What is chronic migraine disorder?

I think we can all agree, no matter who we are, our age, occupation, where we live, we have all experienced headaches. They suck! A pounding in the head that disrupts your day, ruins your mood, and puts a downer on your plans.

Enter stage left headache’s evil cousin, migraine. Not just a headache, migraine is a severe and painful long term health condition that can be a whole body attack. While scientists don’t know everything about migraines, what they do know is that they are genetic and hereditary, meaning if a family member has migraine, you’re more likely to have them as well. Migraine are believed to be a result of abnormal brain activity affecting nerve signals, chemicals and blood vessels.

Are there different types of migraine?

Yes! Quite a few actually. Here are some types and definitions. You can suffer from a few kinds, and have a combination of symptoms during an attack.

Aura, optical, abdominal, chronic, no aura, hemispheric, menstrual, basilar artery, status migrainosus, retinal, vestibular, cyclical vomiting

Let’s break down a few of these that are more common. No matter which type of migraine you may be suffering from, the key is to track your symptoms and triggers. This will help you not only get a diagnosis, but help you take some control over your attacks as you can try to avoid certain triggers, and create a plan for mitigating your symptoms. 

Aura

About one in three people with migraine have aura migraines, which affect your sight through blind spots and/or seeing flashing lights. 

Auras can either happen on their own or together with the symptoms migraine without aura. Auras can happen before painful symptoms, or during. 

The common sight symptoms are:

• blind spots
• seeing coloured spots or lines
• seeing flashing or flickering lights
• seeing zig zag patterns
• temporary blindness

Other aura symptoms can include:

• numbness or tingling sensation like pins and needles in parts of your body
• muscle weakness
• feeling dizzy or off balance

Menstrual Migraine

Migraine affects more women than men, and one of the reasons is because there is a known link between migraine and hormones. In fact, more than half of women who suffer from migraines have menstrual migraine, meaning their migraines are triggered by their periods. Only about 10% of these women only have migraine during their period, with 90% reporting migraines at other times in their cycle, dependent on the dips and spikes in other hormones.

Menstrual migraines tend to be more severe than other forms, and less responsive to treatment. They can also last longer than other types of migraine, spanning hours to days, just as your period lasts days.

There is a link between migraine and falling levels of the hormone estrogen in the body before the start of your period.. Women who have heavy and painful periods have higher levels of prostaglandin, which has also been identified as playing a role in a menstrual migraine attack.

For menstrual migraine to be diagnosed, these migraines should be occurring between 2 days before your period, and up to 3 days into your period. They don’t have to occur every cycle, but doctors typically look for at least a few consecutive cycles with attacks, or another form of pattern such as every other cycle. 

For menstrual migraines, your doctor could prescribe medication to take at the onset of your migraine, but may also explore contraceptives. 

Cyclical Vomiting Migraine 

Cyclical is the key to this type of migraine, because it indicates a regular pattern – or cycle – to your attacks. There is a pattern to your attacks that you can predict as they happen the in the same time cycle of several weeks. There is also another key: vomiting. 

Here are common symptoms:

• Regular attacks of feeling very sick and vomiting (being sick)
• These attacks last from one hour to ten days
• The attacks take place more than one week apart but occur regularly, usually at the same time of the day, week, or month
• Feeling normal in between the attacks

When talking to your doctor about possibly diagnosing these, it is important that your doctor takes your medical history, and that you are physically examined. This is to rule out or diagnose other diseases that could be causing similar symptoms. A key to distinguishing from migraine to something else are triggers, such as bright light, poor sleep, or something else. 

Periods in Pain is not medical advice. If you believe you are suffering from migraine, please speak to a medical professional.