Migraines sometimes cause vomiting, nausea and other physical side effects. At the same time, migraines can have far-flung effects on your personal life. To better understand the role of migraines in your personal life, let’s examine migraines, how they work and their short- and long-term effects.
Migraine Pain: What You Need to Know
A migraine is a type of headache that causes severe throbbing or pulsating pain on one side of the head. It typically lasts anywhere from two hours to three days and is diagnosed and treated by a doctor.
Migraine headaches affect more than 37 million people globally — yet in some instances, individuals fail to identify and treat their migraine pain. In these scenarios, migraine sufferers may struggle to work, play, go to school and participate in various everyday activities.
Oftentimes, migraines strike without notice. If an individual cannot plan for a migraine attack, he or she may experience severe head pain and other physical symptoms without knowing how to treat them. The end result: it may become virtually impossible for this individual to focus on the activity or task at hand. Worst of all, a migraine headache may make it tough for this individual to enjoy his or her personal life.
A Closer Look at Migraines in Your Personal Life
A recent study published in The Journal of Headache and Pain highlights the short- and long-term impact of migraine pain. Notable results from the study of 11,266 migraine patients included:
• 87 percent of survey respondents said migraines impacted their professional, private and social lives.
• 85 percent reported experiencing negative consequences associated with living with migraines, including feelings of hopelessness and depression.
• 83 percent noted they had trouble sleeping due to migraines.
Migraines make it difficult to function, and as a result, prevent people from enjoying their lives to the fullest extent. Fortunately, an individual who can identify his or her migraine triggers is better equipped than ever before to stop migraine attacks from escalating — and ensuring migraine attacks won’t hamper his or her personal life.
What Are Migraine Triggers?
Migraine triggers vary based on the individual. They are sometimes environmental factors that cause migraine symptoms. Additionally, there are four anatomical migraine triggers:
1. Forehead: Results in migraine pain from above the eye or on the forehead, from one or both sides.
2. Temples: Results in migraine pain from one or both sides of the temples.
3. Nose: Results in migraine pain from behind the eye and one or both sides of the nose; in some instances, individuals may also experience a runny nose, congestion and other cold symptoms due to nose migraines.
4. Neck: Results in migraine pain from the back of the neck that affects one or both sides of the neck.
For those who are dealing with migraines but cannot identify their migraine triggers, it is important to consult with a doctor. Generally, a doctor can offer medications and other treatments to address migraine pain. A doctor may also provide a chronic migraine diagnosis for individuals dealing with migraines that occur 15 or more days per month over the course of at least three months.
Of course, treating migraines is rarely simple. If an individual has received a chronic migraine diagnosis but finds his or her migraine medications cause intolerable side effects or do not deliver the desired results, Dr. Jonathan Cabin of The Migraine Institute can help.
How Does Dr. Cabin Treat Migraine Pain?
Dr. Cabin is a board-certified head and neck surgeon with dual-subspecialty training in facial plastic and reconstructive surgery. With his unique expertise, Dr. Cabin helps migraine patients identify the root cause of their migraine pain and treat it accordingly. Perhaps best of all, Dr. Cabin provides each migraine patient with a custom treatment designed to deliver long-lasting migraine pain relief — and help a patient enjoy a migraine-free life.
Initially, Dr. Cabin requests a migraine treatment consultation. At this time, Dr. Cabin evaluates a patient and his or her migraine symptoms. Dr. Cabin also performs different tests as he attempts to identify a patient’s migraine trigger points.
Once Dr. Cabin completes his patient evaluation, he crafts a personalized migraine treatment plan. Dr. Cabin wants to develop a migraine treatment plan to help his patient safely alleviate migraine pain. To accomplish his goal, Dr. Cabin works closely with his patient to develop and implement this plan.
Dr. Cabin may recommend Botox for migraines or migraine surgery to treat migraine pain, too. Both treatments have been shown to help chronic migraine patients overcome their migraine symptoms.
A Botox treatment involves the use of Botox injections to prevent nerve cell signals from reaching the facial muscles. Botox injections paralyze the facial muscles; this helps reduce abnormal muscle contraction that otherwise causes migraine pain.
Comparatively, migraine surgery is a minimally invasive procedure. It helps chronic migraine patients reduce their migraine symptoms and permanently remove faulty nerve signals in the brain that cause migraines.
Chronic migraine patients who are struggling to identify the best migraine treatment — and find that migraines disrupt their personal lives — can meet with Dr. Cabin to explore their treatment options. Dr. Cabin offers free migraine treatment consultations that allow patients to learn about different treatment options and find one that matches their expectations. In doing so, Dr. Cabin helps chronic migraine patients get the help they need to overcome their migraine pain.