A migraine is a condition that causes a severe headache on one or both sides of your scalp. The migraine attacks are majorly followed by nausea, vomiting, and sensitivity to light and sound. The intense pain can hamper your daily life and activities.

You may feel warning symptoms called an aura before a migraine attack. It usually causes visual disturbances, a tingling sensation on your face, leg, or arms, and difficulty speaking. You may use home remedies and prescribed medications to control the headache. Migraine episodes can last for several days, disturbing your daily activities like study and work.

The effects and severity of migraines depend on symptoms, frequency, and range of triggers. It can occur at any age but is majorly found in women between the ages of 18 and 44. In addition, they are also prone to experiencing migraines in childhood.

Migraines occur in stages and can affect children, teenagers, and adults. There are four migraine stages, but one may not go through every stage. The migraine stages are:

Prodrome
Prodrome occurs a day or two before migraine attacks. You may feel the following symptoms:

• Constipation
• Mood swings
• Food cravings
• Increased urination
• Stiff neck
• Fluid retentiveness
• Fatigue and recurrent yawning

If these symptoms occur, you must prepare yourself to fight migraine episodes.

Aura
An aura might occur before or during your migraine episodes. You may experience:

• Loss of vision
  Difficulty
• speaking
• Visual impairments like bright spots or light flashes
• Tingling sensation in the arms and legs
• Weakness in one side of the body or face

Aura builds up gradually and can last for an hour, impacting your ability to stand and do the most menial tasks. So you might want to try and sit down or rest calmly to avoid sudden falls.

Attack
You may take 4 to 72 hours to return to normal after a migraine episode. The time to get normal depends on the frequency of migraine attacks. You may get a migraine frequently or occasionally. It may be followed by:

• Vomiting
• Nausea
• Sensitivity to light, smell, and sound
• Pain in the head
• Intense and throbbing pain

Do not leave migraines untreated and take proper medical care during their attacks.

Post-drome
It is a post-migraine symptom that may make you feel out of energy. It may take up to a day to get back to normal. Sudden head movements can cause headaches even after a migraine attack. If you witness severe migraine episodes frequently, you must consult a doctor for treatment. You may consult a doctor if you experience the following after migraine attack.

• Severe headache
• Headache followed by a stiff neck, fever, confusion, blurred vision, numbness, or weakness
• Headache after a head injury
• A chronic headache that increases while coughing, straining or sudden head movements
• If you have crossed 50 years and experience a new headache

Before consulting a doctor, you can keep a record of the intensity and frequency of migraine attacks. Moreover, knowledge of home remedies for migraines can help in managing headaches.

It is hard to find the exact causes of intense migraine episodes; however, it is believed that your genes and environmental factors play a crucial role in migraines. Moreover, any changes in the brainstem and its interaction with the trigeminal nerve can play a role in aggravating severe headaches.

Factors that may trigger your migraines include:

• Hormonal changes: Migraines are more common in women. Women undergo a lot of physical changes during their periods, childbirth, and menopause. These physical changes cause an imbalance in estrogen levels that may trigger intense headaches. Moreover, oral contraceptive pills may also cause migraines as they create hormonal imbalance in your body. However, some women have seen a positive impact of oral contraceptives on their migraine condition. They feel that it leads to less frequent migraine episodes.
• Drinks: Too much alcohol and caffeine can lead to severe headaches.
• Stress: Mental stress and emotional imbalance may cause frequent migraines.
• Sensory stimuli: Bright lights and high sounds may trigger migraines. Moreover, some people feel that a strong smell also affects their migraine condition.
• Sleep changes: Changes in sleep pattern and lack of sleep may trigger migraines.
• Physical factors: When your body is exhausted due to intense physical activities, it may cause migraines.
• Environmental changes: A change in weather conditions and barometric changes leads to migraines.
• Medications: Oral contraceptives and vasodilators may put you at risk of getting migraines.
• Foods: Salty and processed foods may develop migraines. Moreover, if you have a habit of skipping meals, you are more likely to get migraines.
• Food additives: The preservative monosodium glutamate and sweetener aspartame may lead you to migraines.

You must care for your mental and physical health to reduce migraine occurrence. When you take proper rest and keep yourself away from stress, you step forward to a healthy life.

If you have migraines, you must schedule a meeting with a neurologist. A neurologist may look at your family history to know the root cause of your migraines. It is crucial to know if your genes cause migraines. In addition, your medical history also plays a vital role in aggravating migraine symptoms. A neurologist may ask you to undergo a physical and neurological examination to understand the root causes of your migraine attacks.

You can the below-mentioned tests to rule out other reasons for intense headaches. These tests include:

• Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)
  An MRI scan presents a detailed view of your nervous system and brain before a neurologist. It uses strong radio waves and magnetic fields to produce high-quality images. Your doctor examines the images to find the reasons for your migraines. Moreover, MRI helps diagnose tumours, strokes, bleeding and infection in the brain, and other neurological conditions.
• Computerised tomography scan (CT Scan)
  A CT scan is a kind of X-ray taken from different angles. It creates a cross-sectional image of your brain. These detailed images are used to study and diagnose brain conditions like tumours, infection, brain damages, and other medical conditions that lead to migraines.

Migraines may hit you physically and emotionally. Therefore, you need proper medical attention to cure the underlying causes. It is recommended to invest in a treatment that works on the causes and not on migraine symptoms.

Migraine is a psychosomatic illness, which means that a mental factor aggravates it. Stress, anger, frustration, and other feelings may lead to migraines. Homeopathy is considered the best alternative treatment for migraines as it works on the ‘psyche’ of an individual. It reduces mental stress that leads to migraine episodes.

The medicines are carefully selected to suit your emotional and physical status. A homeopath gives utmost attention to your symptoms while choosing homeopathy medicines for your treatment. The drugs reduce the frequency and intensity of migraine attacks. Moreover, it may help in reducing the doses of conventional therapy. Homeopathic medicines are widely recognised and used to treat various ailments. The no side effects formula of homeopathic medicines adds to its benefits.

Homeopathy targets genetic factors that are responsible for migraine headaches. In addition, it pays attention to chemical imbalances that lead to severe and throbbing pain. As a result, homeopathy has a high success rate in treating the signs and symptoms of migraines. If you have intense migraine followed by vomiting and fever, you may contact a homeopathic doctor for your treatment.