As well as pain for up to 72 hours, some people have nausea and increased sensitiviey to light, smell, sound.
Migraines - so much more than just a headache. intnese throbbing pain often on one side, sufferers are often unable to continue with their everyday lives.
Symptoms
Some people experience symptoms before an attack called an aura:
- Flashing Lights zigzag patterns or blind spots in your vision
- Stiffness, a tingling sensation or pins and needles in your neck or shoulders
- Feeling disorientated or off balance
- Difficulty speaking
- Poor concentration
As well as pain for up to 72 hours, some people have nausea and an increased sensitiviy to light smells or sound during a migraine.
What causes a migraine?
There are some foods that are said to trigger a migraine. High blood pressure, smoking and even sleeping tablets get the blame as well as weeather conditions for some people.
But what if it isn't any of these commonly blamed elements?
Mechanical Causes
Recent research subbest that neck issues are the major cause of migraine
So migraines should be primarily treated as a “mechanical” problem. As Professor Andrew Charles of Migraine and Headache Science at the University of California Los Angeles explains in this podcast (with transcript), “we had all thought that migraine came in through the trigeminal nerve or was mediated by input from the face. But now there’s really growing recognition that the occipital nerve, the upper cervical nerve routes may actually be playing an equally important role and many, many migraine patients get neck pain either before, during or after their attack they have soreness and stiffness in their neck.” (he goes on to talk about the medication he’s developing as well as physical therapy).
Migraines are caused by nerve irritation. All nerves run through the neck so any muscle constriction or tension in the neck will place strain on these nerves which,when combined with other triggers caus a migraine.
Resolve the neck problem, reduce the irritation and therefore reduce the likelyhood of migraine.
Up to date analysis methods like MRI scans have shown that the previous view of migraines as a vascular issue (based on description of a thumping pain) is incorrect.
AS this is likely to be a build up of muscular constriction developed over many years it is important to take any remedy very carefully and gently as the massage if too strenuous can bring on a migraine. You must contact a qualified therapist who can also switch any6 triggered migraine off before sending you home.
So eating chocolate is okay then?
We are talking layers here. The first layer is the nerve problem, then you add other layers including stress (when the neck would naturally stiffen), poor posture, chocolate or cheese or wine etc. which produce the breaking point but are not the cause. So yes you can eat cholcolate.
