Migraine

Migraine

Severe headaches are the most common experiences of migraine but migraines are not all about headaches. They involve a wide spectrum of experiences and some don’t even involve a headache.

They are as common as they are diverse. About 33 per cent of women and 13 per cent of men are affected by various types of migraines during their lifetimes.

Migraine is a neurological disorder affecting multiple parts of the brain-the brainstem, cerebral hemispheres and nerves but it is less known of what triggers it. There are a lot of questions still unanswered about migraines like why some people experience them while others don’t, why more women face migraines than men and many such other questions.

Another such question is why migraine patterns change for a person during their lifetime?

Hormonal fluctuations may be playing a role in the answers to this question. Some women have less experiences of migraine after menopause as the sex hormone related fluctuations get lowered. While just before menopause some women experience worsening experiences of migraine as the fluctuations are at their peak.

People with migraines are more likely to suffer from depression, panic disorder, sleep disorder and strokes. Migraines may change the degree with which these diseases affect us and vice versa.

Genetics also play some role with migraines. While there is no single gene which migraines but there are a set of genes that control the way neurons of the brain react to external environmental stimuli. It is a possibility that the brain neurons of people experiencing migraines are more sensitive to external environment than others who don’t experience them. Thus external environment may act as a trigger to this neurological disorder.

While it’s not that simple to explain migraines and many questions still remain unanswered, one thing is for sure that migraines are much more than just headaches.