Migraine headaches feel like an attack on your brain and body that can send you to lie in a dark room in total stillness to ward off symptoms.
What are migraines? "Migraine is a disabling neurological disease in which headaches are associated with neurological symptoms that may differ from individual to individual," said Navy Lt. Cmdr. (Dr.) Cristina Cruzcrespo, chief of Neurology at Womack Army Medical Center in Fort Bragg, North Carolina. "The exact cause is unknown, but it is believed that genetics and environment play a role. Migraine may also run in families," she explained.
If you've ever had a migraine, you may describe it as a heavy, throbbing, pounding, or pulsating pain that prohibits your usual activities, Cruzcrespo said. The migraine may start on one side of your head and move to the front or the back, she explained.
Some people experience prodrome symptoms that "occur before the migraine by several hours or days," Cruzcrespo said. "Typical symptoms are extreme tiredness, yawning, irritability, mood changes, neck discomfort, difficulty concentrating, and food cravings."
"Some people experience aura, which are warning signs occurring minutes before a headache," she said. "Typical aura includes vision changes - such as blurry vision, seeing flashes of light, blind spots, shapes or bright spots - tingling, numbness in the extremities, or difficulty speaking."
During a migraine, the headache, which can be moderate or severe, can worsen with physical activities, Cruzcrespo said. "You may feel nausea and/or experience vomiting, and you may experience sensitivity to light, noise and/or smells."
Migraine sufferers also can experience a "migraine hangover," she said. "The symptoms include fatigue, body aches, trouble concentrating, or dizziness."
Migraines can last from four hours to several days. Yet all migraines include all the phases. The symptoms vary from person to person, Cruzcrespo noted.
Some people just experience aura but not headache, or nausea and vomiting without headache, said Ann Scher, who holds a doctorate in epidemiology and serves as the director of Epidemiology and Statistics at the Uniformed Services University's Department of Preventive Medicine and Biostatistics, in Bethesda, Maryland.
Who Gets Migraines?
Scher said migraine starts about equally in prevalence in boys and girls, but by adulthood, about 18 percent of women get migraines versus 6 percent of men. That is a ratio of three-to-one. "There are theories as to why women continue to get more migraines than men, but no definitive answer," Scher said.
Twenty-five to 30 percent of migraine sufferers get aura, she noted.
There are 39 million American men, women, and children with migraines, which means 17 percent of the U.S. population will be diagnosed with migraines at some point during their lives. However, that number is an underestimate, Scher said, because not everyone gets a diagnosis of migraine.
Migraine ranks second among the world's causes of disability-adjusted life years (behind back pain) due to the number of migraines experienced over a lifetime and is the first-ranked disability among young women, according to a recently published 2019 "Global Burden of Disease" study from the World Health Organization.