Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes

Not just a headache: Migraines can cause significant disability

More than a quarter of people who live with migraine disease say the condition has caused them to miss school or work for more than five days over a three-month period, a survey from the University of Otago, Wellington, and ...

Neuroscience

Study links poor sleep to migraine attacks

A new study by researchers at the University of Arizona Health Sciences identified a link between poor sleep and migraine attacks that suggests improving sleep health may diminish migraine attacks in people with migraine.

Medical research

Research may offer relief to migraine sufferers

Research from the University of Virginia School of Medicine could pave the way for new treatments to manage migraines and chronic pain in women, improving their quality of life. The work is published in The Journal of Pain.

Obstetrics & gynaecology

Menopause and migraines: New findings point to power of prevention

For middle-aged women plagued by migraines, or hot flashes and night sweats, another worry may linger in the backs of their minds: whether these experiences have set them up for a heart attack, a stroke or another cardiovascular ...

Medical research

Study looks at ways to predict when a migraine attack will occur

Migraine is often under-diagnosed and untreated, and even when it is treated, it can be difficult to treat early enough as well as find strategies to prevent attacks. A new study looks at ways to more accurately predict when ...

Health

Pain-based weather forecasts could influence behavior

For individuals who experience chronic pain, weather can be a significant factor in their day-to-day plans. In a recent study from the University of Georgia published in the International Journal of Biometeorology, about ...

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Migraine

Migraine is a neurological syndrome characterized by altered bodily perceptions, headaches, and nausea. Physiologically, the migraine headache is a neurological condition more common to women than to men. The word migraine was borrowed from Old French migraigne (originally as "megrim", but respelled in 1777 on a contemporary French model). The French term derived from a vulgar pronunciation of the Late Latin word hemicrania, itself based on Greek hemikrania, from Greek roots for "half" and "skull". The typical migraine headache is unilateral and pulsating, lasting from 4 to 72 hours; symptoms include nausea, vomiting, photophobia (increased sensitivity to bright light), and hyperacusis (increased sensitivity to sound); approximately one third of people who suffer migraine headache perceive an aura — unusual visual, olfactory, or other sensory experiences that are a sign that the migraine will soon occur.

Initial treatment is with analgesics for the head-ache, an anti-emetic for the nausea, and the avoidance of triggering conditions. The cause of migraine headache is idiopathic; the accepted theory is a disorder of the serotonergic control system, as PET scan has demonstrated the aura coincides with diffusion of cortical depression consequent to increased blood flow (up to 300% greater than baseline). There are migraine headache variants, some originate in the brainstem (featuring intercellular transport dysfunction of calcium and potassium ions) and some are genetically disposed. Studies of twins indicate a 60 to 65 percent genetic influence upon their propensity to develop migraine headache. Moreover, fluctuating hormone levels indicate a migraine relation: 75 percent of adult patients are women, although migraine affects approximately equal numbers of prepubescent boys and girls; propensity to migraine headache is known to disappear during pregnancy, although in some women migraines may become more frequent during pregnancy.[citation needed]

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