Migraine vs Regular Headaches

How do you know if you are experiencing a migraine headache or just a regular headache. Migraine tests are usually just a review of the headache symptoms. With just a regular tension headache, you will experience a band of pain around the head, which may extend to the neck and back. It is usually caused by contraction of the neck and facial muscles but can be intensified by dental problems and eye strain. The pain is mild to moderate, and it is usually felt all over the head. This headache will last only a short time, and usually responds well to over-the-counter pain relievers like aspirin. It does not involve other symptoms like nausea, vomiting and diarrhea, or vision blurring and vertigo.

A migraine headache is caused by an enlargement in the blood vessels in the head near the temple. These enlarge blood vessels cause the production of chemicals that can cause inflammation and pain and further enlargement of the blood vessels. The pain of a migraine headache is moderate to severe. Many migraine suffers are completely bedridden during a migraine headache attack. The pain is a stabbing and throbbing pain, usually experienced only on one side of the head. A migraine headache can last for several hours up to several days. Migraine tests are usually just a review of the symptoms and after effects. It typically does not respond to over-the-counter pain relievers because the sympathetic nervous system is activated by this condition. This prevents the stomach from processing things that have been consumed and passing them on to the small intestine. This is where medications would be processed to help relieve pain. This is one of the migraine tests that can verify what type of headache you are suffering from. So, when a person gets a migraine headache sometimes they just have to wait it out. The action of the sympathetic nervous system can also cause dizziness and fainting in migraine suffers.

Many people believe that migraines are caused by a change in the hormones in the body, so women are more likely to be migraine suffers than men, especially because of menstrual cycles. Sometimes migraines can be triggered by foods and food additives. Many people feel that chocolate, excessive caffeine and things like MSG in Chinese food can bring on migraines. Keep a diary of the foods that seem to cause your migraines and avoid those foods. Migraine tests for proving these claims have not been developed, but you will know after a while what triggers to look for.

As mentioned above, a regular headache will usually respond well to over-the-counter medications, within a short time frame. You will typically get relief within 30 minutes to one hour. Migraine headaches on the other hand, do not respond well to medication. Migraine suffers usually just have to get through the attack by laying quietly in a dark room until the migraine symptoms pass. Migraine tests consist basically of just a general physical exam and a screening for symptoms of the migraine sufferer. You physician will simply review the conditions you experience before during and after an attack.

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One Response to “Migraine vs Regular Headaches”

  1. Rick Olderman on January 22nd, 2010 4:57 pm

    In their book, Heal Your Headache: the 1-2-3 Program for Taking Charge of Your Pain, by David Buchholz and Stephen G. Reich M.D. state that all headaches are variations of the same thing. We’ve just decided categorize them into different headings based on how they manifest themselves.
    I tend to agree. Although they’ve had great success altering diet to fix headaches, I’ve had great success at correcting musculoskeletal causes of neck pain and headaches. It turns out it’s quite simple for most people. This is outlined in my book, Fixing You: Neck Pain & Headaches.
    Because of this and other items I’ve read, I believe that headaches are a threshold phenomenon. What I mean by this is above a certain threshold of stress, we experience headaches. The stresses that can cause us to break this threshold are dietary, musculoskeletal, and psychological.
    Some people are more sensitive to certain stresses than others. Keeping any one or all three of these stressors under control seems to relieve all types of headaches.
    Thank you for your article.

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