Medical Questions » Headache Questions » Question No. 482
| Question: | I suffer terribly every few weeks—more than anyone imagines, with migraines that strike like lightening, and leave me totally disabled for hours on end. What causes migraines? |
| Answer: | A migraine may occur once in a person' s life, or three times a week. They may
cause a relatively mild head pain, or may totally disable a victim for days on end.
Migraines are caused by an initial contraction of an artery in the brain, which
may give the patient warning of an attack, followed by an overdilation of the
artery within the brain.
1 he size of an artery is controlled by muscles in its wall, and if these muscles totally relax, excess blood passes to the part of the brain that the artery supplies. This section of the brain is then unable to function properly, and the patient feels the intense pressure, pain and other symptoms that occur with a migraine. Usually, only one artery at a time is affected.
These spasms of the arteries, may in turn be caused by many factors, including stress, illness, certain foods, allergies, hormonal changes, flashing lights, tiredness etc.
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