Overview
Migraine is a disorder of the brain and nervous system that causes repeated headache attacks and other symptoms. The pain is often throbbing or pulsating and may affect one side of the head, but it can also affect both sides. Migraine can interfere with work, school, family life, and daily activities.
Key Symptoms
Migraine often causes moderate to severe headache pain that gets worse with routine activity. Many people also have nausea, vomiting, or sensitivity to light, sound, or smells. Some people experience aura, which can include flashing lights, blind spots, tingling, or trouble speaking that usually happens before the headache but can also occur during it.
Causes and Risk Factors
The exact cause of migraine is not fully understood, but it involves changes in brain activity and pain pathways. Migraine often runs in families. Common triggers can include stress, changes in sleep, missed meals, dehydration, hormonal changes, alcohol, certain foods, bright lights, strong smells, and changes in weather.
Who Is Affected
Migraine can affect children, teenagers, and adults. It is common worldwide and often begins in adolescence or early adulthood, although it can start at any age. People with a family history of migraine are more likely to have it.
Prevention
Prevention focuses on reducing triggers and building steady daily habits. Keeping a headache diary may help identify patterns related to sleep, meals, stress, menstruation, or environmental triggers. Regular sleep, hydration, physical activity, stress management, and not skipping meals may help reduce attacks for some people.
Diagnosis and Tests
Healthcare professionals usually diagnose migraine by asking about symptoms, timing, possible triggers, and family history. A neurological exam may be done to check for other causes of headache. Tests such as brain imaging are not needed for everyone, but they may be ordered if symptoms are new, unusual, or suggest another condition.
Treatment Categories
Treatment can include medicines taken during an attack to relieve symptoms and other medicines used to help prevent future attacks. Non-medicine approaches such as rest in a dark quiet room, hydration, trigger management, and behavioral strategies may also be part of care. Treatment choice depends on how often migraines happen, how severe they are, and whether aura or other symptoms are present.
Living With It
Living with migraine often means planning for an unpredictable condition. Tracking symptoms and triggers, carrying a care plan, and letting school or work contacts know what helps during an attack may make episodes easier to manage. If migraine is frequent or disabling, regular follow-up with a healthcare professional is important.
Diet and Lifestyle
A balanced routine can help some people reduce migraine attacks. Try to eat regular meals, drink enough fluids, keep a consistent sleep schedule, and limit personal triggers if you notice them. Caffeine affects people differently, so sudden changes in caffeine use may worsen headaches in some individuals.
When It May Be an Emergency
Seek urgent medical care for a sudden severe headache that reaches maximum intensity within moments, a headache after a head injury, or a headache with weakness, confusion, fainting, seizure, stiff neck, fever, chest pain, or trouble speaking. Emergency care is also important for a new severe headache during pregnancy, after childbirth, or in someone with cancer or a weakened immune system. New vision loss or symptoms that feel different from usual migraine attacks also need prompt evaluation.