What is a migraine?
Unlike most headaches, a migraine is a neurological disorder involving brain chemicals and nerve pathways.
In addition to severe throbbing pain on one side of your head, these types of headaches often include additional symptoms. These can include:
- Visual disturbances, like spots, halos, or flashing lights
- Nausea and vomiting
- Extreme sensitivity to sound or light
- Temporary loss of vision
Migraine symptoms can last a few hours or days and can be incapacitating.
What causes a migraine?
Migraines can have several triggers, symptoms, including:
- Hormonal fluctuations in women
- Certain foods, like salty things or aged cheese
- Food additives, like aspartame and MSG (monosodium glutamate)
- Wine or highly caffeinated beverages
- Stress at home or work
- Sensory stimuli, like bright lights or strong smells
- Too much or too little sleep
- Intense physical exertion
- Changes in the weather or barometric pressure
- Certain medications
Your chances of having migraines are also higher if you’re a woman and have a family history of the condition.
How are migraines treated?
When it comes to treating migraines, the team focuses on identifying their possible causes so you can focus on prevention and controlling the situation. This involves taking a comprehensive, holistic approach to help determine your potential triggers so you can manage those whenever possible.
Based on your migraine triggers, frequency, and severity, the team might also recommend several therapies, including:
- Natural and herbal supplementations
- Oral, sublingual, nasal, and injectable medications
- Topical ointments and creams
- Advanced head and neck nerve blocks and ablations including occipital, sphenopalatine, trigeminal, vagal, auriculotemporal, supraorbital, supratrochlear and others.
- Botulinum toxin
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- sphenocath®
- IV infusions are available for intractable attacks.
The team might also recommend ablations and stimulators.
How do nerve blocks, ablations, and stimulators manage migraines?
When your migraines don’t respond to conservative treatments, the team offers several interventions that disrupt the pain signals causing your migraine pain. There are several different nerve blocks, ablations, and stimulators, but common options for migraines include:
- Occipital
- TMJ
- Auriculotemporal
- Trigeminal
- Sphenopalatine
- Supraorbital
- Supratrochlear
- Stellate ganglion
- Superficial cervical plexus
The team doesn’t recommend implantable occipital nerve stimulators because of their high rate of migration and complications in addition to their low percentage of long-lasting relief.
To find relief for your migraine symptoms, call Enhance Center to schedule an appointment today.
