Contents:
- Medical Video: Update on Migraine
- The risk of disease may increase if you have frequent migraines
- 1. Depression
- 2. Anxiety disorders
- 3. Heart disease
- 4. Asthma
- 5. Stroke
- 7. Epilepsy
- 8. Bell's palsy
Medical Video: Update on Migraine
Migraine headaches can be easily treated with adequate rest and taking migraine medications. However, make no mistake. You still should not underestimate this disease, especially if you have frequent migraines. Frequent recurrent migraines are associated with an increased risk of the following eight serious diseases.
The risk of disease may increase if you have frequent migraines
There are no national data that have succeeded in summarizing how many migraine sufferers in Indonesia. However, it is estimated that one in five women and 1 in 15 men often experience severe migraine accompanied by symptoms of nausea and sensitivity to bright light and loud sounds.
The characteristics of migraine symptoms above are similar to a number of other medical conditions that may be more serious. So if you have migraines recently, you should immediately check with your doctor to find out the real causes and treatments that are more appropriate. Seeing a doctor also helps prevent your condition from getting worse.
Here are some diseases that may increase the risk if you often have migraines.
1. Depression
Migraines and mental illness can be related. Migraine often occurs in people who have depression and bipolar disorder.
A study reports that if you often have episodic migraines, the risk of experiencing mental illness can increase up to 2 times more than people who do not migrain. Especially if the migraine you have is classified as chronic, which can occur more than 15 times per month. The risk of getting mental illness is four times higher.
What is the relation? Symptoms of migraines that are often recurrent and severe stress that triggers depression turned out to be equally changing brain serotonin levels.
So to avoid this risk, you need to completely overhaul your lifestyle. Manage stress well through fun routines and hobbies. Also make sure you eat healthy food, diligently exercise, and get enough sleep 7-8 hours every night. Poor diet, lazy movements, and long sleep deprivation are associated with an increased risk of migraine and depression.
2. Anxiety disorders
Quoting Prevention, the American Migraine Foundation says that about 50% of people who experience chronic migraines are also known to have anxiety disorders. Vice versa. People who have anxiety disorders are reported to have frequent migraines.
What connects these two conditions, again, is stress both from the migraine trigger and the trigger for the anxiety attack. Know that there are many ways to relieve stress and excessive anxiety. One of them is meditation and deep breathing techniques. Yoga is also an alternative physical activity that is good for managing stress and anxiety.
3. Heart disease
Migraines can occur at any time when you meet the trigger. Whether it's very hot weather, skip meals, or because of lack of sleep.
However, too often migraines can also be a sign that something is wrong with your body. According to research published in the European Journal of Neurology, migraines can increase your risk of heart disease, mainly due to uncontrolled hypertension.
If you are already at risk for heart disease or already have heart disease and often have migraines, avoid migraine medications that contain triptans. This drug can cause narrowing of blood vessels in the brain and heart. In addition, stop smoking and avoid cigarette smoke around you.
4. Asthma
Asthma and migraines are different diseases. Asthma is a respiratory disorder, while migraines are disorders of the nervous system. However, you need to know that both have similarities, which cause inflammation.
In migraines, inflammation occurs in blood vessels outside the brain which cause throbbing pain in the head. People with asthma experience inflammation and constriction in their respiratory tract so they have difficulty breathing.
In people with asthma, the brain that does not get enough fresh oxygenated blood can cause symptoms of migraine headaches. In fact, there are asthma drugs that have the potential to prevent migraines at the same time.
5. Stroke
If you often experience headaches with sensitivity to bright light and a tingling sensation on your face or hands, you should be vigilant. Migraines can risk causing ischemic stroke. Ischemic stroke occurs when blood vessels that supply blood to the brain area are blocked by blood clots.
People who have frequent blood platelet migraines become active, triggering blood clots. As a result, the risk of getting a stroke is higher. Especially if migraines often occur in people who are older and have smoking habits.
However, the risk of stroke due to migraines is lower in women. Migraine with aura is a "subscription" disease for women, and younger women have a lower risk of stroke than men.
7. Epilepsy
Epilepsy and migraines both occur due to disorders of the brain's nervous system. Both of these conditions are also often triggered by the same thing, such as lack of sleep.
That's why if you have a migraine, the risk of getting epilepsy can increase. Likewise, vice versa, having epilepsy makes you often experience migraines. However, the risk of epilepsy because migraine often remains smaller when compared to hereditary factors.
8. Bell's palsy
A 2014 study published in the Neurology Journal revealed that people who often migraine were twice as likely to be at risk for Bell's palsy. Bell's palsy is paralysis of the facial muscles.
Researchers agree that the link between migraine and Bell's palsy is a change in blood vessels, inflammation, or infection from a virus.
You need to note that in addition to migraines, Bell's palsy also shows symptoms such as weakness on one side of the face, difficulty making expressions, or pain in the jaw and the back of the ear.
