- [Announcer] This animation is brought to you
by the Association of Migraine Disorders.
Migraine is not just a headache,
it's a complex neurological disease that impacts
more than 1 billion people worldwide.
You can learn more about migraine
at www.MigraineDisorders.org.
(cheerful music)
- [Narrator] To sense our world, your nerves send
electrical signals to and from your spinal cord and brain.
Sensors throughout our body
collect information about our surroundings.
This information is sent by signals to our brain
through a series of nerve cells.
Each electrical signal is carried from one end
of a nerve cell to the other,
using passageways called ion channels.
Charged particles, called ions, pass through the channels
along the nerve which helps generate the electrical current.
At the end of the nerve, the signal moves to the next
via chemicals called neurotransmitters.
Communication with the brain occurs via pathways
and nerve centers at the base of the brain,
called the brain stem.
The brain stem helps control sleep,
heart rate, and breathing.
Migraine is a disease where one or more parts
of this communication system does not function properly.
Many sections of DNA, called genes,
program ion channels, neurotransmitters,
and other structures that support these nerve pathways.
In some with migraine, inherited changes to genes
called mutations can cause
the communication system to become hypersensitive.
Most mutations do not directly cause migraine
but in combination, may explain why there are so many forms
and symptoms of migraine disease.
These mutated genes affect the function
of other parts of the body.
As a result, people with migraine may also have
anxiety, depression, epilepsy, hypothyroidism,
irritable bowel syndrome, pelvic floor pain,
fibromyalgia, Sjogren's disease, and others.
Each attack typically has three or four phases.
The typical phases of a migraine attack are prodrome,
starting hours before a headache,
aura, headache, and postdrome.
Prodrome includes subtle symptoms
such as yawning, fatigue, or moodiness.
Experienced only by some,
auras maybe short term visual changes
such as flashes of light, zigzags, or blind spots.
Auras can also include numbness, confusion,
vertigo, or even muscle weakness.
Pounding headaches may occur on only one side of the head,
often lasting four to 72 hours.
Other possible symptoms include
light and noise sensitivity or nausea.
(pleasant music)
Finally, during postdrome, a person feels
like they have a hangover which lasts another day or two.
Migraine attacks are often brought on by specific stimuli
or triggers such as increased stress, weather change,
too much or too little sleep, or certain foods.
Since it may be a cumulative effect of several triggers,
avoiding as many known triggers as possible
can help reduce the number of attacks.
It is important for treatment planning to distinguish
migraine on the basis of frequency and character of attacks.
Less than 15 headache days per month is episodic migraine.
15 or more headaches per month is chronic migraine.
Each year, about 3% of those
with episodic migraine become chronic.
This worsening of symptoms may be due to changes
in hormones, as well as cumulative effects
on the nervous system from years of migraine attacks.
While migraine is rarely deadly, it is an invisible disease
that can steal years of quality time.
For more information about migraine,
visit migrainedisorders.org.
(pleasant music)