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A migraine is a severe, painful headache that is often 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.

What causes migraines is still a mystery to the medical world! Doctors believe that it is due to the contraction and expanding of some blood vessel in the head. This happens periodically but the pain is intense and painful. How ever the exact cycle of events taking place in our brains during a migraine attack is not fully known.

What may be the possible causes for the pain?

Knowing what is the cause for the trigger of the pain is the best way to stop the pain. But avoiding the cause for the trigger is always not possible. Sometimes the migraine pain is not only due to a single trigger but due to combination of potential triggers.

Some of the common causes are

Food related triggers: For many people, going without food can trigger a migraine. For others skipping a meal is the cause for trigger. Cheese, alcohol, nuts and alas, chocolate are the prime suspects for the trigger of the migraine.

The Menstrual Cycle: It is generally found that there is a correlation between their menstrual cycle and migraine episodes. Another fact that links migraines and female hormones is that many women no longer suffer from migraines once they reach menopause stage.

Environmental Causes: For many changes in temperature, humidity and barometric pressure may be the potential cause for migraine. A change in altitude is also a possible trigger.

Stress and Depression: People are seen having migraines during times of increased emotional or physical stress.

Triggers do not always cause migraines, and avoiding triggers does not always prevent migraines.

How serious is migraine?

The migraine pain is generally moderate to severe and can disrupt the normal activities of the individual. Many people have pain and other symptoms so severe that they only want to lie down in a dark room and go to sleep

Duration Period of the pain:

The pain lasts from 4 hours to 72 hours once it is triggered off and it varies from person to person.

Herbal treatment for Migraine:

Grapes: Drinking juice of fresh ripe grapes without adding water to it is a good relief from the migraine pain.

Lemon crust: Grind the lemon crust and apply it as a paste on the forehead. It is sure to bring immediate relief to the pain.

Ginger: Drinking ginger tea brings relief for a migraine headache in the front of the head.

Butterbur: The herb butterbur (Petasites hybridus) is a shrub-like plant that grows in northern Asia, Europe, and parts of North America. Extracts made from the herb have been used to treat migraines.

Tags: head ache, nausea

This entry was posted on Sunday, May 2nd, 2010 at 11:14 am and is filed under Diseases. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.