Headaches and migraines

In most patients the headaches have vascular origin, that is, due to the spasm of some cerebral arteries and subsequent dilation of the same; This gives rise to the so-called migraine or migraine. It may also be due to a tension or contracture of some muscles located on the head and neck that originate the call. All these forms are called primary headaches and represent the.

There are other causes of headaches (5% of patients) that are due to structural brain injuries such as bruises, tumors or abscesses, infections that affect the meninges, or metabolic diseases. They are the so-called secondary headaches.

Primary headaches and migraines

In migraine there is a clear family predisposition and it affects women more often. A very common variant is the migraine associated with menstruation, called «menstrual migraine»And that can appear before, during or after menstruation.

Eating can trigger a migraine attack and other headaches

• The fasting situations or any situation that causes a decrease in sugar that we have in blood.
• Behind the alcohol consumption since acetylaldehyde is produced during its metabolization. But if the headache appears several hours after drinking alcohol, it should be thought that it is due to the hangover effect.
• The seasonings and preservatives of certain foods. It is the case of nitrites or glutamate, used as flavor and color enhancers Consumption of which can trigger headache in some people. In the case of glutamate, you may experience headache, a feeling of tightness in the chest, stiffness and weakness of the limbs, dizziness, redness in the face, sweating, stomach discomfort, vomiting, pain in the abdomen and cramps and / or diarrhea; .
• Regular consumption of coffee can cause headaches in some people due to an effect of spasm of the cerebral arteries produced in these people by caffeine and the subsequent dilatation of these arteries by a rebound effect. However, caffeine has also been reported to relieve headaches in other individuals. It has been described that in individuals who habitually consume coffee and interrupt it at the weekend, a headache may appear, it is the so-called "weekend migraine."
• Also cheese for its richness in tyramine, there are people in whom its consumption can trigger headaches.

There are other factors related to the emotional stress, changes in the pattern of dream or excessive sleepiness on the weekends. In some individuals the physical exercise and sexual activity They can trigger headaches, benign in most cases, but which require brain bleeding to be ruled out.

Can you take medication?

Drugs will be used to treat the pain crisis and drugs to prevent new attacks if the crises are very frequent. In a study published in 1998 it was observed that a vitamin, riboflavin, administered at a dose of 400 mg / day in a patient with migraine, produced reductions in the frequency of attacks in more than half of the patients. It should be noted that the medication that some individuals take for long periods of time to relieve pain may be the cause of the chronification of pain; This is the so-called "pain medication abuse headache."

However, the treatment of migraine and any other form of primary headache is mainly based on avoid triggers, such as nicotine from tobacco, stress or factors related to eating. In addition, it is advisable to encourage the patient to follow some regular life patternssuch as following a regular meal schedule and getting a regular night's rest.