Migraine: symptoms and treatment from a neurologic and psychosomatic perspective.

The disease of Bulgakov's Pontius Pilate now afflicts many people. And if you think that migraine is exclusively a female "quirk of the body", you are deeply mistaken. According to the statistics of neurologists, about one third of all patients diagnosed with migraine are men.

So, if you regularly suffer from headaches (especially when the floor of your head hurts or the pain attack is accompanied by strange visual or auditory effects), we advise you to visit a doctor - you may have a migraine.

Migraine means "half of the head" in Greek. This definition characterizes the symptomatology of the disease quite accurately: one of the main signs of migraine is an attack of severe pain in one half of the head (left or right). But this sign, although it is common, is not necessary in every case, in different people migraine runs differently. Some people suffer from migraine only a few times a year, while others are almost daily guests. Even the duration of the attack is different - from a couple of hours to several days. In especially severe cases, during an attack a person loses the ability to work and needs a sick leave, and if such severe attacks occur frequently, it is even possible to get disability. As you can see, you should not underestimate the "banal" headache.

You should be especially concerned if the headache is accompanied by unusual effects: flickering, colored circles and spots in the eyes, tinnitus, temporary blurred vision.

This "accompaniment" is called an aura.

Migraine Myths.

1. The first is the belief that it is a "female" disease. In fact, migraine spares neither women nor men (again, remember Pilate). Women simply have headaches more often than men because of the peculiarities of their body and hormonal background, but these headaches, as a rule, have nothing to do with a real migraine.
2. The second myth: migraine supposedly has a vascular nature. This belief has long been held even in medical circles. And all because in migraine is really a series of spasms and relaxation of blood vessels in the brain, which actually causes pain. But about the causes of these spasms for a very long time medics knew nothing at all. Only a couple of decades ago, the complex neurological nature of migraine was finally studied. It turned out that vascular spasms and pain are caused by certain hypersensitive areas of nerve tissue. These "zones" respond to a number of stimuli, causing vascular spasms. What kind of stimuli might these be?

Many people who suffer from migraines are weather sensitive (that is, they are hypersensitive to certain weather conditions). They may have a migraine attack triggered by a change in the weather. Migraine attacks can also be triggered by stressful situations, other illnesses (colds, for example), and certain drinks and foods.

Were you surprised?

And that's right, many migraine sufferers have to adjust their diet, giving up fish, sweets, cheese, and coffee.

There is no effective treatment for migraine yet.

But thanks to new knowledge about its causes, doctors can now significantly alleviate the condition of their patients, allowing them to reduce both the strength of the pain, and the duration of the attack, and the frequency of attacks themselves. The main thing is not to believe myths and not to self-medicate (remember, migraine can lead to disability), taking, for example, completely useless vasodilators and antispasmodics, or addictive painkillers.

So, uh, the cause of a migraine is neurological. And medical circles have long recognized the extremely strong connection between neurology and psychology. Simply put, neurological pathologies have often been found to have psychological causes. This is how the close connection between the physical body and the psyche manifests itself. Migraine was no exception - psychotherapists and neurologists noted common psychological settings and problems in many people suffering from migraine.

A disease whose underlying causes are hidden in the patient's psyche is called psychosomatic.

Certain unconscious mental attitudes and problems of a person cause very specific diseases. The relationship between these unconscious attitudes and the diseases they cause is called psychosomatics. Now consider a migraine.

Neurologists and psychotherapists have repeatedly noted that the vast majority of migraine sufferers are people of intellectual labor with a high sense of responsibility. That is, by definition, they have a higher load on the brain than the rest of us. Migraine, in fact, is a "breakdown" of their main working tool - the brain. And, of course, such "breakdowns" occur precisely when there is too high a load (for example, an emergency at work). But brain overload alone is not enough - we need more hypertrophied responsibility, which in a critical situation, when you can not fulfill the task, turns into an unconscious sense of guilt (the trigger of many psychosomatic diseases). The third factor in the disease is the inability to realize their feelings in the usual way: often prone to migraines people are emotionally withdrawn. The body, which, one way or another, needs to get rid of destructive guilt, transforms it into a migraine attack.

"Aha!" you'll say, "So he's sick so he won't be responsible for the disruption!".

You would be right, but only partially. In the case of a psychosomatic disorder, the illness and suffering of the patient is very real! In order not to repeat this sad scenario, it is necessary to have a psychotherapist's treatment along with a neurologist's treatment course.

Migraine has been known since ancient times, but nowadays it has become a real epidemic. It has predominantly neurological causes, but its prevalence is also due to the strong changes in the strain on the human brain and psyche: people are required to be more and more intelligent - and more and more responsible. But at the same time, it means that this disease can be overcome for many people not by expensive drugs, but by treatment with a professional psychotherapist.

❓ Frequently Asked Questions

1. What are the main symptoms of migraine?
   Migraine is characterized by severe throbbing pain, more often on one side of the head, accompanied by nausea, increased sensitivity to light and sound. Some patients experience "aura" - visual or auditory disturbances before an attack.
2. What are the neurological causes of migraine?
   Migraine is associated with hypersensitivity of certain areas of nerve tissue that react to various stimuli, causing vascular spasms and pain sensations.
3. How does psychosomatics affect the development of migraine?
   Psychological factors such as chronic stress, anxiety, depression, and emotional tension can contribute to the onset and worsening of migraine attacks.
4. What are the recommended treatments for migraine?
   Treatment includes drug therapy to manage seizures, lifestyle changes, avoidance of triggers and, if necessary, psychotherapy to manage stress and emotional state.
5. Can migraine be completely cured?
   It is difficult to completely get rid of migraine, but with a comprehensive approach, you can significantly reduce the frequency and intensity of attacks, improving the quality of life.