Migraine is a chronic neurological disease, which is diagnosed quite often recently. The exact causes of pathology have not yet been established, but it is believed that in its development a certain role is played by changes in the blood vessels of the head and a violation of blood circulation in them. In this case, migraine is not associated with increased or decreased pressure, head injuries, stroke, intracranial tumors, increased intracranial pressure, or a bout of glaucoma. Consider what signs indicate a migraine, and how to distinguish them from the symptoms of a common headache.
Signs of migraine depending on the age of the woman
In many cases, the first signs of migraine appear in childhood and in young girls under the age of 20, less often the onset of the disease falls on the older age (up to 40 years). The peak of migraine, when there is the greatest number of seizures, and manifestations are most intense, falls on the age of 25 to 34 years. Later, especially at the onset of menopause in women after 50 years of migraine symptoms either disappear completely, or their intensity decreases significantly.
In general, the main manifestations of migraine are typical for women of all ages, but the forms of the disease are very diverse and, above all, determined by the individual characteristics of the organism. A migraine attack can be provoked by various factors:
- mental or physical overstrain;
- stress;
- menstruation, ovulation;
- Food;
- alcohol;
- medicines;
- weather change, etc.
The main signs of migraine in women
The most frequent and characteristic manifestation of migraine is an episodic or regularly occurring headache, localized in one (sometimes in both) half of the head in the temple, forehead, and the eye cavity. The pain has a pulsating, bursting character, can have an average or pronounced intensity, sometimes it is growing, very often painful, debilitating. In many patients, pain begins at night or immediately after a morning awakening.
The appearance of a woman during a bout of pain often changes:
- blush and watery eyes;
- there is swelling;
- the skin turns pale.
Strengthening pain is facilitated by various external stimuli:
- bright light;
- sharp sound;
- strong smell.
The duration of a pain attack can range from several tens of minutes to several hours and even days.
Some patients note that for some time before a pain attack they have symptoms-harbingers, which are most often:
- increased sensitivity to external factors (light, sounds);
- lack of appetite;
- increased fatigue ;
- irritability.
During a pain attack, there may also be other pathological symptoms:
- nausea;
- vomiting;
- diarrhea;
- increased body temperature;
- increased sweating;
- frequent urination;
- palpitation;
- feeling of lack of air, etc.
At the end of the attack, when the pain begins to decrease, there is usually a feeling of lethargy, weakness, and severe drowsiness.
Symptoms of migraine with aura
Separately, we should consider a form of the disease, like a migraine with an aura . It occurs less frequently and is characterized by a number of neurological signs that appear shortly before the pain attack or simultaneously with its onset. Aura can include such manifestations:
- visual impairment (points, "fog" before the eyes);
- tactile disorders (sensation of numbness, tingling, "creepy");
- speech disorders;
- hallucinations (visual, olfactory, tactile);
- dizziness;
- noise in ears;
- fainting.