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2023 Author: Gabrielle Mercer | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-05-21 12:25
Around 10 percent of Austrians suffer from migraines. This makes it one of the most common types of headache. But what can you do and, above all, what really helps against migraines?
Migraine attacks last for hours or even days and occur once a week, a month or only very rarely. Often those affected cope with everyday life only with very strong headache tablets, but that is not the solution in the long run!
For a long time, the cause of the pulsating headache was a sudden widening of the blood vessels in the head. However, this has now been revised because, strictly speaking, it is a neurovascular inflammation. This means that certain nerve impulses trigger this inflammation in the blood vessels in the brain, thereby expanding them and causing pain. If you bend down, this pain is even exacerbated.
What can you do?
The acute treatment of a migraine mainly focuses on the alleviation of the symptoms with the help of active pharmaceutical ingredients. The following types of medication can be used for acute therapy:
- non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs
- Anti-emetics (for nausea)
- Triptans (for severe migraines)
- Ergotamine (for very long-lasting seizures)
However, you should also pay attention to preventive measures in the symptom-free phases in order to possibly even avoid seizures completely:
- Acupuncture,
- Relaxation techniques,
- Sports (especially endurance sports such as jogging, swimming and cycling),
- right nutrition
- and drinking a lot is one of the most important preventive measures.
You should also avoid alcohol (especially red wine), nicotine, cheese and chocolate, as they are often cited as the cause and trigger for headaches.