Migraine Treatment Has Many Faces

According to the National Headache Foundation, over 28 million people suffer from migraine headaches. Migraine headaches are not your run-of-the-mill tension headache; they are much, much worse. Migraine headaches are usually intensely painful, disabling, and typically reoccurring. To make matters worse, migraine headaches often last for several days. If you are among the estimated 28 million people who suffer from this debilitating condition then you might be well served by pursuing migraine treatment.

The first step in migraine treatment is seeing your physician. The doctor must be certain of the type of headache that is causing your suffering, and the symptoms alone may not be sufficient for making a confident diagnosis. Migraine treatment will likely begin with a thorough physical examination and headache evaluation. Only after other potential causes have been eliminated can you and your doctor begin to narrow your treatment options.

If no causes for your migraines are evident your doctor might tell you to begin keeping a headache diary. A headache diary is used to help identify what things are migraine triggers for you. The list of migraine triggers is as varied as the people who suffer from migraines. Stress, fatigue, lack of sleep, foods or food additives, alcohol, nicotine, caffeine, even bright lights; all of these things, and more, trigger migraine headaches in some people. By using a migraine diary you are more likely to identify the conditions that make a migraine possible for you.

Once you have identified the sources of your migraines, you can begin working toward an effective migraine treatment. Often it is possible to curb or even eliminate your migraine headaches by strictly avoiding the foods and conditions that you have identified in your headache diary.

It is possible that the use of a headache diary can be an effective, preventative, migraine treatment for some; others will need additional help that natural prevention methods can not provide. Abortive medications are taken at the moment you begin to feel the all too familiar symptoms of an impending migraine headache. However, if your headaches are exceptionally disabling or frequent - more than three per month - then you may not want to wait until they start to begin taking medication.

Various drugs have proven to be an effective migraine treatment. Beta-blockers, calcium channel blockers, antidepressants, and anticonvulsants all have a demonstrated record of migraine prevention. Migraine treatment that focuses on prevention can allow frequent sufferers to reduce the amount of pain medication they are using and the side effects those medications may have.

It is important to remember that none of these options for migraine treatment should be tackled alone. Like all matters involving your health and medication, it is imperative that you consult with your physician before embarking on any migraine treatment regimen.