Phases and Symptoms of Chronic Migraine You Should Not Ignore

Symptoms

A pulsing sensation or severe pain can always be associated with a migraine. The pain begins on just one side of the head, and you may experience high sensitivity to light and sound, vomiting, and nausea as well. When it comes to chronic migraine attacks, many patients experience a considerable pain for several hours or days, and sometimes, the pain can even become unbearable. There are some warning symptoms also called aura that might occur before or with a headache. The most common warning signs are tingling sensation on the leg, arm, one of the face, blind spots, and flashes of light. Medications can offer relief and prevent some migraines, and the pain can be controlled as well. You need to consult your doctor about various migraine treatment choices if you find it difficult to find relief using self-help remedies. The most effective option is to combine right medications, lifestyle changes, and natural self-help remedies and such a combination of approach methods offer excellent relief.

What are the most common chronic migraine symptoms?
Migraines quite often start in childhood, and in some people, it starts with early adulthood or adolescence. Various research studies show that migraines develop through four phases. These phases include prodrome, aura, headache, and post-drome. It is not necessary that all migraine-affected people go through all these four stages.

Learn about prodrome and its symptoms
When you are going through the prodrome stages, you may have to deal with subtle changes that act as warning signs of an impending migraine attack before one or two days before the actual occurrence. The most common symptoms associated with prodrome phase are neck stiffness, constipation, food cravings, increased thirst, mood changes progressing from depression to euphoria, frequent yawning, and a constant urge for urination. This is one of the phases of chronic migraine symptoms. If you’re

Common symptoms of aura
You may have to go through this stage before or during the migraine attack. You can find a lot of people suffering from a migraine without aura. Auras can be described as the symptoms of the nervous system, and the most common symptoms of aura are visual disturbances including zigzag visions and flashes of light. In certain occasions, auras manifest in the form of sensory, motor, and verbal disturbances. In other words, you may experience touching sensations, movement disturbances, and speech difficulties. During this phase, your muscles get weakened, or you may often feel that someone touches you. These phases which are a part of the chronic migraine symptoms tend to begin gradually, and they build up for several minutes. Sometimes, they may last up to 60 minutes or so. The leading symptoms of migraine aura are a loss of vision, numbness or weakness in one side of the body or face, speech difficulty, visual phenomena like seeing flashes of light, bright spots, or various shapes, needle sensation in a leg or arm, hearing music or noises, and uncontrollable movements like jerking. On certain occasions, you can associate a migraine with aura with weakness in the limb known as a hemiplegic migraine.

A headache (Attack)
Generally speaking, a migraine lasts between four to seventy-two hours if it remains untreated. The frequency of a headache can vary from person to person. Some patients experience the attack very rarely, and in certain cases, the attack strikes many times in a month. The symptoms associated with this stage which lead to chronic migraine symptoms are vomiting or nausea, blurred vision, pain on both sides or one side of the head, throbbing or pulsing pain, light sensitivity, sensitivity to sounds, sensitivity to smells, sensitivity to touch, and lightheadedness followed by fainting.

Symptoms associated with post-drome
This is the final phase, and it happens after a migraine attack. Many patients feel washed out or drained, and some other patients experience an elated feeling. When you go through this stage, you may experience certain symptoms for around 24 hours, and they include extreme sensitivity to light and sound, confusion, weakness, moodiness, and dizziness. These are the most common chronic migraine symptoms.

Unfortunately, migraines remain unattended or undiagnosed, and it often leads to them being untreated. When you frequently experience chronic migraine symptoms, you have to keep track of the attacks. It is also advisable to keep a record of the methods employed to treat them. When you see a doctor, this report becomes very handy. Some people have a history of headaches, and they have to see a doctor when the pattern changes or the nature of headaches feels different. If you find the any of the symptoms such as a headache with fever, weakness, double vision, stiff neck, trouble speaking, seizures, mental confusion, or numbness, you must see a doctor or go to the emergency room. You have to visit a doctor if you experience a sudden, severe headache as well. Another situation that makes visiting a doctor mandatory is a chronic headache that occurs after a sudden movement, exertion, or coughing. If you are an individual above 50 and experience unusual headaches, seeking medical help becomes inevitable.