Headache is one of the world’s most common medical conditions. It can be due to various reasons, such as stress, headaches, hunger, etc., and they go away with time and rest.
However, headaches like migraine have the potential to take your life. Migraines can be draining for some people, and they can cause an increased risk of stroke for others. The good thing is physiotherapists at FlexiFit Physiotherapy are experienced enough to treat migraine.
Nevertheless, although migraine can be treated with medications and physiotherapy, you should still know what causes migraine headaches. Read this article to find out the reason behind the severity of a migraine.
What Is a Migraine?
Migraine is a neurological disorder identified by symptoms like nausea, headache, vomiting, dizziness, visual disturbances, tingling or numbness in the face, hands or feet, as well as sensitivity to light, touch, smell or sound. Migraine attacks mostly happen suddenly without any warning. Sometimes triggers, such as hunger, pollution or hormonal changes, can lead to migraine attacks.
Migraine attacks can last from 4 to 72 hours and even longer. However, the right treatment can shorten this period.
Migraine can significantly interfere with the daily routine and can lead to a reduction in productivity, lack of concentration, and missing out on family and social functions. Doctors describe people with migraine brains as super sensitive or hyperactive, which means that their brains react strongly to external stimuli, such as sleep disturbances and stress.
As such, there is no cure for migraine, but lifestyle changes and treatments can help people prevent the number of attacks and reduce the period.
Ways Migraines Are Dangerous For Your Health
Migraine can impact the entire body and lead to other medical conditions. Although the cause of migraine varies for each person, you should know what causes migraine headaches and try to avoid triggers as this can have adverse consequences.
Here are a few ways in which migraine can be dangerous for your health:
Bowel Problems
Migraines can lead to irregular bowel movements or irritable bowel movements. To put it simply, both of these go hand in hand. Doctors say that changes in the nervous system lead to headaches and issues with digestion. People who suffer from bowel problems often have to deal with constipation and diarrhoea and may also feel bloated.
Backache
Lower back ache is also another problem that is associated with chronic migraines. This pain leads to changes in the structure of the grey matter present in the brain and further hurts throughout the body.
Stroke
Strokes are the condition in which the blood flow in the brain stops. People suffering from migraine are prone to stroke. This risk increases when aura-visual disturbances accompany a migraine.
Risk Even More Headaches
People suffering from chronic migraine are at greater risk of more and more headaches at frequent intervals. They have to depend on medications, and the pain returns when the medications wear off.
Vision Shifts
Migraines can even lead to a shift in vision or even vision loss. Other types of migraine can even lead to drooping in eyelids or pupil enlargement. Some types of migraines are also accompanied by double vision.
Sleep May Suffer
Migraine patients have difficulty sleeping. Additionally, in chronic migraine, the body transitions between stages of interrupting rests and slumber. Lack of sleep worsens the headache even more.
Hearing Loss
Sometimes, sudden migraine attacks lead to hearing loss for 72 hours or even more. This condition is more common in people with chronic migraine.
Development of Other Types of Chronic Pain
Migraine leads to fibromyalgia in a few people, which is characterised by depression and fatigue. However, it is not very common.
Blood Pressure May Rise
Women with chronic migraine are more likely to develop high blood pressure, especially during pregnancy. Doctors link hypertension with migraine in adults. Chronic migraine also leads to disturbances in the autonomic nervous system, which controls blood pressure and heart rate.
Mood Sink
Anxiety, bipolar disorder and depression are other problems that affect people suffering from migraine with greater intensity.
Life-Threatening Migraine Complications
The symptoms of life-threatening migraines are rare to identify, but it does happen in some severe conditions. Here are four conditions in which migraine can be lethal.
- Persistent aura without infarction
- Status migrainosus
- Migraine aura-triggered infarction
- Migrainous infarction
Be at Your Best With FlexiFit Physiotherapy
Migraine is one of the most common headache problems that hit a number of people worldwide. It also comes with a lot of complications that might interfere with daily life activities. However, its chances of becoming lethal are quite rare.
Migraine pains can be managed with proper medication and treatment. Knowing what causes migraine headaches will also help you eliminate those triggers.
If you want to reduce your dependence on medicines to treat your migraine, then you can contact our experienced therapists at FlexiFit Physiotherapy.