What are Migraines?
Migraines are a type of headache that is most commonly experienced in your prime of life and relatively infrequently after the age of 40. Your susceptibility to migraines is typically inherited and can normally be caused by a combination of triggers.
According to the International Headache Society, a migraine is a headache that lasts for between 4 and 72 hours and has at least two of these symptoms:
- the pain is one sided
- it is moderate to severe
- there is associated throbbing
- it is aggravated by any movement
And….. there needs to be at least one of these associated symptoms.
- nausea
- vomiting
- sensitivity to light
- sensitivity to noise
This definition does not lessen the unbearable nature of other headaches, it just helps to categorise them. Other common types of headaches are Tension, Sinus and Cluster.
The precise cause of migraines is unknown. There are lots of opinions, but they’re commonly thought to be the result of irregular brain activity momentarily affecting chemicals, nerve signals and blood vessels in the brain.
It’s not yet clear what causes this variation in brain activity. It is probable that your genes make you more likely to suffer migraines as a result of a specific trigger.