Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes

Endolymphatic sac decompression effective for vertigo, migraine

For Meniere disease (MD) patients with migraine, endolymphatic sac decompression (ELSD) is effective, providing postoperative relief of vertigo and migraine, according to a study published online April 30 in Acta Oto-Laryngologica.

Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes

Why your migraine might be making you crave a large Coke and fries

Whether it's one or two coffees to get us going in the morning or a bar of chocolate after a stressful day, many of us self-medicate when we're tired, stressed or sad. But when we have a headache, most of us head straight ...

page 1 from 40

Migraine is a chronic neurological disorder characterized by moderate to severe headaches, and nausea. It is about three times more common in women than in men. The word derives from the Greek ἡμικρανία (hemikrania), "pain on one side of the head", from ἡμι- (hemi-), "half", and κρανίον (kranion), "skull".

The typical migraine headache is unilateral (affecting one half of the head) and pulsating in nature and lasting from two to 72 hours; symptoms include nausea, vomiting, photophobia (increased sensitivity to light) and phonophobia (increased sensitivity to sound); the symptoms are generally aggravated by routine activity. Approximately one-third of people who suffer from migraine headaches perceive an aura—transient visual, sensory, language, or motor disturbances signaling the migraine will soon occur.

Initial treatment is with analgesics for the headache, an antiemetic for the nausea, and the avoidance of triggers. The cause of migraine headache is unknown; the most supported theory is that it is related to hyperexcitability of the cerebral cortex and/or abnormal control of pain neurons in the trigeminal nucleus of the brainstem.

Studies of twins indicate a 60- to 65-percent genetic influence upon their propensity to develop migraine headaches. 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 sometimes disappears during pregnancy, but in some women, migraines may become more frequent.

This text uses material from Wikipedia licensed under CC BY-SA