How Migraines Affect Your Life

Having a headache is never fun, but you can usually go on with life. Having a migraine headache is life-changing, and can often bring everything to a screeching halt for a day or more.

Migraines Affect Your Life in 4 Stages

Migraines affect your life in 4 stages: prodrome, aura, headache, and postdrome.

1. PRODROME: The first stage in which migraines affect your life is the prodrome. At least 60% of migraine sufferers are aware of the prodrome, which may begin hours or days before the headache itself.

Prodromes of migraines affect your life in one or more of the following ways: appetite loss, constipation, cravings for certain foods, depression, diarrhea, drowsiness, euphoria, hyperactivity, irritability, light sensitivity, slurred speech, sound sensitivity, talkativeness, and yawning. This is an impartial list, but quite clearly, any of these can affect your life.

2. AURA: The second stage in which migraines affect your life is the aura. Not every migraine sufferer experiences the aura stage. The aura usually begins an hour or less before the headache of the migraine.

The auras of migraines affect your life severely, but briefly. Most aura symptoms last from 15 minutes to an hour. During that time, your vision may be affected, making it difficult or impossible to work, drive, read, or carry on regular activities. You may see strange things. The most common aura visual symptoms are flashes of light, specks, zigzag lines, stars, or shimmering.

Auras of migraines affect your life by disturbing speech and language, too. You may have difficulty talking to people during the aura. You may be confused, weak in the limbs, or numb.

3. HEADACHE: The third stage during which migraines affect your life is the longest, and probably the most debilitating. The headache, or attack stage, lasts anywhere from several hours to 3 days in adults.

The excruciating, throbbing pain of the headache makes normal activities impossible. Nausea makes it difficult to eat. Extreme light and sound sensitivity make it difficult to be around other people, or even watch television or read a book. Physical activity of any kind aggravates the pain. There is little the migraine sufferer can do during this stage other than seek relief.

4. POSTDROME: The last stage during which migraines affect your life is usually a welcome stage. This is the stage of the war when the migraine begins to leave your body.

You may feel great euphoria as the pain subsides, making you eager to get back into life. At the same time, you may feel exhausted from waging war on the headache, and may be unable to concentrate. Some people become irritable. Others become depressed. The headache itself is gone, but you are still not ready to move on with normal life.

Migraines Affect Your Life Enduringly

Migraines affect your life in all four stages of their existence, but they have an enduring affect as well. While people around you think the migraine is gone, and you are therefore ready to resume normal activities, this is not always true.

For one thing, the migraine has stolen a day or more from your life. You have been “out of circulation” for a while. You missed appointments. You fell behind in work. Your family has unmet needs. It will take some effort on your part to get caught up again.

When you are caught up, the thought of the next migraine tends to lurk, especially if you are a frequent sufferer. Everything you do, everything you eat can be affected by migraines.

The 3 Month Impact of Migraines

If you are a migraine sufferer, make a list of ways in which your migraines affect your life. Here, to get you started, are a few suggestions from other migraine sufferers.

* Missed work or school.
* Productivity was reduced.
* Missed family or social activities.
* Unable to do housework.
* Felt guilty about inability to help family.

Talk to Your Physician

Once you have made a complete list of how migraines affect your life, take the list to your health care provider, and discuss things you can do to prevent or teat your migraines.