Migraines, Shadow Pains

Migraines are not just headaches. It is having to choose darkness and silence in a closed room to feel relieved, it is sighing in bed wishing with all its might that this throbbing pain in the middle of the head ceases.

On top of that, migraines involve suffering from the misunderstanding of others who think you are exaggerating …

Whoever suffers from this disease chronically knows what is the contempt of those who do not understand. For example, a headache can prevent you from going to work.

To recognize this reality that affects millions of people around the world, the WHO (World Health Organization) recognized chronic migraine as a disabling disease in 2012. 

A migraine is not a headache, it is a cerebral nightmare that fears light, sounds, smells… Which forces us to look for a safe place where we can protect ourselves in the dark and in silence.

No one chooses to suffer from this type of pain. We would all like to enjoy our days with a good quality of life and well-being, but the invisible enemy of migraines appears on a regular basis “to turn our vital switch off” and take us prisoner.

Migraine is a neurological disease that we want to tell you about today.

Better understand migraines

As we often say: nothing better than to know our enemy well in order to be able to face him with as many resources as possible.

In the case of migraine, it is first said that there is a genetic component and that it affects women the most. 

It is very common to remember that when we were children, our parents forced us to speak quietly and not make noise because one of them suffered from a migraine.

Some time later, we in turn discovered this dark state which lodges in the head and which obliges us to stop, for several hours, the course of our life.

A migraine has a clear genetic component, that’s something you need to know. There are people who think that the origin of this evil can come from an emotional state: it is wrong.

Of course, factors like stress are often the triggers but never the causes. The following data must therefore be taken into account.

Causes of migraine

Here, we will present the main characteristics related to migraine and its causes:

• Migraine affects 10% of the population, and although it usually starts from the age of 20, children can also suffer from it.

• It should be noted, above all, that there are several types of migraines.
  The most common is that which affects “one half of the head” and causes throbbing pain. It is a migraine with aura, which means that there are special symptoms.

• The most painful and incapacitating is the neuralgic migraine generated by the activation or irritation of the fibers of the nerve.
  Arétée of Cappadocia, famous doctor of the 1st century described it as “the worst pain in the world”.

• You should know that the trigeminal nerve is the one which is the origin of the sensitivity of the head and which surrounds the meninges with fibers.

• When the trigeminal nerve is activated or overloaded, inflammation appears and substances affect all of the meninges.
  Hence the persistent beating in the head. It is something terribly painful.

How to prevent and face migraine days?

Many people have terrible days looking for treatments to improve their quality of life.

The deepest goal or desire is to stop this migraine so that it stops erecting a wall that interrupts time, relationships, sunny days, productivity at work.

For this, we suggest you think about this problem and how to deal with it, in order to avoid these days of migraine and gloom.

Learn more about your disease

Your migraine is not that of your co-worker, and not like that of your mother.

The same treatments do not work on the same people and therefore you have to do personal work:

• Make a “pain” journal. It is always very useful to make a register on the frequency of their appearance and on their possible triggers: stress, a type of food, days of strong wind, premenstrual syndrome …

• Try more than one treatment: There are several medicines for treating migraines.
  Your doctors will always give us the best options for your needs. Likewise, do not hesitate to supplement them with therapies such as yoga, biofeedback, relaxation …

Know what the triggers are

As we told you, factors like stress can trigger migraine because it excites the trigeminal nerve.

This is why it is interesting to know these dimensions which can activate the onset of migraine.

• Intense physical exercise (migraine appears when we relax after activity).
• Foods rich in salt.
• Foods with chemical or natural stimulants.
• Dry cheeses, dairy products.
• Chocolate. 
• Coffee, tea, alcohol.
• The intense lights and smells.
• Temperature differences.

Channel the pain

This might sound silly to you, especially when you know how debilitating migraine pain can be.

Accepting the illness itself can help us find a way to shift our focus slightly on suffering.

• Artists like Salvador Dalí, Debussy, Yakoi Kusama or Lewis Carroll, suffered from regular migraine and they found in art, music or writing a means of expression.

Try to find yours.