YOU HAVE A SPECIAL KIND OF HEADACHE. You may be surprised to know that more than 40 million people in this country suffer from frequent and recurring headaches due to various causes. There are many different kinds of headache, your physician has diagnosed your as migraine. It is special because
bodies mechanisms that bring on migraine are unlike those that bring on other kinds of headache.Yet, you need not suffer because you have migraine. Doctors now have ways to treat your migraine which attack cause rather than just give simple pain relief. However, your physician’s instructions must be carefully carried out in order for medication to work properly.
WHY YOU GET MIGRAINE. Migraine is known as a vascular headache. Medical evidence indicates that it is related to a disturbance in blood vessels in brain, scalp and facial tissues. Most headache experts believe that migraine is an inherited disorder that may be precipitated by many factors such as food, atmospheric pressure, changes in weather, stress situations and excessive sleep.
Although there are many forms migraine may take, there are two major types: Classical and Neoclassical Migraine. The difference between two is that with classical migraine there are various warning symptoms. Perhaps you have blurred vision or you see stars or flashes of light, just prior to headache. If you have classical migraine, your blood vessels constrict during this phase. When full-blown migraine occurs, there is an increase in size (or vasodilatation) of blood vessels. Therefore it is important that you take your migraine medication as soon as warning symptom occurs. Nonclassical or simple migraine is a severe headache when it occurs at irregular intervals, but which is not preceded by warning symptoms such as flashes of light. In this type of migraine it is also important that your medication be taken at very first indication of head pain.
GENERAL RULES FOR PREVENTING MIGRAINE HEADACHE. Each of well-known rules for general health care can be especially helpful for decreasing frequency and severity of your migraine attacks. For example:
1. Get plenty of sleep---but do not oversleep. Early to bed and early to rise is a good plan. Fatigue and overexertion can trigger migraine. Keep your normal sleep pattern, even on weekends. 2. Eat balanced meals at regular hours. Do not skip meals. 3. Avoid foods that tend to trigger attacks.
FOODS TO AVOID. All cheeses (except cottage cheese), chocolate, herring, vinegar (except white vinegar), anything fermented, pickled, or marinated, yogurt, sour cream, nuts, pods of broad beans, such as: lima, navy, and pea pods, hot, fresh-baked breads, chicken livers, lunch meats, hot dogs and other foods containing nitrates.
