A neurological syndrome characterized by altered bodily perceptions, severe, painful headaches, and nausea.
A syndrome characterized by recurrent, severe, and usually one-sided headaches; often associated with nausea, vomiting, and visual disturbances.
Type of headache, characterised by usually being unilateral and/or accompanied by visual disturbance and nausea.
A recurring and intensely painful headache, often accompanied by vomiting, giddiness, and disturbance of the vision.
Recurrent condition of severe pain in the head accompanied by other symptoms (nausea, visual disturbance).
A psychosomatic disorder characterized by recurrent severe headaches, often accompanied by visual disturbances and nausea, migraine headache.
A very severe throbbing headache which can be accompanied by nausea, vomiting, visual disturbance and vertigo. The cause is not known. Attacks may be preceded by an ‘aura’, where the patient sees flashing lights, or the eyesight becomes blurred. The pain is usually intense and affects one side of the head only.
Recurring vascular headache, occurring more frequently in women. The cause is unknown, but the pain is associated with dilation of blood vessels. Allergic reactions, menstruation, alcohol, or relaxation after a period of stress often triggers attacks. A typical attack, which may last from several hours to several days, starts with an episode of visual disturbances (e.g., aura or flashing lights), numbness, tingling, vertigo, or other sensations, followed by the onset of severe, usually unilateral pain, sometimes accompanied by nausea, vomiting, photophobia, irritability, and fatigue. Ergotamine preparations that constrict cranial arteries are helpful if taken at the onset of an attack; aspirin does not usually provide relief. Also called megrim; hemicrania.
Intense headache, sometimes confined to one side of the head, often accompanied by nausea, vomiting, and visual symptoms. The cause is unknown, but may involve factors such as tension, changes in cerebral circulation, muscle spasm, or heredity.
A common form of primary headache. Migraines that are preceded by an aura are known as classic migraines. Other forms of migraine include complicated migraine (with focal neurological symptoms), basilar migraine (with vertigo and occasional loss of consciousness), and ophthalmic migraine (with eye pain and vision loss).
A recurrent throbbing headache that characteristically affects one side of the head. It is possibly caused by contraction and then dilation of the arteries of the brain. There is sometimes forewarning of an attack (an aura) consisting of flickering bright lights or blurring of vision, which clears up as the headache develops. The headache itself is often accompanied by prostration and vomiting. There are certain drugs (e.g. ergotamine tartrate) that reduce the severity of the headache and others (e.g. methysergide) used to prevent attacks.
The word migraine derives from hemicrania, the ancient Greek for half a skull, and is a common condition characterized by recurring intense headaches, usually accompanied by visual or gastrointestinal disturbances, or both. Attacks may last minutes to days, with total freedom between episodes.
A familial disorder marked by periodic, usually unilateral, pulsatile headaches that begin in childhood or early adult life and tend to recur with diminishing frequency in later life. There are two closely related syndromes comprising what is known as migraine. They are classic migraine (migraine with aura) and common migraine (migraine without aura). The classic type may begin with aura, which consists of episodes of well-defined, transient focal neurologic dysfunction that develops over the course of minutes and may last an hour. Visual symptoms include seeing stripes, spots, or lines and scotomata. In most people, the aura precedes the headache; however, occasionally the aura will appear or recur at the height of the headache. Before the onset of symptoms, some people experience mood changes, fatigue, difficulty thinking, depression, sleepiness, hunger, thirst, urinary frequency, or altered libido. Others report a feeling of well-being, increased energy, clarity of thought, and increased appetite, esp. for sweets. The headache follows. Pain is usually confined on one side but is occasionally bilateral. Nausea and vomiting may be present and may last a few hours or a day or two. Common migraine has a similar onset with or without nausea. Light and noise sensitivity are present in both types. In the general population, migraine is present in three times as many females than males. It is a common problem that affects about 30 million Americans. During their reproductive years, women experience a much higher rate of migraine, and their headaches tend to occur during periods of premenstrual tension and fluid retention. Many patients link their attacks to ingesting certain foods, exposure to glare, or to sudden changes in barometric pressure.
A recurrent throbbing headache usually affecting only one side of the head an often accompanied by nausea and visual disturbances.
A pulsating cephalalgia typically characterized by its unilateral manifestation, wherein the discomfort concentrates solely on a single hemisphere of the cranium. Migraine is frequently accompanied by symptoms such as queasiness, emesis, heightened sensitivity to illumination, and various other manifestations.
An intense head pain, usually enduring for a span of four to 72 hours, accompanied by heightened sensitivity to light and noise, and/or feelings of nausea and the act of vomiting. Migraine episodes occur as a result of blood vessel constriction, followed by an excessive widening, within the brain.
Migraine does not have a singular origin, although it often exhibits a familial pattern. Factors linked to stress, dietary choices, or sensory responses (such as consuming cheese or chocolate, or drinking red wine) could potentially initiate episodes. For women, triggers might include menstruation, the use of oral contraceptives, and hormone replacement therapy (HRT).
Two categories exist: migraine with aura (characterized by visual disturbances like flickering lights and/or additional neurological symptoms such as numbness and tingling) and migraine without aura. In the case of migraine without aura, a headache gradually intensifies, frequently affecting one side of the head, accompanied by feelings of nausea, and at times, vomiting and heightened sensitivity to light and noise.
During episodes of migraine with aura, visual disruptions can persist for as long as an hour, succeeded by a pronounced headache on one side of the head, along with nausea, vomiting, and heightened sensitivity to light and sound. Additional transient neurological symptoms like temporary weakness on one side of the body might also manifest.
Diagnosis is typically based on the patient’s medical history and the absence of abnormal findings from physical examinations conducted between episodes. For managing an attack, a pain-relieving medication like aspirin, paracetamol, or a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug is used, often in conjunction with an antiemetic drug if necessary. In cases where this proves ineffective, 5HT1 agonists, such as sumatriptan, might be prescribed. These medications are administered as early as possible at the onset of an attack and can potentially deter the progression of a full-fledged episode. Resting in a dimly lit room can potentially expedite recovery.
For individuals experiencing frequent episodes, the need for preventive measures might arise. Maintaining a diary can assist individuals in recognizing factors that trigger the attacks, and as a preventive measure, specific medications might be recommended. While drugs containing ergotamine were once utilized to forestall attacks if taken prior to the headache’s onset, their usage has diminished and serotonin antagonists like pizotifen have largely taken their place. Additionally, beta-blocker drugs or modest doses of tricyclic antidepressants might also be employed to proactively prevent these episodes.
A condition characterized by paroxsysmal intense pain in the head, preceded or accompanied by disturbances of sensation or muscle movement, or both, with various other phenomena. The headache is usually confined to one side and is often followed by vomiting. The attack is sometimes heralded by alterations in vision, such as inability to focus the eyes for reading, or the presence of dancing colored lights. Less common features are confusion of speech, inability to read words, or even loss of speech. Other phenomena sometimes experienced include: a feeling that insects are crawling across the skin, which, although harmless, is alarming to the patient; numbness of various parts of the body, such as the lips and tongue; and, very rarely, paralysis of the sixth and sometimes of the third and fourth cranial nerves, or a combination of all three, resulting in severe double vision which passes off in a few days, or, at most, in a few weeks. Unfortunately, once this does occur it is apt to recur with subsequent attacks. Migraine subjects are commonly energetic and highly intelligent, and many have a meticulous standard of thoroughness and precision, almost amounting to obsession. The malady may originate in early childhood, but commonly appears at puberty and tends to persist, with fluctuations in severity and frequency, throughout adult and middle life. Women often have migraine attacks associated with their monthly periods, only to remain entirely free during pregnancy, and ceasing altogether at the change of life. Its persistence into old age in either sex is exceptional. Many patients become morbidly depressed, fearing they have a brain disease, but a history of migraine from childhood is a strong indication that this is unlikely. However, the sudden onset of migraine in an adult does require complete investigation by a nerve specialist. One form which can produce diagnostic difficulties is that in which the pain occurs not in the head but in the abdomen; this is called abdominal migraine. Nothing is known with certainty as to the essential cause of migraine, and even though there is a strong belief that it is due to the spasm of a blood vessel in the brain, absolute proof is lacking. Many authorities are firmly convinced that it is an allergic disorder associated with familial diseases such as asthma, hay fever, and urticaria. Errors of visual refraction, digestive disorders, upsets of endocrine function, and psychological disturbances have all been blamed as responsible causes, but it is probable that they are never more than precipitating factors in susceptible individuals. Fatigue, anxiety, and frustration do play an important part, as do overexertion, indiscretions or irregularities of food, exposure to excessive light or noise, and prolonged eyestrain. Treatment consists in the patient trying to take a calmer approach to life, and the correction of any abnormality, especially the wearing of spectacles if these are needed. Combinations of sedative and antispasmodic drugs, taken regularly in small doses over a very long period, reduce the number of attacks and, sometimes, may even effect a cure. Ergotamine tartrate, if taken early, will frequently cut short an attack, and for mild attacks a long sleep in bed will often free the patient of headache. Apart from these measures, there have been almost as many remedies guaranteed to cure as there are patients with migraine! Also called hemicrania.