Migraines: That Ache In Your Head Essay -- Biology Essays Research Pap

Migraines: That Ache In Your Head Have you ever had a headache? That pounding pain that would not go away, it was probably a headache, however there is another type of headache that happens to one side of the head and could also cause nausea, sensitivity to light, sound or odors. Also accompanying the migraine is a aura, which could be flashes of light, or temporally lose your vision, in any case it is a visual impairment. (1) Migraines differ from headaches because a migraine is a neurological disease. (2) Many Americans are affected by migraines, it is estimated that eleven to eighteen million people are affected, which most of them are women. Migraines are very disabling as well as having life-threatening outcomes. (2) Now you might be saying to yourself, "Well we know the symptoms of a migraine but what causes migraines?" Well the causes are unknown, since triggers, external forces that cause the migraine to occur, vary from person to person. Triggers range from stress, smells, sights, noises and even things a pe rson eats. (3) However there are many theories on what occurs within the brain to cause the pain and throbbing. One of the theories on what occurs within the brain during migraines is blood vessels increase blood flow, which makes the blood vessels expand. The expansion of the blood vessels triggers nerves within the brain and this nerve activity cause a person to feel pain as well as causes the tissue around the brain to become inflamed. (2) Another theory suggests that the brain stem becomes overly activated which causes the release of chemical messengers. The chemical messengers causes inflammation and pain in the fibers surrounding blood vessels. (4) A similar theory to the one described above sugges... ...there are preventive and management measures a person can use to help their condition. References 1)What is a Migraine Headache? http://www.aan.com/public/aaninfo/migraine.htm 2)Migraines: Myth Vs. Reality http://www.migraines.org/myth/mythreal.htm 3)Migraine Headache http://www.mckinley.uiuc.edu/health-info/dis-cond/headache/migr-hea.html 4)Migraines: Myth & Reality http://www.migraines.org/myth/mythwall.htm 5)Headache- Hope Through Research http://www.ninds.nih.gov/disorders/headache/detail_headache.htm 6)The Pain is in the Brain http://infotrac.galegroup.com/itweb/brynmawr_main?http_rc=400&class=session&sev=temp&type=session&cause=http%3A%2F%2Fweb3.infotrac.galegroup.com%2Fitw%2Finfomark%2F290%2F130%2F47974424w3%2Fpurl%3Drc1_EAIM_0_A59535401%26dyn%3D3!xrn_12_0_A59535401%3Fsw_aep%3Dbrynmawr_main&cont=&msg=No+Session+cookies&sserv=no