When I encounter the symptoms of a migraine it seems the whole world stops and torment begins.

Looking back it’s very hard to remember the first time that I knew that I was experiencing a migraine headache.  All I knew was that this sudden headache I was experiencing was very painful and throbbing behind my right ear.  I did everything to try to ease the pain, taking medicine, drinking water, sleeping, and the like.  Little did I know that I was experiencing one of the major symptoms of a migraine headache.

That migraine lasted for about three days and then I was back to my normal self.  It began to happen more frequently.  I was starting to just say that these symptoms of a migraine was due to my heavy drinking and partying.  But then I encountered a migraine when I hadn’t had a drink in a few days.  At that moment I began to get concerned and do a little research on symptoms of a migraine.

What I found was that many people are a bit confused about migraines. They wonder what the difference is between a conventional headache and a migraine headache. It’s understandable that there is so much confusion between the two.  But the common symptoms of a migraine that I came up with through my research was severe pain, neck muscle stiffness, confusion in thinking, nausea, dizziness, and fatigue.

All those symptoms was present when I started experiencing migraine headaches.  While there are numerous types of migraines, migraines are usually discussed as two central types – those with aura and those without.

Migraine Without Aura

Most people believe that in order to have an actual migraine there must be aura symptoms. This is not true. A migraine without aura can be defined as a reoccurring headache problem where the attacks keep going from four hours to 72 hours. People who go through these symptoms of migraines frequently have pulsating (throbbing) pain of mediate to serious intensity that is located on a single side of the head. Nausea and light or sound sensitivity is also not unusual Note: This sort of headache is made worse, not better by normal physical activity. This is an significant distinction.

Migraines without auras are the most commonly experienced migraine. These tend to reoccur more regularly and involve a more extreme level of pain. It is also believed that there is a connection of certain kind between symptoms of migraines without auras and menstruation.

One of the most common problems linked with migraines without auras is excessive use of pain medication. This can lead to rebound headaches.

Migraine With Aura

The common classification of migraine auras is the individual who sees halos around people and objects before the one set of a migraine. This classification is much too limiting. “Aura” is basically the term used to refer to a whole set of neurological symptoms of migraine that precede the onset of a migraine headache and disappear once it develops. To be defined strictly as an aura each symptom must progress over five to twenty minutes and continue for no more than sixty minutes. This means that “aura” is not merely another word for pre-migraine symptoms. Instead it refers to a stage in a migraine attack.

Typical aura symptoms consist of vision, sensory, or speech problems. Visual symptoms of migraines include flickering lights, spots, lines, zigzags, or loss of vision. Other people report seeing “chicken-wire,” “bugs,” or “clouds.” Descriptions and perception will vary from person to person. Auditory symptoms of migraines involve trouble hearing, hearing things that are not there, or other sound distortions. Sensory symptoms can consist of feelings of numbness (like a Novocain injection) and/or prickly sensations, feelings of dizziness or being unsteady on your feet. Speech disturbance can be varied but usually involve difficulty speaking or recalling certain words. It notable to note again that these symptoms develop and then pass away completely.

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Migraines are chronic headaches that can cause significant pain for hours or even days.  The most common cause of headache in young adults, up to 25% of women in their mid-to-late thirties suffer from this condition. Over 28 million Americans have been diagnosed with migraine, which is three times more common in women than in men.  Symptoms of a migraine can be so severe that all you can think about is finding a dark, quiet place to lie down.

A migraine headache is a form of vascular headache. Migraine headache is caused by vasodilatation (enlargement of blood vessels) that causes the release of chemicals from nerve fibers that coil around the large arteries of the brain. Enlargement of these blood vessels stretches the nerves that coil around them and causes the nerves to release chemicals. The chemicals cause inflammation, pain, and further enlargement of the artery. The increasing enlargement of the arteries magnifies the pain.
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FamilyDoctor.org says that Migraine headaches seem to be caused in part by changes in the level of a chemical made in the brain called serotonin. Serotonin plays many roles in the body, and it can have an effect on blood vessels. When serotonin levels are high, blood vessels constrict (shrink). When serotonin levels fall, the blood vessels dilate (swell). This swelling can cause pain or other problems.

Nonetheless If you believe you may have migraine, you can help your doctor by keeping a diary of your head pain. Noting the time of day that head pain occurs, its duration, severity, and character, along with any accompanying symptoms or precipitating factors can help your doctor more accurately determine whether your headaches result from migraine disease.

symptoms of a migraine attack include:

* moderate to severe, throbbing head pain
* most commonly one-sided pain; less frequently both sides of the head are affected
* pain located near the eye on affected side
* The pain may be felt behind the eye or in the back of the head and neck
* Increased urination
* Numbness, tingling, or weakness
* Increased need for sleep
* pain that worsens with physical activity
* sensitivity to light and/or sound
* Problems concentrating, trouble finding words
* Feeling mentally dull, like your thinking is not clear or sharp
* nausea or vomiting
* Loss of appetite
* nausea or vomiting
* debilitating pain that hinders daily activities
* untreated attacks most commonly last from four to 72 hours, but may persist for weeks

Migraines have a wide range of symptoms that usually follow a pattern based on the migraine cycle. Symptoms of a Migraine have four basic phases: Prodromal, Aura, Headache, and Resolution and Recovery. Every migraine sufferer is affected differently by migraines, and each individual reports differing degrees of pain and discomfort. Also, different types of migraines have different symptoms which help diagnose the specific type of migraine that occurs. Despite the vast differences between symptoms, there are some commonalities such as most migraines only affect one side of the brain, although the affected side can change from attack to attack.

Use of oral contraceptives is related to women’s experience of changes in the intensity, frequency and timing of migraine headaches, according to a study of 493 sexually active 18-40year-old current pill users conducted in Sao Paulo, Brazil, between August 2008 and January 2009.1 Of the 480 women who reported ever having experienced a headache, 17% had had at least five headaches classified by the researchers as a migraine (i.e., lasting 4-72 hours with two or more of the following characteristics: unilateral pain, rhythmic throbbing, greater pain with movement and moderate to severe intensity). Women in the migraine group were more likely than those in the nonmigraine group to report that their headache intensity or frequency worsened with their pill use (odds ratio, 3.0); however, women in the migraine group were also more likely to report that their headache intensity or frequency improved with pill use (3.9). In addition, the odds of experiencing headaches mostly around or during the contraceptive hormone-free interval were greater for migraine sufferers than for other women (2. 1). In an analysis of specific pill formulations among women in the migraine group, the only significant association found was between decreased headache intensity or frequency and the combination of ethinylestradiol and drospirenone.

Migraine Headache Overview, Types of Migraines – Migraine Headaches – Neurology Channel.