Do you always experience migraine pain? It is easy to dismiss migraine as a common disorder, especially with estimates that about 30 million Americans suffer from it. But migraine is not as simple as it appears to be.  According to a study conducted by experts at the Veterans Affairs Serious Mental Illness Treatment Resource and Evaluation Center in Ann Arbor, Michigan, the pain brought by migraine could increase a person’s risk of committing suicide. The study published in the JAMA Psychiatry journal in 2013 tracked 4.8 million who received treatment from the US Veterans Health Administration in 2005, and found that migraine pain is associated with higher risks of suicide.

Women are more prone to migraine attacks than men. Studies suggest that one out of four women who are in their thirties will suffer from it. Out of the 30 million Americans who have been diagnosed with this condition, around 20 million of them are women.

Symptoms

How would you know that you are experiencing migraine and not a simple case of headache? If you feel moderate to severe pain in the head and eyes, and the pain is only confined to one side of the head, then you are suffering from migraine. Another way to tell that you are having migraine attacks is when the pain worsens due to physical activity. If you are sensitive to light and sound and you experience pain that prevents you from performing your day-to-day activities, then you really have migraine.

Causes

There are many probable causes of migraine. Scientists explain that migraine is due to the changes in the chemicals found in our brain. One chemical, serotonin, is said to decrease in levels during migraine attacks. Migraine is also linked to fluctuations in the hormone levels, particularly of women. This is the reason why women experience migraines before they have their menstrual period.

There are also emotional factors that could contribute to migraine.  If you are always stressed, then don’t be surprised if you always experience painful headaches. The same goes for other emotional triggers like depression, tension and anxiety. Migraine attacks may also be due to physical triggers like poor posture, fatigue, lack of sleep, and low blood sugar.

Complications

Aside from potentially causing sufferers to commit suicide, migraine is also associated with mental health problems. These include depression, panic disorder, anxiety disorder and manic depression.  It could also lead to stroke, as proven by a recent study published in the British Medical Journal which cited that migraine sufferers are more than twice as likely to suffer from a stroke compared to people who don’t have migraine.

Treatment

Treatment for migraine would vary depending on the frequency and cause of the headaches. Imitrex is one drug that treats migraine by stimulating the receptors of serotonin in the brain. It also decreases the transmission of pain signals by various nerves to our brain.  This drug manufactured by GlaxoSmithKline is also known by the generic name sumatriptan.  Botox is prescribed as a preventive medication for migraine.