Migraines

Migraines

migraine

Have you ever found yourself curled in a ball in your room with the lights off unable to move? While migraines provide different levels of pain in different people, they are a medical condition that is characterized a severe, painful headache. A migraine is also commonly preceded or accompanied by sensory warning signs such as flashes of light, blind spots, tingling in the arms and legs, nausea, vomiting and increased sensitivity to light and sound. Excruciating pain caused by migraines can often last for hours (if you are lucky) or they might last for days, which can cause you to lose out on common activities.

What are Migraines?

Migraines are a type of headache that result from a combination of blood vessel enlargement and the release of chemicals from nerve fibers that coil around these blood vessels. During a migraine, an artery that is located on the outside of the skull enlarges just under the skin of the temple, which causes a release of chemicals that leads to inflammation, pain and further enlargement of the artery.
When experiencing a migraine, the sympathetic nervous system responds with feelings of nausea, diarrhea and vomiting. Through this response, it delays the emptying of the stomach into the small intestine, decreases blood circulation and increases sensitivity to light and sound.

Signs You Are Having a Migraine

In the United States alone, nearly 30 million people suffer from migraines . And of those 30 million people, three times as many women as men have migraines. To help you understand if you are suffering from a migraine lets take a look at some of the symptoms you might be experiencing:
  • Aura – this means flickering lights, spots or lines, and can typically last between five minutes and an hour.
  • Throbbing pain on one or both sides of the head – a pulsating pain is a classic sign of a migraine.
  • Eye pain – a migraine will often burrow behind the eye, causing eye pain and strain.
  • Neck pain – stiffness and pain in the neck are often the first signs of an approaching migraine.
Regardless of the symptoms you are experiencing, a migraine can cause you to miss a day or more of work, school or any other daily activity on your schedule. By understanding your triggers or the symptoms you experience prior to the development of your migraine, you may be able to prevent the excruciating pain you commonly exhibit with a migraine.
By visiting our office, we can help you determine your triggers and offer a treatment plan that can help diminish your migraines. While treatment may not completely eliminate your migraines, it can help provide you with pain relief so that you can continue about your day-to-day schedule without missing a beat.

For more information on Migraines in the Schaumburg, IL area call Neurology & Sleep Clinics of Chicago at (847) 929-4420 today!

Slider

Office Hours

Monday:

7:30 am-3:00 pm

Tuesday:

7:30 am-3:00 pm

Wednesday:

9:00 am-5:00 pm

Thursday:

7:30 am-3:00 pm

Friday:

7:30 am-2:00 pm

Saturday:

Closed

Sunday:

Closed