Living with migraines | Migraine.com

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Avoiding a migraine
Quality of life
Sleep disorders
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Risk of Stroke
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Pinched Nerve
Transient Ischemic Attack

Living with migraines: an introduction

Living with migraines can be a difficult challenge. Almost one-third of migraine sufferers experience moderate to severe disability. The head pain and other migraine symptoms make it difficult for many to function during attacks. Migraines are a leading cause of disability around the globe. Despite that, half of those with migraines aren’t under a doctor’s care for the condition.

Migraines impact almost every facet of a sufferer’s life.

Read more about the potential relationship between migraine and other issues:

Often, people with migraines report a lower quality of life, have trouble sleeping, cancel social engagements and miss days from work and school because of attacks. They have also been found to have less energy between migraine attacks.

Migraines are more than just pain and discomfort

Some migraine sufferers wait in worry or fear of when the next migraine attack will surface. So even during symptom-free periods, people with chronic migraines may curb their activities, eat cautiously or be on edge in anticipation of a painful episode. This also has a negative effect throughout a person’s life.

A 1995 Swedish study compared people with migraines to those without migraines. The migraine sufferers – even between attacks – had more:

Emotional distress
Disturbed contentment
Less vitality
Problems sleeping

There are many options to get help for living with migraines, from migraine doctors to joining a patient support group.

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References

http://cep.sagepub.com/content/15/1/31.abstract
Perceptions and Needs of Patients With Migraine; Journal of Family Practice; Cottrell 2002
http://www.journals.elsevierhealth.com/periodicals/clithe/article/S0149-2918(07)00137-3/abstract
Quality of Care Measure for Migraine A comprehensive Review; Disease Management; Gagne 2007
http://www.who.int/healthinfo/statistics/bod_migraine.pdf
http://www.mhni.com/faqs_children.aspx