Members of the same family are often cursed with migraine and there is believed to be a hereditary link; if there is a genetic reason for the attacks, medical science has not yet found this link. One area that does seem to have a connection is the medical condition where the blood vessels in the head can become swollen. With this condition, women do not fare as well as men with a ratio of 3 to 1 suffering from the condition regularly; only one in twelve men will experience an attack in their lives.
Some people with the complaint are able to sense when an attack is imminent; this is called migraine with aura. The warning signs may include:
Feeling of sicknessEnlarged blind spotsSense of smell and taste is affectedLack of sensation in sufferers extremities
this is only a short list as other symptoms are also experienced. The most common type of this condition is known as migraine without aura; many early indications felt by those who have a warning are symptoms felt by those who have no warning but their condition can be made worse if they are in constant motion.
It is believed that conditions that cause the blood vessels in the brain to contract could be an explanation for migraine but this still hasn't been proved so the search for cause continues. It might be that it is the expansion of the blood vessels afterwards that causes the headache; whatever the cause, sufferers all agree that an attack stops them from doing anything in their daily lives until it has receded. The range of possible triggers that create an attack is huge; the most common are listed below:
Panic attack symptomsBad weatherCertain foodsBeing at great heightParticular drinksStrong intense sunlightLack of sleep or foodStress caused by personal problems
Sufferers need to monitor events that lead up to an attack if they hope to prevent them wherever possible.