Prevention is key to overcoming migraines

By Kelly Frances

Agonizing pain, nausea, sensitivity to sound and light are all symptoms that you may have experienced individually or all at once. These are all commonly associated with migraines.

We’ve all experienced headaches: normally the result of alcohol, hunger, sinus problems or stress. Headaches are the most common neurological disorder in the world, afflicting more people than diabetes, epilepsy and asthma combined.

However, experts advise such common symptom may require special medical treatment.

“If you experience head pain more than twice a week or your pain is so debilitating that work or normal functioning is impossible, you could be a migraine sufferer” Yoo Youk-jin, physician at Seoul National University Hospital, said.

As a doctor in the International Clinic, who specializes in family medicine, he describes headaches and migraines as a “common complaint” from his patients, the hallmark of migraine being “the complete inability to function.”

Yoo claims that prevention is the key to overcoming the condition.

“For migraine sufferers, the goal is to treat the pain, and then determine the trigger and prevent future migraines,” he said.

According to Yoo, the precise cause of a migraine remains a medical mystery, though there are several theories as to why they occur.

But the symptoms can be terrifying. Last month, American CBS reporter Serene Branson garbled her way through a live report at the Grammy Awards, leaving many viewers wondering if she had suffered a stroke.

Doctors discovered that her nonsensical speech, known as “aphasia,” was caused by a complex migraine. The incident raised awareness about the severity of migraine complications, and the warning signs that may accompany an episode.

“Sensitivity to smell, lights and sounds, nausea and mild head pain can be warning signs that a migraine will occur,” Yoo said, noting that some patients follow patterns, such as is the case of menstruation-related migraine.

“Unfortunately, only a small percentage of patients experience clear warning signs”, he said. “We distinguish the type of headache, the cause, and try to remove the trigger. We usually prescribe daily medication for those who experience several migraines per week.”

While there is no golden rule of treatment, a variety of options exist, though oral medication is the most common.

Some physicians use Botulinum toxi, commonly better known as Botox, to paralyze the muscles surrounding the skull, which is thought to reduce to intensity of the pain of migraine and is found to be extremely effective in the prevention of tension headaches. The treatment is expensive, but easier on the liver than a daily dose of Tylenol.

“Because every migraine is unique, there is no one solution, but no one should suffer the pain of migraines, and both Western and traditional oriental medicine offer remedies. It’s just a matter of understanding your own body and using the information available,” he said.

The writer is a freelancer from Ontario, Canada, and is currently living in Seoul, where she co-owns a Korean lifestyle website.