Do you have headaches that interfere with your quality of life? Do you suspect it could be a migraine, but don’t know how to identify the symptoms? Have you ever stopped to observe what triggers cause or worsen your crises? Understand more about the topic in this article.
What is Migraine?
Migraine is a chronic condition with no treatment since it has a hereditary component. It usually causes a throbbing, pulsating type of headache, but it almost always appears only on one side of the head. Although once it becomes chronic, the pain pattern may change.
This discomfort may be accompanied by nausea, heaving, and aversion to light and sound. Without therapy, episodes can continue somewhere in the range of 4 and 72 hours.
Migraine Symptoms
Migraines can be characterized by a variety of side effects. Subsequently, we created a rundown of the most prevalent ones. Look:
- Severe, throbbing headache lasts 4 to 72 hours.
- Nausea and vomiting
- Sensitivity to light and sounds
- Headache that worsens with movement of the body or the environment
- Visual changes, such as visual blurring and floaters (aura)
- Sensitive aura (tingling or numbness in the body
- Difficulty speaking (speech aura)
- Dizziness
- Fatigue and generalized feeling of malaise
- Appetite changes
- Concentration problems
So, how about we now know the main triggers for migraine attacks?
Understand migraine triggers
1 – Anxiety and stress
Probably the biggest culprit of all, stress is a trigger for nearly 70% of people with migraines. This is because some studies suggest that the stressed brain releases hormones and proteins that promote the dilation and inflammation of blood vessels.
This condition appears to initiate a series of events that cause nerve cells to become overstimulated, leading to pain and other symptoms of a migraine, such as visual aura. The aura can often appear before the pain, being a warning that the crisis is coming.
2 – Lack or excess sleep
Insomnia and “choppy” sleep – common in those who wake up many times during the night – is another very common factor in the onset of a migraine attack. But anyone who thinks that only lack of sleep is worrying is wrong, as excessive sleeping hours can also lead to crises. Irregular sleep also tends to worsen anxiety and stress, which will naturally worsen the condition. In other words, migraine patients need to have a sleep routine.
3 – Prolonged fasting
The only time when our body tolerates a fast of eight or ten hours, without any damage to metabolism, is precisely during the sleep period, as at that moment there is a reduction in the energy we spend. Other than that, prolonged fasting can cause a series of health problems, including migraine episodes. The ideal is to feed at most every 4 hours.
4 – Foods to avoid
Some types of foods also appear to be migraine triggers, although strong scientific evidence linking the disease to specific foods is still lacking. It is estimated that at least 10% of people with migraine notice the onset of an attack after consuming certain foods. Therefore, we brought the champions on the trigger list:
- Alcoholic beverages
- Cheeses (fatty/yellow ones)
- Artificial sweeteners
- Shoyu sauce
- Pepper and industrialized seasonings
- Orange, pineapple, kiwi and citrus fruits, and others rich in vitamin C
- Processed meats, such as ham, salami, sausage, and sausage
- Ready-made soups and instant noodles
- Caffeine-containing foods include green tea, mate tea, black tea, coffee, guarana, energy drinks, chocolate, and soda.
5 – Menstrual cycle
Medical literature shows that women are three times more likely to have migraines than men. The data also shows that up to 75% of women realize that crises are more common during the menstrual period, for example. This probably happens because of the change in estrogen and progesterone levels, which are natural during this period.
6 – Self-medication
Common painkillers and anti-inflammatories do not treat migraines, and although they may initially “trick” the body, relieving symptoms, the medium and long-term effect may be to worsen the condition. It’s called the “rebound effect. Not to mention that excess of such medications harms organs such as the stomach and kidneys.
It is very important to remember that taking medication without medical advice is never a good idea, so if you have regular headaches it is important to investigate not only a possible migraine condition, but also other possible diseases that could cause the symptom.