How To Identify & Avoid Migraine Triggers.
There are several ways to identify & avoid migraine triggers. First, lets start with defining the types of migraine headaches.
Classic migraine headaches are classified and identified by the aura that serves as a warning before the pain actually occurs. However, the common migraine has no warning of any type before experiencing pain. Complicated migraines have the occurrence of speech or visual problems in the nervous system. No matter what type of migraine it is, the symptoms are usually similar between people. The pain often starts with a dull ache that progresses to a pounding over the next few hours. The pounding can become debilitating, painful and often keeps people from work or other daily activities. Now when it comes to being able to identify & avoid migraine triggers, there are several things you can keep in mind. Food, stress and physical duress can all be triggers for a migraine but there is no definite diagnosis of cause. Avoiding food groups can be a great way to reduce the onset of migraine. Some of the most common food triggers are chocolate, nuts, dairy foods, meats with nitrates such as bacon, hot dogs or cured meats, and pickled or fermented foods like sauerkraut. However, in order to truly identify & avoid migraine triggers, you will need to eliminate a whole food group at one time for a period of at least 3 days to a week before seeing any difference. If you have migraines infrequently though it may take much longer to understand which, if any food group is the trigger. Women do experience migraine headaches more often than men and more often between the ages of ten and forty six years of age. Onset is often characterized by crying, aversion to sex or the reverse. One cause of migraine is the premenstrual or menstrual migraine which comes on for a woman at the time of her monthly cycle. It usually happens within a 5 day time span either before or after the cycle starts or ends. Migraines may be induced by chemicals in the diet or environment, by light conditions, by sleep deprivation, sinus problems, msg, noise, hormones, odors,, perfume and lotions, fumes, and work or family pressures. The best way to determine if your headache is a migraine is to keep track of the pain type and duration of symptoms in a diary. Try to identify the triggers that occur or recur. Take your notes to your doctor and let him or her make the diagnosis. From there, you can determine what course of treatment and prevention is best for you. With your help to identify & avoid migraine triggers, the doctor can help you decide whether a natural or chemical drug type of treatment is best.
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