More than 20 million North Americans suffer from migraine, a one-sided, severe, throbbing or pulsating headache often accompanied by sensitivity to light and sound, as well as by nausea and vomiting.
Migraines are also called vascular headaches, because they usually involve spasm of the arteries of the head, resulting in a pulsating pain.
There are no successful medicines for it, only natural migraine treatments can help.
The headaches may last from a few hours to several days or even longer.
About 10 percent of migraine sufferers experience a warning aura before the headache starts; this early symptom involves a visual disturbance, such as partial or temporary loss of sight or flashes of light and color.
An aura may also cause tingling on one side of the face or body or a disturbance in the sense of smell.
Even those who don't experience an aura may have warning signs in the few hours leading up to a migraine, such as feelings of cold, craving for a specific food, mood changes, a sudden burst of energy, or frequent yawning.
Migraines affect women about three times as often as men, and they commonly start between the ages of 18 and 44.
Doctors think that they begin when triggers - dietary, hormonal, environmental, emotional, and other factors cause blood vessels in the brain to constrict and then relax.
These distorted blood vessels prompt nerve endings to send out pain signals.
Natural migraine treatment involves relaxation techniques.
In addition to using relaxation techniques, some doctors recommend taking a course in biofeedback to learn how to raise the temperature of your hands, thereby diverting some of the blood flow from the head to another part of the body.
This technique can be used at the start of an attack.
Migraines are also called vascular headaches, because they usually involve spasm of the arteries of the head, resulting in a pulsating pain.
There are no successful medicines for it, only natural migraine treatments can help.
The headaches may last from a few hours to several days or even longer.
About 10 percent of migraine sufferers experience a warning aura before the headache starts; this early symptom involves a visual disturbance, such as partial or temporary loss of sight or flashes of light and color.
An aura may also cause tingling on one side of the face or body or a disturbance in the sense of smell.
Even those who don't experience an aura may have warning signs in the few hours leading up to a migraine, such as feelings of cold, craving for a specific food, mood changes, a sudden burst of energy, or frequent yawning.
Migraines affect women about three times as often as men, and they commonly start between the ages of 18 and 44.
Doctors think that they begin when triggers - dietary, hormonal, environmental, emotional, and other factors cause blood vessels in the brain to constrict and then relax.
These distorted blood vessels prompt nerve endings to send out pain signals.
Natural migraine treatment involves relaxation techniques.
In addition to using relaxation techniques, some doctors recommend taking a course in biofeedback to learn how to raise the temperature of your hands, thereby diverting some of the blood flow from the head to another part of the body.
This technique can be used at the start of an attack.