A journalist has spoken of the various difficulties of suffering from migraines, varying from permanently having medication on her person just in case an attack springs upon her to having to abandon weekly shops to go and sit in complete darkness.
"When I was 20, studying at university in Sheffield, I experienced my first migraine," Lydia Bacon wrote for the Liverpool Echo. "Since then it has been extremely difficult to accept them as a part of my day to day life."
"I was actually doing my weekly student shop in Aldi when I started to feel, what I can describe as, ‘extremely weird’. I initially thought it was just a really, really bad headache but I was wrong."
A migraine is described as 'a moderate or severe headache felt as a throbbing pain on one side of the head'. Alongside headaches, they can cause nausea, vomiting and increased sensitivity to light or sound.
While the precise cause of migraines is unknown, they're believed to be the result of abnormal brain activity temporarily affecting nerve signals, chemicals and blood vessels in the brain. The cause of the brain activity is unclear, but it could perhaps be because your genes make you susceptible to experiencing migraines.
"Migraines actually affect around one in five women - which shocked me - and one in every 15 men," Lydia points out. "Some people have frequent migraines up to several times a week, whereas other people only have occasional migraines. It's also possible for years to pass between migraine attacks.
Lydia's first migraine attack:
Lydia's first migraine attack did not exactly take place at the opportune moment, with the head throbbing and nausea beginning while on her weekly student shop around Aldi. "I then started to experience what is known as ‘aura’ as I began to see flashing lights and recall seeing strange purple patterns.
"At this point, I knew this wasn’t just a headache and needed to get back to my house immediately. I got home, shut all of my blinds and made sure my room was in total darkness before getting into bed. The migraine only seemed to be getting worse as I began to shake and was eventually sick numerous times. It was about eight hours later I eventually fell asleep and tried to sleep it off through the night.
"The next morning I just didn’t feel my usual lively self, I felt drained and washed out. After that day, I kept experiencing migraines very frequently over a short period of time and at that point, I knew it was time to go to the doctor."
Life since and now:
After her doctors visit, Lydia understood that there is no cure for migraines, with only prescribed medication available to help combat attacks.
"My life has changed since having to struggle with frequent, weekly migraines," Lydia says. "I can not physically leave the house without my prescribed medication as I never know when a migraine attack is going to creep up on me.
"Sometimes even my prescribed medication doesn’t put an end to the migraine and I will need additional painkillers on top of this. At times when I am in bed with a migraine, I physically can't even check the time on my phone due to the pain caused from the brightness of my phone.
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"You just never know when a migraine is going to creep up on you, so at times it makes normal day to day life very difficult. I have since learned there are particular triggers for me but most of the time, they come from absolutely nowhere."
Migraine triggers:
The NHS say there are many possible migraine triggers, including hormonal, emotional, physical, dietary, environmental and medicinal factors. The triggers often vary with each person, but they suggest keeping a diary may help sufferers identify a consistent trigger.
A GP must identify a pattern of recurring headaches along with associated symptoms for an accurate diagnosis to be made. It can be hard work to identify is something is really a trigger or if it is an early symptom of a migraine attack.
For more information on migraines, click here. For more information about headaches read the NHS advice here.
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