Migraine Headaches: Causes, Types, and Treatments
This paper provides a comprehensive overview of migraine headaches, distinguishing them from ordinary headaches and explaining their medical definition as a chronic paroxysmal disorder. It surveys the major categories of migraine triggers — including food, environmental, and bodily factors — and describes the primary types of migraines: classic, common, transformed, and chronic. The paper then outlines treatment strategies ranging from trigger avoidance and dietary changes to pharmaceutical options such as triptans and ergots, as well as alternative approaches including exercise, relaxation techniques, yoga, T'ai Chi, and herbal supplements. The conclusion emphasizes that migraines are a distinct disease requiring targeted management rather than general headache remedies.
- Introduction: The Experience of Migraines: Patient descriptions of migraine pain and symptoms
- Medical Definition and Distinction from Headaches: Clinical definition and difference from ordinary headaches
- Causes and Triggers of Migraines: Food, environmental, and bodily migraine triggers
- Types of Migraines: Classic, common, transformed, and chronic migraine types
- Treatment Approaches: Medical, dietary, and alternative migraine treatments
- Conclusion: Migraines require targeted treatment, not dismissal
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What makes this paper effective
- Opens with vivid patient quotations to establish human context before shifting to clinical language, creating immediate reader engagement.
- Consistently distinguishes migraines from ordinary headaches at the physiological level (vasodilation vs. vasoconstriction), grounding the paper's central claim in medical evidence.
- Organizes a large volume of information into clearly labeled categories — triggers, types, treatments — making complex medical content accessible and easy to follow.
- Balances medical treatment options with alternative therapies, reflecting a nuanced understanding of patient choices.
Key academic technique demonstrated
The paper demonstrates systematic classification as an organizational technique: triggers are divided into food, environmental, and bodily categories; migraine types are separated into four named groups; and treatments are split across trigger avoidance, pharmaceutical, and alternative approaches. This parallel structure signals scholarly control of material and makes the argument cumulative rather than anecdotal.
Structure breakdown
The paper follows a classic expository structure: an introduction using patient voices, a definition section establishing the medical baseline, a cause-and-type analysis in the body, a multi-part treatment section, and a brief conclusion that reframes the stakes. Each major section is subdivided with labeled headings, giving the paper the feel of a reference article while maintaining a clear argumentative thread about the seriousness and treatability of migraines.
Introduction: The Experience of Migraines
Those who suffer from migraines describe their symptoms in different ways. Some describe a sense of numbness that spreads throughout their extremities. Others describe loss of appetite or severe nausea. Still others feel confused and disoriented until the migraine passes.
Common to all migraine sufferers, however, is the sense of pain. Sometimes the pain is big and heavy, "like a 25 pound pumpkin on my head" (Moe 20). Other times the pain is sharp and concentrated, "like a knife in my eye" (Moe 6).
Medical Definition and Distinction from Headaches
Medical professionals characterize migraines as a "chronic paroxysmal disorder" that is typically free from symptoms between attacks. This disorder is often accompanied by "transient focal neurological symptoms," such as photophobia and blurred vision. In many cases the pain is severe enough to incapacitate the sufferer, necessitating bed rest (Spierings 9).
In lay terms, not all headaches are migraines. A migraine is a specific type of headache characterized by visual disturbances and an intense throbbing pain concentrated on one side of the head ("Migraine: It's All in Your Head").
Migraines and headaches also have different causes. The pain associated with an ordinary headache is caused by vasoconstriction — the narrowing of blood vessels in the brain. A migraine's cause is just the opposite: during a migraine, the blood vessels in the brain expand in a process called vasodilation. This causes swelling of the tissues surrounding the brain, which intensifies the pain. When migraine sufferers take headache medicine designed to treat vasoconstriction, they inadvertently dilate the blood vessels further, increasing swelling and making the migraine worse (Coleman and Burchfield).
Another major distinction is that a headache is only a symptom, while a migraine is a disease. Physicians such as Stephen J. Peroutka further describe migraine as a "genetically-based illness." Because it is a disease, a migraine can be accompanied by many symptoms, including nausea, vomiting, sensitivity to light and sound, seeing auras or light spots, and speech difficulties. Unlike headaches, a migraine attack can last for hours, days, or even several weeks (Coleman and Burchfield).
Causes and Triggers of Migraines
In addition to genetics, physicians generally divide the causes of migraines into three main categories: food reactions, environmental reactions, and body reactions.
Food Reactions
Scientists have identified several foods that can trigger migraine headaches. These include alcohol (particularly beer and red wine), aspartame, avocados, bananas, large doses of caffeine, monosodium glutamate, citrus fruits such as lemons and limes, nuts and seeds, onions, dairy products such as milk and sour cream, and nitrites (Ash).
Beyond specific foods, migraines can also be caused by poor nutrition, skipping meals, or not eating regularly (MacGregor and Dunitz 8). Delaying meals can bring on low blood sugar, setting off a chain reaction that often leads to a migraine (Ash).
Environmental Reactions
Migraines can also be triggered by environmental factors such as strong perfume, bright or flickering light, secondhand smoke, air pollution, and weather changes ("Migraine: It's All in Your Head"). Additional triggers include altitude changes and noise, especially loud and constant sounds. Weather-related factors are particularly troublesome because they are beyond a sufferer's control; sudden wind, increased humidity, and thunderstorms are commonly reported triggers (Moe 40).
Body Reactions
Still other migraines are triggered by bodily reactions. The fact that more women than men suffer from migraines leads many scientists to posit that menstruation and fluctuating estrogen levels play a key role in triggering migraines in women (MacGregor and Dunitz 8).
A migraine can also be the body's response to emotional triggers such as tension and stress. Many sufferers report that their symptoms worsen in proportion to stress levels at work (Ash). Certain medications — including birth control pills and some antibiotics — are thought to be potential migraine triggers. Excessive exertion from exercise or heavy lifting can also cause migraines, as can depression and emotional turmoil related to events such as divorce or the death of a family member. The body may also react negatively to travel across multiple time zones or to too much or too little sleep (Moe 40).
Conclusion
Many people mistakenly believe that a migraine is just a severe headache. Others delay seeking treatment, fearing a diagnosis of a brain tumor or other life-threatening illness. Both of these responses fail to address the actual cause of migraine pain, leaving sufferers to endure more pain and isolation than necessary.
Recent research is making meaningful progress in migraine treatment. Until a definitive cure is found, however, a growing number of people are finding relief through support groups, alternative therapies, and combinations of medical treatment and trigger avoidance.
Works Cited
Ash, Richard. "Migraine Headaches." Main Conditions. January 2002. Migraine Awareness Group. 24 March 2003.
Coleman, Michael John and Terri Miller Burchfield. "Migraines: Myth vs. Reality." Migraine Awareness Group. January 2002. 24 March 2003.
MacGregor, Anne and Martin Dunitz. Migraine in Women. Malden: Blackwell Science, 1999.
Mauskop, Alexander and Barry Fox. What Your Doctors May Not Tell You About Migraines: The Breakthrough Program That Can Help End Your Pain. New York: Warner Books, 2001.
"Migraine: It's All in Your Head." ICA Update Vol. 14, No. 2, 1999. 24 March 2002.
"Migraine Symptoms, Types and Causes." Migraine Treatments. 11 February 2003. MigraineTreatments.com. 24 March 2003.
Moe, Barbara. Everything You Need to Know About Migraines and Other Headaches. New York: Rosen Publishing Group, 2000.
Spierings, Egilius L.H. Migraine: Questions and Answers, 2nd ed. New York: Merit International Publishing, 2001.
"Your Best Response to Headache Pain." To Your Health. January 2003. The Online Wellness Resource of the Saint Joseph Regional Medical Center. 24 March 2003.
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