Migraines are a form of severe headache that affect about 15% percent of the population globally. Also, many migraine sufferers experience pain that can be debilitating to the point of jeopardizing one’s career.
It’s more than an ordinary headache, and according to the Mayo Clinic:
A migraine can cause an extreme pulsing sensation or a throbbing. Migraines usually only affect one side of the head. It’s often accompanied by nausea, vomiting, and severe sensitivity to sound and light.
Secondly, migraine attacks may cause severe pain for hours or days, and can be so extreme that the pain may prevent you from going to work or school.
Plus, warning symptoms known as aura can occur before or along with the migraine attack. These can include blind spots, flashes of light, and/or tingling on one side of the face or in your arm or leg.
If you’ve ever wondered if you’re suffering from a migraine and what a migraine feels like, keep reading.
What it Feels Like to Have a Migraine Attack
A migraine is much more than just a headache. It typically involves intense, throbbing pain, often on one side of the head, accompanied by a range of other symptoms.
Here’s what migraine headaches typically feel like:
Intense Pain
- Severe, throbbing or pounding headache, usually affecting one side of the head
- Pain that worsens with physical activity
- Migraine pain can last anywhere from 4 hours to 3 days
Sensory Disturbances
- Increased sensitivity to light, sound, and smells
- Visual disturbances (aura) in some cases, such as flashing lights, blind spots, or zigzag lines
Nausea and Digestive Issues
- Nausea affects about 80% of people with migraines
- Vomiting occurs in about half of migraine sufferers
- Some may experience stomach aches and diarrhea
Other Common Migraine Symptoms
- Feeling dizzy or faint
- Neck pain or stiffness
- Poor concentration and fatigue
- Feeling hot or cold and sweating
- Increased need to urinate
Many people describe the experience of having a migraine as debilitating, often making everyday activities impossible during an attack. The symptoms can vary between individuals and even between attacks for the same person. Some may experience warning signs hours or days before the headache phase, such as mood changes, food cravings, or increased yawning.
After the headache subsides, many people report feeling extremely tired, while others might feel unusually refreshed or energetic. This post-headache phase, known as the postdrome, can last up to a day.
Learn more about the differences between headaches and migraines at our blog.
Now that we’ve covered what migraines feel like, let’s get into how to assess and treat migraines.
“I suffer from chronic daily migraine which also ties into my TMJ (tight jaw). Within days I had markedly improved mental clarity. I had my first day without pain about 3 weeks in. Now I have so much more energy and I’m feeling great. I’ve definitely switched from a skeptic to a believer! Not to mention how kind and professional Dr’s. Young and Tapia and their staff are.” – Intouch Chiropractic Migraine Treatment Review by Laura L.
Take Inventory of Your Symptoms
When tackling any medical issue, it’s a good idea to keep track of symptoms. Using a journal, spreadsheet, or other system that works for you, record your habits and experiments to help determine what’s working and not working. Here’s a few things to consider:
Chemical:
- Are there certain foods that trigger or calm your migraines?
- Based on recommendations from your healthcare team, have you made an honest change to your diet and noted any changes?
- If you are using medications, are you using them as advised and recorded their effects?
Mechanical:
- How is your body moving? Are you flexible?
- Do you spend long periods of time in one position driving, on the computer, reading, or in some other sedentary position?
- Have you been prescribed exercises? Do you actually do them?
Emotional:
- Migraines are associated with stress. What are the stressors in your life?
- How do you mange stress?
- Do you actively engage in self-care? Also, how and when do you take care of your emotional needs?
Taking inventory of your symptoms and health habits will help you and your healthcare team come up with a plan to address your migraines.
Holistic Approaches that Work
Assessing whether therapies like acupuncture and chiropractic care are effective in treating migraines is challenging. However, when surveying chiropractic care studies, scientists stated that studies had problems with methodology. These studies concluded that “the evidence to support spinal manipulation is poor and insufficient to support its use.”
Indeed, while complex, it is simpler to study the use of medication than methods that rely on the practitioner’s experience and skill. One can look at the results of a 5mg or 10mg dose of medicine, compare it with a placebo, and make conclusions.
How does one deliver exactly the same “dose” of acupuncture or chiropractic care to patients and then measure the results? It’s definitely more challenging that studying a pill. It is difficult to standardize holistic care and to measure it scientifically.
In spite of challenges to measuring the value of chiropractic care, research conducted by a group in Australia did summarize their study results and stated that chiropractic therapy was often effective. They found that “22% of participants reported more than a 90% reduction of migraines as a consequence of the 2 months of chiropractic. Approximately 50% more participants reported significant improvement in the morbidity of each episode.”
Anecdotal evidence, which would be completely inadmissible in a scientific forum, also points to chiropractic care being an effective aid for chronic migraines without drugs or surgery. On a website where people self-reported the effect of chiropractic care, 29% of respondents (129 of 542), all symptoms were eliminated. Contrasted with only 13% who claimed no benefit at all.
Conclusion: Migraines
We are each responsible for our health. Be bold and do your research when looking for solutions to your migraines. Each person is unique, so be honest with your doctors, give them as much information as you can to help them use all of their training to help create a custom solution that fits your needs.
Want expert help? Call our office today at (619) 756-7510 or request an appointment here.
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Guest Blogger Bio: Martha de Forest is a dual degree engineer and certified integrative hypnotherapist. She has been married for over 30 years and has raised two daughters.
