Migraine Treatment, Causes, Types, Symptoms, Medication And Facts

It’s bad enough that migraines affect migraine sufferers. Worse yet, they have a profound effect on office productivity. The effect that migraines have is less dependent on whether migraine sufferers decide to stay home or go to work when migraine symptoms occur.

A research sample of people who suffered from 2 to 8 migraines a month was evaluated. Researchers discovered that these 500 people typically went to work during most of the four phases that characterize a migraine headache. Productivity measurements indicated that more work hours were lost as a result of these employees being present at work than if they had decided to stay home and recover from their migraine headaches before returning to work.

Another study indicated that migraine sufferers who endured fifteen or more migraine headaches per month caused a loss of at least 4.5 hours of productivity per week.

The economic impact of migraine headaches cannot simply be ignored. Researchers figure that $24 billion is the approximate cost to business of migraine headaches in the workforce in the United States. This cost is characterized as a direct cost and doesn’t necessarily take into account indirect effects that migraines may have on the economy.

Migraines are now considered to be more than simple headaches and more than merely a painful condition. Migraines may be better characterized as a disability.

Absenteeism versus Presenteeism
Older thinking in the workplace regarding absenteeism has undergone a revolution. The new term that has been added is called presenteeism. This term describes the effect that illness has on the workplace when a worker suffering from any kind of illness decides to show up at work instead of deciding to recover from their illness while staying at home. In a tough economy this fairly new phenomenon accounts for losses to productivity that are due to a sick worker performing at less than optimal levels.

Because migraine symptoms don’t include obvious elements such as fever, coughing, congestion, sneezing or even vomiting, migraine sufferers tend to tough it out at work more frequently than workers who are sick for other more obvious reasons.

A survey of migraine sufferers yielded the following results: 62 per cent of migraine sufferers remained at work while their migraine attacks occurred. Armed with the notion of presenteeism researchers estimated that their productivity level sank by about 25 per cent.

Only 11 per cent of the same group of workers stayed home for a whole day as a result of a migraine, putting them in the more traditional category of absentee workers. Ultimately when things were tabulated about 1,300 hours of lost productivity was attributed to migraine-afflicted workers who stayed on the job as opposed to migraine sufferers who stayed home and accounted for only about 970 hours of lost productivity.

What we can conclude is that migraines by their nature account for a disproportionate amount of lost productivity due to presenteeism and that migraines cost the economy more dollars than was thought possible before presenteeism was factored into statistics on productivity.

Your sinuses are holes in your head. Your doctor would probably prefer to describe them as cavities inside your head that are filled with air. Sinuses are found in your forehead, cheekbones and behind the bridge of your nose. A thin mucus that drains out of the nose is produced by the sinuses.

You may not even think that much about your sinuses unless they become inflamed. Inflammation of the sinuses is caused by infections, allergic reactions, or tumors. Inflammation can block up the sinus and prevent the mucus from flowing out of the sinus cavities. The pain that results is difficult to distinguish from headaches of another kind. There certain characteristics of sinus headaches however.

Characteristics
Deep pain that doesn’t go away, that is localized in the cheekbones, forehead or behind the bridge of the nose may point to the sinuses as the source of a headache. Moving the head about in any direction typically causes the pain of the sinus headaches to increase. Although mucus may be having trouble escaping the sinus, symptoms often involve nasal discharges. Full feelings in the ear, facial swelling and fever are also characteristic of sinus headaches.

Diagnosis
Only a doctor can determine whether your headache is caused by trouble in your sinuses. Doctors will look for the symptoms we’ve described above such as fever and a full feeling. In addition they will likely schedule you for a CT scan or an MRI. A thorough physical may also be included in the diagnostic process.

Treatment
Sinus problems are usually addressed by treating the symptoms. If an infection is thought to be the cause of the sinus headaches antibiotics may be prescribed. However, your doctor may be hesitant to battle an infection with antibiotics if he or she suspects that the cause of the infection is a virus, since antibiotics cannot treat viral infections.

Symptoms of sinus trouble, including headaches, are often treated with antihistamines like Benadryl of decongestants like Sudafed. Self medicating, even with over-the-counter medications, is ill-advised. Decongestants might make most headache pain intensify if that headache has nothing to do with the sinuses, for example.

Ordinary pain relievers when carefully monitored by a doctor may be all that’s needed for milder sinus headaches. Vasoconstrictors may also be prescribed by physicians in some instances to alleviate nasal congestion. Corticosteroids may be indicated by your doctor if inflammation is persistent.

The Allergen Factor
Doctors will never admit to the notion that allergies directly cause sinus headaches. What they will acknowledge is that allergies can cause sinus congestion. As we discovered earlier sinus congestion can lead to sinus headaches. Since congestion has caused your headache you will likely be given or prescribed a decongestant. Since allergies can be persistent and decongestants can be addictive you will need to be careful. If decongestants relieve your headaches it’s a safe bet that your sinuses aren’t infected.

If a doctor thinks you have allergies a separate course of treatment for that will probably be initiated by your doctor.

Migraine sufferers may be forgiven for mouthing the words “promises, promises” when reports of yet another promising new drug to treat their condition crop up in the news. Perhaps what is most promising about the new medication is that it works in an entirely novel way to alleviate migraine symptoms. Not only that, two thirds of the test subjects who were given the drug experienced some kind of pain relief due to its effects.

Current versus New
The current drug family of choice for treating migraines is the triptans. The new medication will be targeted, at least initially, to patients who don’t respond to triptans or who don’t tolerate triptan-based therapy for one reason or another.
For the time being the new medication will go by the name MK-0974. Researchers anticipate that upwards of 30 per cent of migraine sufferers may be helped by the drug–perhaps even more if it proves to be more effective than nay other medication.

This type of drug is called and investigational oral calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP) receptor antagonist. Peptides have long been suspected of playing a significant role in migraine episodes.
The experimental drug relieved moderate-to-severe migraine attacks, including migraine pain and migraine-associated symptoms, compared to a placebo.

What is even more promising is that adverse effects in the trial were similar between the drug and a placebo. These data were presented at the European Headache and Migraine Trust International Congress in London. Comprehensive testing has not been finalized.

What “peptide (CGRP) receptor antagonist” means is that the drug blocks CGRP. If CGRP is blocked the usual pain that accompanies the release of the neuropeptide doesn’t occur or is much less severe.

By contrast triptans utilize an entirely different brain chemical called serotonin to alleviate migraine symptoms. The net effect of triptan administration is that blood vessels are constricted. Constricting blood vessels during a migraine episode helps to minimize migraine symptoms–in particular the headache that can make a migraine a close to intolerable experience.

One of the problems with triptans, however, is that they are contraindicated for patients with heart trouble or other related circulatory diseases. This is owing to the constricting effect of triptans on the blood vessels.
Another advantage of the new drug is that early trials seem to indicate that it has “a very good duration of action” according to one researcher. In studies that compared it to a triptan based medication 50 per cent of patients who took MK-0974 reported being pain-free for two hours, compared with only 33 per cent of those who took the triptan-based drug.

Over the course of 24 hours an impressive 40 per cent of patients who took the new drug remained pain free while only about 20 per cent of patients given the older medication could claim to be free of migraine pain.
More tests need to be done. In the past promising migraine treatments have been shelved when experiments indicated that other parts of the body, such as the liver, were affected adversely by the drugs being tested.
It is to be hoped that eventually some, or at least some more, migraine sufferers may find relief thanks to ongoing research.

Once you submit to a healthcare professional for treatment of your migraine headaches they will probably mention that there are two approaches to treatment that are commonly taken: abortive and preventive.

The Abortive Approach
It may be a little confusing to describe an abortive approach to treatment as an effort to either prevent a migraine from occurring or an effort to stop a migraine once it has started. The “once it has started” part makes more sense. One should remember or note however that the prodrome phase of a migraine basically provides a feeling that the more dramatic latter stages of a migraine are about to occur. Treating the patient with the medications listed below can sometimes stave off the occurrence of the other migraine phases.

Medications can include the triptans that use serotonin activities and constriction of blood vessels for relief. They are effective only for headache and don’t address back pain, arthritic conditions or menstruation issues.

Non-triptan medications can also affect serotonin and other brain chemicals. They have been known to provide relief when triptan can’t. Drugs used to combat nausea may also alleviate headaches. Weak narcotics have been used for relief of migraine symptoms, but along with relief they bring the possibility of addiction. They are best employed on an emergency basis when other medications have proven to be ineffective.

The Preventive Approach
If a migraine sufferer experiences more than one episode a week a truly preventive approach should be tried. The object of this course of treatment is lessening the frequency and intensity the migraines that may occur. Daily consumption of medication sets preventive approaches apart from abortive approaches. Patients need not be symptomatic at all when medication is taken.

Preventive treatment medications can include high blood pressure medication, beta-blockers, antidepressants, anti-seizure medications, certain antihistamines and anti-allergy drugs.

Non-drug Approaches
• Avoid self medicating with substances that have not been sanctioned by your doctor.
• Reduce or eliminate the causes of emotional stress. Investigate and utilize relaxation techniques like breathing exercises and muscle relaxation methods.
• Treat your body better by ensuring that you get adequate amounts of sleep.
• Try stretching more frequently if your occupation or routines are sedentary.
• Exercise on a regular basis. An absolute minimum for a healthy person who has consulted with their doctor would be 20 to 30 minutes of vigorous exercise at least three times a week.
• Stick to routines; especially those that involve eating and sleeping. Try to schedule meals around the same time every day.
• If you smoke, you should give it up. Your physician will likely be glad to help you in this.
• Try reducing or eliminating caffeine and see how it affects your migraines.
• Pay attention to what seems to trigger your migraines. Take notes and seriously consider keeping a diary.
• Pay attention to your body. Women in particular may be able to predict at least some of their migraine based on their menstrual cycles and possibly take medications designed to prevent migraine occurrences if advised by their doctors to do so.