Migraine: Causes and Its Ayurveda Treatment

Migraine: Causes and Its Ayurveda Treatment : Migraine is a neurological condition that is caused by abnormal activities in the brain that influence nerve signals, blood vessels, and chemicals in a negative way. It is a pulsing pain that affects the forehead or the area around the eyes or one side of the head.

The worst part about this problem is that it gets worse with time and is often accompanied by several other problems like increased sensitivity to sound and light, tingling, vomiting, nausea, and numbness. A typical migraine attack can last from 4 to 72 hours depending on the condition of the patient and the treatment he gets.

Major Symptoms of Migraine

Migraine can affect people from all age groups and is usually divided into four stages but necessary not in the same order: prodrome, aura, attack, and last postdrome. Let’s understand these stages one by one.

Prodrome

It is the preparatory stage of migraine that often lasts from 24 to 48 hours before the attack. Prodrome includes a series of symptoms like:

stiffness in the neck
Irritation
Hyperactivity
constant fatigue
excess food cravings
depression
laziness and yawning

Aura

This stage follows the prodromal stage and includes problems with speech, movement, vision, and sensations. Other major symptoms of the state include:

Temporary inability to see clearly or complete loss of vision for sometime
difficulty in speaking clearly
uncontrolled jerking
sudden observation of bright spots or flashes of light
hearing loud unbearable noises
a tingling sensation in various parts of the body including the legs, arms, and the face

Attack Phase

It is the main part of migraine which includes intense pain coming and going in flashes. It includes:

Vomiting
Nausea
Dizziness
increased sensitivity to sound and light
severe pain on either one side of the head on both sides of the temples
pulsing pain in the head
and a constant feeling of losing consciousness

Postdrome

It is the last phase of migraine that includes feelings of relief, extreme happiness, Euphoria, extreme weakness, for a feeling of complete apathy. The feeling may differ from person to person depending on their true nature and reaction to stressed conditions.

Causes of Migraine

The real cause of migraine is yet to be understood by modern science. Some believe that it is a genetic problem that causes changes in some parts of the brain that interact with the Trigeminal nerve. A sudden imbalance of brain chemicals like serotonin is also considered the primary reason for migraine. But there is a lot that has to feel written and said about its triggers. Migraine triggers are divided into five categories:

Emotional: The emotional triggers of this pulsating headache include excitement, depression, tension, shock, stress, and anxiety.
Physical: There are several physical factors that may trigger migraine which includes shift work, jet lag, tiredness, poor quality of sleep, low blood pressure, the tension in the neck and shoulders, and so on.
Diet: A few edibles are also considered as triggers for migraine attacks. These include dehydration, irregular meals, delayed meals, fasting, foods rich in tyramine, specific food items like citrus food or chocolate, caffeine-based products like coffee and tea, and alcohol.
Environmental factors: The list includes strong smell, loud noises, flickering screens like that of billboards, computers, and televisions; bright lights, and smoky rooms.
Medicational: Some strong medications like combined contraceptive pills, medicines used and hormone replacement therapy, and some kinds of sleeping tablets may also cause migraines.

Types of Migraine

Migraine headaches are of different types depending on their duration, intensity, and part of the brain affected during the attack. The most common ones include:

Classical migraine: It begins with the warning sign known as Aura and often causes temporary vision loss and feeling of flashing lights or shadows to the patient.
Common migraine: This one begins without Aura and is slow in the beginning. The most notable thing about common migraine is that it interferes with regular activities and often causes severe pain in one side of the head.
Chronic migraine: This one has a higher frequency which means the pain remains for more than 15 days of the month.
Migraine with brainstem Aura: It is the rarest kind of migraine that is accompanied by severe neurological impacts like difficulty in speech.
Abdominal migraine: This mostly affects kids under 14 years of age and is often caused by irregular functioning of the abdomen and guts.
Retinal migraine: It often causes temporary loss of vision in one eye handmade last from a few minutes to a few months. It is a mild condition that can be reversed with treatment.
Acute migraine: Commonly known as episodic migraine that lasts up to 14 days per month.

Migraine Treatment in Ayurveda

The Migraine treatment in Ayurveda focuses on the originating cause of the disease and not just on subduing its symptoms. The treatment of UN includes Panchkarma therapies that are tailored according to the condition of the individual undergoing treatment and the primary trigger of attacks.

How does Panchakarma help?

Ayurveda believes that maximum problems are caused by an accumulation of toxins in various parts of our body. Even migraine is believed to be caused by the Axis deposit machine of toxic materials in our head. Increased toxicity leads to high sensitivity to odor, mood, light and. Various Panchkarma therapies like oil pulling, shirodhara, and nasya help decrease the toxic levels in the region above the neck and provide relief from painful conditions like headaches and migraine attacks.

Nasya: It is one of the most effective treatments that directly address the nerves and eliminate any kind of excess toxins from the sinuses. The mucus coating present inside our nostrils has maximum nerve endings. When these nerve endings are exposed to medicated oils through Nasya it pacifies the Vata dosha and drains excess mucus deposited in the sinuses. Most patients undergoing this treatment find effective relief from migraine attacks within a few weeks.

Oil Pulling: It is the substitute therapy for migraine that provides relief from poisonous toxins deposited in the region above the neck.

Shirodhara: in this therapy, a continuous stream of lukewarm oil is slowly poured on areas with high nerve concentration like the forehead. The pressure caused by the dropping of oil helps the nervous system relax.