An Overview of Migraine as a Neurological Condition
Everybody has headaches from time to time. But migraine is no ordinary headache. It is a debilitating neurological condition that includes extreme throbbing headache that lasts from 4 to 72 hours, accompanied by other symptoms such as dizziness, tingling, nausea, photosensitivity, and more. Everyone is obviously different and the symptoms are often different from one person to another.
Migraine is a syndrome or set of symptoms with a single origin. There are three ways it can manifest - migraine with all usual symptoms, migraine with a few usual symptoms and migraine with a specific group of symptoms. Migraine is usually categorized based on its specific symptoms, and because such symptoms can be so many, it frequently ends up misdiagnosed.
Many migraine sufferers self-treat with over-the-counter medicines. When their symptoms become more serious and debilitating, they consult a doctor from a migraine clinic. The diagnosis of migraine is based on symptoms and is precluded by medical tests and other procedures that rule out other potential causes of the headache. The process of diagnosing migraine is not always simple though. The symptoms are difficult to assess and may be different from time to time.
What a lot of people don't realize is that migraine is a neurological disease. Every minute in the United States, 60 people rush to the ER because of migraine. They are there because of extreme pain or fear that the pain and other symptoms would not stop.
Migraine is actually one of the world's 20 most debilitating medical conditions that affects people of all ages, including children and adolescents. The greater problem with migraine in young people is its tendency to be underdiagnosed. This is because in young people, head pain is usually not as severe a system as the others, or is sometimes completely absent. Read more about this in the site at http://www.ehow.com/about_4672146_neurologist.html. Motion sickness is one of the earliest signs of a child's tendency to develop migraine. Migraine symptoms that do not manifest as head pain in children are known as migraine equivalents.
Aside from the disability that results from an attack, a lot of sufferers also fear the thought of an attack coming back any time, preventing them going to work or school, socializing and other routine activities. Less than 10% of sufferers are able to function normally during an attack, which can come once or twice a month or almost everyday for some people.
If you think you might be suffering from migraine, do not delay that trip to your family doctor. If your condition requires the specialty of a headache specialist, you will be referred to one.
