What is a Vestibular Migraine?
Dealing with a vestibular migraine can be very difficult. In many patients, these troubling headaches arrive quickly with little warning and can be excruciatingly painful. Learning to recognize the oncoming signs of a vestibular migraine and what treatment options are available will give you the best chance for learning how to cope with this serious medical disorder.
What Makes a Vestibular Migraine Different?
Migraine headaches are a very popular affliction that affects an estimated 30 million people in the United States. These are extremely painful and debilitating headaches that often are accompanied by sensitivity to light or sound. Vestibular migraines often appear with these symptoms, but also feature a symptom of vertigo. Patients suffering from these types of migraines will have immense pain in one or both sides of their heads accompanied by vertigo, or dizziness. Symptoms often vary depending on the patient, but many people will also become nauseous, fall down, have an extreme sensitivity to lights and sounds and may experience a visual aura. Vomiting or fainting may also occur. These symptoms often appear very quickly, where the patient will report that they instantly become extremely dizzy. These types of migraine attacks can last for several hours or may be over in just a few minutes. Certain people suffer from a chronic type of this migraine. These people feel imbalanced and dizzy all of the time.
What Causes a Vestibular Migraine?
Doctors are not sure what the direct cause of a vestibular migraine is. They are not even sure how many people in the United States experience these types of migraines. What they do know is that this condition appears to have some genetic ties. Most patients will show a family history of migraines. Doctors also report that this condition is much more likely to appear in women; as much as three times the amount of women have this condition than men. Symptoms can appear anytime between adolescence and mid life. According to research, there may be people who suffer from this condition but who simply do not realize that it is a form of migraine or report it to their doctor. For this reason there may be many more people that suffer from vestibular migraines than regular migraine headaches.
As for understanding the physical processes that cause vestibular migraines, doctors are also unsure what leads to the development of pain. Patients will show normal MRI scans but will experience the same symptoms over and over again. The belief is that the function of the brain that results in the firing of neuron signals that represents pain malfunction. This means that the brain is registering pain when there is no sign of trauma. Doctors are still not sure why this occurs or why in certain patients vertigo develops as well.
Treatment Options for Vestibular Migraines
There are few scientific controlled experiments on controlling pain specifically for vestibular migraines. This means that treatment options for these types of migraines usually fall under the category of regular migraines. Anti-inflammatory pain medications, either over the counter or prescription may be used with success. Other treatment options include daily use of calcium channel blockers, selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), antiepileptic medications and triptan medications. In certain cases muscle relaxants and antinausea drugs may provide relief.
If you suffer from the symptoms of a vestibular migraine frequently, it is a good idea to discuss your symptoms with your doctor. They may be able to help you determine the triggers for your type of migraines as well as help you reduce the pain and trauma of one of these extreme headaches with medications.