Medical Clinic License
Migraine and migraine attacks
Migraine (hemicrania) - this is a unilateral headache, of pulsating character, accompanied by nausea, vomiting, and often has a hereditary character.
Headache seizure usually lasts for at least 12-18 hours. Migraine affects 12-15% of the population. It is the second type of primary headache after tension-type headache. A characteristic feature of the migraine is it’s appearance at young age, before 20 years.
The peak of the disease accounts for the period from 24 to 34 years. With age, the transformation of migraine occurred, these attacks are somewhat reduced in number, and you may receive the interictal headache.
The most frequent causes of this transformation include the factor of abuse of analgesics or antimigraine means. Women experienced migraine attacks 2-3 times more often, than men. An inherited predisposition has importance as well (if both parents had a migraine, the disease occurs in 60 - 90%).
There are 2 main forms of migraine:
1) migraine without aura (migraine simple) - 80% of cases;
2) migraine with aura (associated migraine).
Aura is a complex of focal neurologic symptoms, preceding to episodes of pain, or occurring at an altitude of pain. There is also a special form of migraine - vegetative, or panic migraine (A.M. Wayne, 1995).
The seizure begins with a typical migraine attack, accompanied by fear (panic), tachycardia, elevation of blood pressure, fever, general weakness, polyuria. These symptoms are a "secondary".
Migraine attack is provoked by the following factors:
• emotional or physical stress;
• particular patient's psychic;
• High meteosensitivity;
• drinking alcohol, smoking, intake of certain foods (cheese, chocolate, sausage, caffeine, citrus fruits);
• menstruation, ovulation, use of contraceptives, pregnancy.
According to the observations of clinicians migraine affects people with high social activity, well adapted to the life and creative personalities. For example, Newton, Z. Freud, A.P. Chekhov, P.I. Tchaikovsky, and many others, suffered from migraine. Migraines are often accompanied by nausea, vomiting, and increased sensitivity to the light.
• In the pathogenesis of migraine’s seizure we distinguish:
1) phase of vasospasm, when there are aura, visual disturbances, mood changes;
2) phase of vazopharesis and vasodilation (headache start of impulsive headache);
3) phase of complete atony of vessels, accompanied by nausea, vomiting, gradually changing to relief;
4) phase of after migraine’s sleep.
Also at the clinic of сephalalgia we distinguish headaches:
• vascular origin that may develop in hypertensive patients as well as a hypotensive due to nervous disorders of vessels, their paresis;
• liquorodynamic headache - as a result of increased production of the cerebrospinal fluid, venous outflow disorders, tumors, cysts, cerebral edema;
• headache muscle tension is a result of reflex muscle tension in the scalp with the appearance of ischemia of vessels;
• neuralgic headache;
• psychalgia as the equivalent of a depressive syndrome;
• mixed headaches.
Treatment and statistics
The problems of treatment and rehabilitation of patients, suffering from migraines and headaches of different origins, for more than 16 years treated by academician, doctor of folk medicine, G.S. Avakyan. In our center, 390 patients were screened, among them 180 men and 210 women, at the ages between 20 to 48 years.
Duration of the disease ranged from 3 years to 15 years. All respondents were under the supervision of neurologists in the community (work), for at least 2 years since the establishment of final diagnosis.
246 patients had a classic migraine, of whom 108 reported attacks of migraine at least once a week, 72 patients had a "neck migraine" on the background of migraine osteohondrosis; Kimmerly anomalies (vertebral artery syndrome), combined with the instability of the cervical spine.
24 patients had the headaches associated with vascular disorders, 30 patients - muscle tension headache, 18 patients were with mixed cephalalgias.
The main complaints patients had in treatment at the center of academic Avakyan G.S. were:
• pulsating headaches - 79% of cases;
• noise in the ears - 29%;
• pain in eyeballs - 34% of cases;
• Half of the headache and irradiation into the eyes, nose tip, temple - 51%;
• Nausea - 19%, vomiting at the height of headaches - 11%;
Depending on the cause of headaches, severity of neurological deficit, a combination of pharmacological and herbal teas, their dose changed. A full course of treatment was 2 years.
Evaluation of the results was carried out independently by patients with help of specific questionnaires, and the results of NMRI, roentgenography, myelography, results of liquor before and after a course of combined treatment. The evaluation was conducted in the dynamics (3, 6, 12 and 24 months).
After processing the data obtained, results were the following:
• for 63% of attacks decreased unilateral headaches;
• in 80% -improved sleep;
• in 47% - nausea disappeared, when a headache arise;
• in 49% - increased work efficiency.
With the preventive purpose it is recommended: reception of herbal tea number 2, including Beastslayer, peppermint, lemon balm, Motherwort, hawthorn, linden.
Please note, that herbal teas for the treatment of the headaches in the background of vascular dysfunction, frequent exacerbations of cervical degenerative disc disease, abnormal cranio-vetebral transition (Kimmerly anomaly), carried a wound injuries of the cervical spine enriched BA1 (trace elements, organic acids, flavonoids, giperin, rutin, kvertitsin, catechins).