A migraine is a throbbing or pulsating headache that is often one sided (unilateral) and associated with nausea, vomiting, sensitivity to light (photophobia), sound (phonophobia), and smells, sleep disruption, and depression. Attacks are often recurrent and tend to become less severe as the migraine sufferer ages.

The word ‘migraine’ is French in origin and comes from the Greek hemicrania, as does the Old English term megrim. Literally, hemicrania means “only half the head”.

 

Migraine is a frustrating chronic illness that is widespread in the population (10% diagnosed, 5% undiagnosed), with seriousness varying from a rare annoyance to a life-threatening daily experience. Treatments are typically expensive. Periodic or unpredictable disability can cause impoverishment due to patients' inability to work enough or to hold a job at all.

 

Migraine's secondary characteristics are annoyingly inconsistent. Triggers precipitating a particular episode of migraine vary widely. The simplest treatment, applying warm/hot water or cold water soaked cloths to the affected area of head, is contradictory — hot or cold can either increase or decrease pain, though it is consistent in the same patient. A particular migraine rescue drug may sometimes work and sometimes not work in the same patient. Some migraine types don't have pain or don't occur in the head.

 

Three-fourths of adult migraine patients are female, although pre-pubertal migraine affects approximately equal numbers of boys and girls. This reveals the strong correlation to hormonal cycling and hormonal-related causes or triggers. Hormonal migraine is a likely consequence of periodically falling hormone levels causing reduction in protein biosynthesis of metabolic components including intestinal tract serotonin.

 

 

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