Migraine is a severe prolonged, throbbing and recurring pain in the head usually on one side only, hence the name. Migraine is a complex disorder often accompanied by symptoms such as nausea and vomiting; visual changes (blurred vision, developing blind spots or seeing zig-zag shapes or lines); pains and chills in extremities, numbness and tingling; dizziness; and sensitivity to light, smells, and/or sound; and blurred mental faculties. Migraine sufferers have a history of such intense unilateral paroxysmal headaches. Attacks last from one hour to several days and may be instigated by humiliation, anger, insecurity, nervous stress or particular foods or environmental conditions.
Migraines are thought to be caused by extreme constriction and then dilation of blood vessels in the head. Recent research suggests that migraines may result from altered levels of neurotransmitters (neurologically active chemicals) in the brain, particularly serotonin.
Environmental factors associated with the onset of an episode include bright lights and some types of food (cheese, chocolate, peanuts, lower quality red wine); some doctors believe that many migraine sufferers have a craving for sweet things and eat irregularly, and that such foods are a symptom rather than a cause of an attack, which is long periods without food and low blood sugar level.
Migraine is recorded in the Ebers papyrus (1630 BC) of Egypt as a 'sickness of half the head'.
The origin of the current name is from the late 14th Century word, megrim, from Old French migraigne (13C.), from vulgar pronunciation of Late Latin hemicrania "pain in one side of the head, headache," from Greek hēmikrania, from hēmi- "half" + kranion "skull". The Middle English form was re-spelled 1777 on the French model.
Migraine is a mundane and commonplace ailment estimated to afflict about 12% of the population. Women suffer more than men and there is usually another sufferer in the family. Migraines usually subside after age 55. Some doctors speak of a migrainous personality as a person who is usually sensitive, imaginative, intelligent, serious, and ambitious. Sufferers have included George Eliot, Alexander Pope, and Virginia Woolf and Joan Didion.
In 2019, one in five Australians – 4.9 million people – suffers from migraine and the condition is deemed to be underdiagnosed. The economic cost is estimated at AU$35.7 billion – $14.3 billion in health system costs, $16.3 billion in productivity costs and $5.1 billion in other costs.
In the USA, approximately one in six women and one in 20 men get migraines - 13% of all Americans over the age of 12. Adults in their thirties and forties are at peak age for migraines, but even children as young as two years old have been known to experience migraine.
Three out of four migraine sufferers are female. This is attributed to hormonal changes, particularly those related to the menstrual cycle, pregnancy, PMS and peri-menopause (the two to 10 years preceding menopause when hormonal levels fluctuate considerably). Migraine sufferers may also get postnatal migraines although the headache will probably be milder than a typical full-blown attack. Of the 18 million American women estimated to be migraine sufferers, six out of ten experience migraine right before their menstrual periods ("menstrual migraine"). Migraine headaches of this type are typically the most severe and women with this pattern are good candidates for preventive medical therapy.
Ironically, the multiple stresses and roles that many women juggle may contribute to exacerbating a migraine once it starts. One in three female sufferers of migraine reported that it has affected their ability to be in control of their lives. Of these women, nearly half (46 percent) claimed they could not control their plans or activities, or even function during a migraine attack; one in five reported lost confidence in their ability to do their work, could not think clearly, felt "extremely ill" or felt "depressed." According to most of these women, marriages and other relationships suffer as a result; having migraines also affects women's level of sexual satisfaction.
Migraine is a hereditary trait with 75% of all sufferers estimated as having inherited predisposition to the disorder. If both parents have them, there is a 75 percent chance that their children will have them; if only one parent has migraines, there is a 50 percent chance that the child will be affected.