Cause of Migraines

Symptoms And Causes Of Migraine Headache

Migraines can be a real problem especially when you are working 9 to 5 and you just can’t afford to be unproductive at work. There is however nothing you can do as headaches like these can be so severe that it can affect your concentration and your mood. Migraine headaches are recurrent headaches that occur on one side of the head.

Compared to the usual type of headache, the tension headache, which often occur on the entire head area, the pain in migraine headaches is more localized and much more specialized. It is however harder to predict when it will occur as migraine headaches do not present any warning signs. In fact, these types of headache will just happen when you least expect it to.

Natural ways to avoid a migraine starting.

There are however kinds of migraines where some symptoms may be observed. One type is what is commonly called as the classic migraine headache where in the person suffering from it may see a hallucination called ‘aura’ before it actually occurs. Auras are visual hallucinations that resemble lights or zigzagging lines in the person’s line of vision. The hallucination can last from about 15 minutes up to an hour. The duration vary from one case to another. There may also be pain in the areas surrounding the eyes, temporary blind spots and blurred vision.

Still, it does not happen out of the blue. Although the underlying causes of migraine headaches is still up for debate, there are predisposing factors that can trigger its attack. Migraine headaches are basically caused by the inflammation or constriction of the blood vessels in the head. The changes in the size of the vessels may be due to some medical conditions such as lesions and inflammations caused by infections. If the migraine headaches become severe and frequent, it is important that you go to your doctor and seek medical help.

Environmental and other physiological factors may also contribute in the occurrence of migraine headaches. One factor is stress-related. Over exertion and over fatigue especially in the eye area can cause severe migraine. Depression and anxiety are also factors that you should look into.

Other medical conditions that can start a migraine attack are colds, cough, influenza, and sinusitis. Food and diet may also play a role. Some experts believe that eating chocolates, drinking coffee and abusing alcoholic drinks may contribute in the attack. Sensorial triggers such as over bright lights, too much noise and strong odors may also trigger an attack.

By: Low Jeremy -

Low Jeremy maintains Headache.ArticlesForReprint.com. This content is provided by Low Jeremy. It may be used only in its entirety with all links included.

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Is Chocolate Another Migraine Trigger

Chocolate is considered a common migraine trigger; the connection between this guilty pleasure and the excruciating pain of migraine headaches was investigated during a large study, the results of which were published in the Lancet(1).

Chocolate is one of the few foods which has been investigated in double blind controlled studies, to determine how much of a trigger it really is – unlike many other food products, which have merely been included as part of larger studies using a wide range of possibilities.

These double blind, focused studies seem to leave some ambiguity in the subject. A 1974 study undertaken at the London Hospital apparently concluded that whilst chocolate may be a trigger, it wasn’t a significant one(2). This was a full five years prior to the Lancet study, which ranked chocolate near the top of the list along with other triggers, considered predominantly to cause migraines.

Another study done in 1997 also used a double blind protocol and placebo to try and pinpoint chocolate as an aggressive migraine trigger – again with inconclusive results. The study, carried out at the University of Pittsburgh, Pain Evaluation and Treatment Institute, concluded there was no difference between patients given chocolate and others given the carob placebo in either occurrence or severity of migraines(3).

Of course, one must take into account the overwhelming amount of anecdotal and testimonial evidence from hundreds of thousands of migraine sufferers who report chocolate as a trigger. Many of these claim that removing it from their diet caused instant cessation – whereas accidental or careless reintroduction caused just as immediate recurrence of symptoms.

There is one as of yet formally unpublished study, on which correspondence exists – a trial on 20 patients who believed migraine to be a trigger were challenged with either chocolate or a placebo. The 8 receiving the placebo had no incidence of migraine – five out of the 12 who received chocolate did have a typical migraine attack. The small number of people in the test group meant that the subsequent results were not completely conclusive.

As is so often the case with food intolerances, what one person can eat without an ill-effects, can create an unpleasant or even harmful reaction in another. Consider the simple peanut – a killer for some, a harmless snack for another.

Obviously scientific studies are interesting and essential, but however much we crave it, chocolate is something we can live without. The most effective method to discover if it’s a trigger food for the individual, is to cut it out from their diet for a few weeks. If your migraines are bad enough, it’s a simple sacrifice to make.

(1) Grant ECG; Food, Allergies and Migraine; Lancet, May 5 1979;966-969

(2) A. M. Moffett, M. Swash, and D. F. Scott – Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry. 1974 April

(3) Marcus DA, Scharff L, Turk D, Gourley LM – Cephalalgia 1997 Dec; 17(8):855-62

(4) CM Gibb, V Glover, M Sandler, Bernhard Baron Memorial Research Laboratories

Research by Grace-Alexander

By: Joy Healey

Joy Healey qualified in 2000 as a nutritionist at the acknowledged Institute for Optimum Nutrition in London; with her dissertation topic being migraine. Check out: www.natural-migraine-alternatives.com for immediate receipt of an e.book full of further recommendations for natural, alternatives and approaches to treat and prevent migraine. Keep up-to-date with new information on migraine at: natural-migraine-alternatives.blogspot.com

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Migraine Trigger Elimination Dieting

Science can’t explain why so many migraineurs claim that there is a link between certain foods or beverages and their headaches, but they do. Sadly, the food triggers are different for each migraine suffererit’s not like someone who needs to lower their cholesterol and the doctor tells them to eat egg whites and lose the bacon, migraineurs have to figure out their triggers on their own. The best way to do this is with an elimination diet.

The first step in any elimination diet is to put together a suspect list. A migraineur has had a headache the day after every football party for years. What is served? Who hosts? What items never change from party to party? If it doesn’t happen every time, what was different? Did someone else make the potato salad this week? List the suspects and move to step two.

This is the hardest step in an elimination diet. Until a suspect is identified, everything from the meal that seems to trigger a headache must be eliminated. Then the dieter can add items back into their life, one at a time, until they identify a trigger. Once the trigger is identified, it can be avoided.

Do not stop with the first trigger identified. Most migraineurs have multiple triggers. If an elimination diet is going to help someone, he or she needs to identify all the triggers.

For many migraineurs, the trigger is not a single food, but a combination of foods. For example, avocados trigger migraineur A and B is okay with them. However, when B eats guacamole he gets a headache every time. Why? Guacamole is made up several common triggers including avocado, citrus juice, seasonings, and vinegar. B may be okay consuming any one of these alone, but combine them and its sure formula for a headache.

By: Li Ming Wong

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