Topic: Migraine

For most people migraine is a great deal more than just a headache.
It can be a debilitating condition which has a huge impact on the quality of life of sufferers and their families.

A general rule of thumb is that if a headache and/or other associated symptoms prevent you from continuing with normal daily activities it could be a migraine.

Migraine attacks normally last between 3 and 72 hours and sufferers are usually quite well between attacks.

Migraine symptoms

Everyone has the capacity to suffer from migraine but for around 10% of the population, most probably because of a genetic predisposition, the threshold at which attacks occur is lower. It has been proven that there is no "migraine type" and sufferers are not, as is sometimes suggested, neurotic, perfectionist hypochondriacs who bring all their problems on themselves nor even, as has also been suggested, that they are super intelligent or extra sensitive. Although twice as many women as men suffer from migraine because of the involvement of hormonal factors, migraineurs come from all walks of life, all areas of the world and ethnic groups, and all social classes.

If you have two or more of the following symptoms during an attack it is probable that you are suffering from migraine.

• visual disturbances including blind spots,
• distorted vision,
• flashing lights or zig zag patterns.