This video is about the experience migraine. Hello my name is Craig black women of the mildest in Santa Cruz California. In this video we will look at how you experience migrate. For example what you may see or feel and what are common triggers. In the second video we discuss the medical aspect and give an overview a treatment strategy and in the third video we take a careful look at the mechanism a migraine what is going on in your head to make all that happen. Is important to understand that this is for your information does not replace consultation with your doctor. We are starting with this portrait of Thomas Jefferson because he was probably the most famous person with migraine. The following quote is from biographer Charles Ellis. In April 1776 Jefferson was struck with a mysterious malady that left him incapacitated for more than a month. Film it turned out to be a migraine headache. The first recorded occurrence in what proved to be a lifelong affliction it flared up whenever he felt unduly pressured. As a story that many with migraine would identify with. Well we know a lot more about it now we are still a long way from a full understanding. Let’s start off by recognizing that migraine is not defined by the headache. Is best to pick up my green as a group various neurological symptoms that occur in episodes and that all come from a common cause. There is usually a headache but not always and my green appears to be inherited speaking %uh various neurological symptoms. This is the full International Headache Society list have different types of migrant. There are too many to discuss them all so we will limit this discussion to the three most common types. These three types are different ways of combining two things headache Andorra. Aura is a particular visual display or sent through the fact that comes just before the headache if there is one. The three types are one common migraine which is the headache alone with no or. Classic migraine witches or a followed by a headache and the aura alone visual or otherwise but with no following. Kelly the International Headache Society has different terms but i’ll stick with these historic names because they are familiar an easy to remember. The features that identify a headache is being a migraine are the headache is one-sided usually throbbing particularly with motion or straining. Usually is moderate to severe intensity there is not a gf possibly bombing their sensitivity to light and sound. Pain is made worse by physical activity and had a class from for 72 hours. People with the headache usually prefer to be in a quiet darkroom sleep of a headache is gone on waking. The aura is a sensory disturbance that occurs with a migraine episodes. It can involve vision sensation for movement. 30 percent of the people with migraine have the aura. Here is beginning a bit typical visual display. On the left there’s a little missing area which over a few minutes grows into a crescent a six-day flashing lights like on the right. Some describe it is like a kaleidoscope others use the term sent relations. At full development it may cover half of the field division. Within the Crescent there is an area vision that goes missing. That is called the scotoma. Not that the visual display is present in both eyes occupying the same have a vision. Evolves over 15 to 30 minutes sometimes longer. The flickering lights gradually fade away and vision returns like in the picture on the right. Other descriptions a visual symptoms include a sensation watery movement blurred area or star shaped figure. Really there can be a black out a vision that must be distinguished from other worrisome causes like stroke. Surprisingly some people take artistic inspiration from there or a pattern. This is 10 at least two web sites that collect peoples artistic interpretation and there or experiences. There’s a gallery including even big-name artists like salvador dali. If you are a migraine person looking at other peoples our experiences both interesting and disturbing. Some people haven’t or that is not visual instead it involves sensations have numbness and tingling march down the arm or numbness in the hand or around the mouth. For some there’s a feeling of heaviness weakness civil them we may be difficulty speaking. To recap the features of the or are it contains positive features such as it the flickering light and negative features such as the missing area the scotoma. Visual symptoms occur on ½ a vision affecting both eyes well sensory symptoms occur only on one side. All the pictures are reversible that is they usually return to normal. Symptoms usually last from five to sixty minutes. Looking at the whole migraine process. It may have four stages. One is the program this is a set up odd feeling starting in the head of the actual migraine. There maybe feelings of fatigue difficulty concentrating feelings have increased sensitivity or big discomfort. These are not the same as the aura. The order is the visual or sensory disturbance described above. As the or a result the headache if there is one usually starts. 3 than the headache and four after the headache has resolved there may still be vague feeling some dysfunction like difficulty speaking or recognizing objects. In the mechanism video we go into detail about what is going on in the brain with migraine. In this one we will summarize briefly. The old theory of migraine was based on a vascular cars.
Blood vessel constriction causing the horror and vessel dilation causing the pain. As accurate methods for measuring blood flow became available the vascular mechanism was proven wrong. It was replaced by a
Neuronal cause which works like this. There is still a trigger event then the aura is caused by a disturbance in electrical activity on the surface the brain cock cortical spreading depression. Cortical refers to the cortex the outer layer the brain where the nerve cells are located because it is made of nerve cells that is constantly abuzz with electrical activity. Cortical spreading depression is a disturbance above the normal electrical activity. It is like the passage a thunderstorm the way love increased Electric Lightwave activity starts out at a particular spot usually in the visual cortex. It spreads gradually forward over the surface of
The brain at about two to three millimeters per minute. After the wave passes electrical activity in the area behind is significantly depressed. The speed and spread the electrical excitation exactly matches the progression the shimmering part for the visual aura. The following area depressed activity is responsible for the missing area the scotoma. The next big question is where does the pain come from. Currently there are two theories the leading theory is that the cortical spreading depression causes inflammation in the menu. That inflammation pickers pain impulses which are sent along the tragedy Milner label TGN through the brainstem and then to the pain sense in part to the brain. Several investigators suspect that brain stem is the origin the migraine specifically there are nerve centers here that when activated concern pain signals directly to the brain and send signals that cause the cortical spreading depression but they remember details yet to be filled in here. There is a third critical pathway to the that is also important.
Migrant people have been found to have abnormal sensory processing a pain signals. Some researchers think abnormal pain perception may end up being a key factor in migraine pain. If you have migraines you are not alone. Migraine is surprisingly common affecting about 8 percent of men over 25 percent of women. This graph shows a peak currents have migraine comes roughly between ages 30 in fifty. It is an interesting feature that the severity the headache usually decreases with age sometimes going away entirely leaving only the aura. Use one survey how long migraine episodes left varying from minute to hours. Here’s a survey showing the most common triggers a migraine. At 1200 people in the survey with migraines seventy-six percent reported having some identifiable clear event. Stress is the most common cause. Interestingly for some the migraine comes after relief stressed. Also very common are hormonal changes particularly surrounding menstruation. Diet about a quarter of people with migraine can identify a particular food or chemical which can reliably trigger an attack. Coming samples are foods that contain a chemical called tyramine which is an aged cheese sour cream chopped liver sausage and Chianti wine and other things. Others include family aloni MSG nitrates and aspartame. Here’s the frequency of symptoms people report. Notice about a third have the aura which leads us to the next question how do you distinguish various migraine symptoms from other worrisome things like a stroke or retinal detachment. Sometimes this is a difficult question to answer even for you doctor. That is the subject to the next video covering the medical aspects have migraine. The third video we will discuss the mechanism of my great. What is going on in your head to produce other symptoms.
My Migraine Solution Story 