Chronic Migraine

Getting to know chronic migraine

If you think that all migraines are the same. Think again. There are actually many kinds of migraine, classified according to the frequency of the episodes and the cause of the problem. One of the most common types of migraine is named as such, common migraine. This is characterized by migraines that do not involve visual disturbances at the beginning. This often lasts longer and may interfere with daily activities due to the severity of the pain, which may occur on one or both sides of the head.

Another popular type of migraine is the classic migraine, which often has visual disturbances. People with classic migraine will often see flashing lights and colors. There is also a possibility of temporarily losing your eyesight. Another symptom of classic migraine is muscle weakness on one side of the body and a feeling of prickliness and burning sensation. These episodes will usually last for about 15 minutes to half an hour, which is short considering that migraines usually last from 4 hours as long as 72 hours.

Episodes are however unpredictable as migraines may be experienced in erratic fashion. Episodes may occur every week and then it would stop and resume after several years. There is actually no fixed schedule for the episodes. Sometimes it even only occurs in the presence of some triggering factors such as stress, bright lights, strong odor or changes in hormonal levels.

One form of migraine however follows a specific time frame, chronic migraine. Before one is diagnosed with this kind of migraine, the person should have suffered migraine attacks for 15 or more days each month. This is considered one of the most severe forms of migraines and is quite debilitating.

Exactly what causes this ling period of migraine attacks is not yet clear. Researches have mentioned the possibility of a problem or a malfunction in the part of the brain that controls the feeling of pain. Nothing however has been proven yet.

Treatment of chronic migraine is done through medication. Sufferers of chronic migraine are asked by their doctors to take anti-depressants, anti seizure medications or cardio-vascular medicines. This, however, will not make the pain go away. It will only alleviate a portion of the pain to make it bearable.

One distinction that people should note is the difference between a chronic migraine and a chronic headache. A chronic headache may be caused by a whole lot of things, oftentimes, by the overuse of certain mediations such as painkillers. Headaches will often become less frequent or even completely disappear once the medication is stopped. There is however no guarantee that the severity of the pain will also lessen.

Oftentimes, the pain will even be much worse because of the loss of the painkiller chemical. This should not be mistaken for the chronic migraine, which is an entirely different thing. The International Headache Society is adamant in making this distinction known as many people mistake one for the other, thus making a wrong self-diagnosis. The organization advises that people consult with their doctors for any problems. For you to recognize chronic migraine, here are some of the points that should be present.
1. There is no medication involved. The patient is not taking or overusing any medications.
2. When the medication was discontinued, the frequency of the headaches does not change.