Migraine is a disease known for two thousand years. Aretaeus is the first to describe migraine. Migraine, which means half a headache in Latin, was differentiated from other headaches by a scientist named Tisso. Migraine is a chronic form of headache that occurs in attacks and has no symptoms in between. Headache and accompanying symptoms prevent the person with migraine from continuing his/her life normally and lead to an obvious disconnection from life. Migraine attacks can last 3 hours or 3 days on average.
Migraines are pains that are severe enough to interfere with the daily activities of the person and increase with head movements. Migraines are characterized by a throbbing and usually unilateral, very severe headache. Nausea and sometimes vomiting may accompany the pain. Patients are extremely disturbed by the stimuli around them such as light, sound and noise. Evaluation of these symptoms together is very important in terms of diagnosis, but the same findings may not be the same in every attack and not every headache sufferer. Migraines are mostly on one side of the head, throbbing, moderate or severe, and increase with head movements.
Migraine pain usually begins in the morning, gradually increasing and continues for 3 hours-3 days in adults and 2 hours-2 days in children. Pain is usually accompanied by many conditions such as loss of appetite, nausea, photophobia (discomfort with light), phonophobia (disturbed by sound), osmophobia (disturbed by smell). It is not necessary for all these conditions to be seen at the same time. Headache can be unilateral or bilateral from the beginning, or it can start unilaterally and spread to both sides. Throbbing pain is also present in most patients. Simple head movements such as sports activities can also initiate pain. When the pain is over, patients may experience some symptoms such as extreme tiredness, exhaustion, restlessness, drowsiness, or vice versa, mobility and vitality.
Migraine is generally of two types: Migraine with and without aura.
Migraine with aura usually occurs between 5-25 minutes and lasts for an hour. Visual field loss, numbness and tingling on one side of the body, difficulty in finding words while speaking, and dizziness can be seen. It can be in the form of eye signs (flashing light beams) or dark areas of vision. Sometimes the patient may describe it as seeing as if there is a frosted glass in front of him. Healing in pain starts from the first affected place.
Migraine without aura is the most common type of migraine and its main symptoms are headache and nausea.
Aura: These are the findings detected just before the occurrence of migraine or during the attack. In migraine with aura, symptoms usually occur between 5-25 minutes and last for about an hour. Visual field loss, numbness and tingling on one side of the body, difficulty in finding words while speaking, and dizziness can be seen. It can be in the form of eye signs (flashing light beams) or dark areas of vision. Sometimes the patient may describe it as seeing as if there is a frosted glass in front of him. Healing in pain starts from the first affected place.
