principles

The treatment strategy for migraine includes two aspects: symptomatic treatment and preventive treatment. The goal of symptomatic treatment is to eliminate, suppress or alleviate pain and associated symptoms. Preventive treatments are used to reduce the frequency and severity of headache attacks. For patients with migraine, whether to use symptomatic treatment alone or to adopt symptomatic treatment and preventive treatment at the same time requires specific analysis. Generally speaking, if the frequency of headache attacks is infrequent, the pain is mild, and the duration is short, symptomatic treatment alone can be considered. If headaches occur frequently, the pain is severe, the duration is long, and the impact on work, study, and life is obvious, appropriate preventive treatment should be given in addition to symptomatic treatment. In short, we need to consider both the impact of pain on patients and the impact of drug side effects on patients, and sometimes we also need to refer to the patient's personal opinions. Saper recommends that patients with less than 2 attacks per week be given symptomatic treatment with medication alone, while those with frequent attacks should be given preventive treatment.

Therefore, no matter what kind of migraine it is, the treatment cannot be the same. You need to find the method that suits you best. You should focus on cultivating good living habits. It is best not to smoke and drink. You should also eat lighter food in your daily life and not eat too spicy food. Strengthening exercise, etc., are all helpful in treating migraine.