Migraine causes and triggers

Our Global Medical Institute center focuses on three categories of migraine: frontal migraines, occipital migraines and temporal migraines.

Global Medical Institute makes a point of distinguishing between the different types of migraine, depending on the starting point of your migraine pain.

As you can see, it is very important for you to know where your pain starts, so that we can offer you the right treatment. A treatment that will soothe you, calm your pain and reduce or even eliminate the symptoms of your migraine.

It is just as important for you to be able to identify the cause(s) or trigger(s) of your migraine.

In these few lines, we'll explain the different causes and triggers of a migraine.

Why is it important to locate the starting point of your pain? What causes migraines?

Why is it important to locate the starting point of your pain? What causes migraines? What can trigger a migraine?

Read on to find out more about causes and triggers. Bear in mind that every patient is different, and causes and triggers vary enormously from one patient to another.

The importance of localizing migraine pain

For a better understanding of your pain, as previously mentioned, it is necessary for patients to locate the starting point of migraines.

There are many different types of migraine, and our patients are sometimes confused by the names and symptoms they may encounter. That's why at Global Medical Institute we focus first and foremost on localizing the pain. This enables our doctors to effectively treat your symptoms and bring you relief.

Before starting any medical or surgical treatment, our Global Medical Institute center focuses on the starting point of the pain.

When you can locate the starting point of the pain, our surgeons can treat it effectively, whether it's temporal, occipital or frontal.

In some cases, an initial remote consultation is possible. This enables our specialists to answer some of your questions. Teleconsultation also gives Global Medical Institute doctors the opportunity to explain whether your migraine can be treated using our minimally invasive approach.

All our neurologists specialize in the classification and treatment of migraines with medication. Surgeons focus on the expression of migraine pain.

Migraines can cause pain in various areas of the skull and face, so locating the starting point of the pain is essential tounderstanding its origin. Once this starting point has been located, our neurologists at Global Medical Institute will be able to determine whether the pain is frontal, occipital or temporal, and thus provide you with relief.

If the starting point of the pain is consistent with the pinched nerve or vessels, for example, and this is where your pain begins, our specialists can take action. They decompress the nerve and free it from the structures (e.g., vessels, muscles, tendons) that are trapping it.

What can cause a migraine?

Not only are the causes of migraines extremely varied, they are also unique to each individual.

If you suffer from Arnold’s neuralgia, the cause may be a local muscle contracture (for example, following a wrong movement, or due to an unbalanced posture), osteoarthritis, a whiplash-type trauma, or even stress. There is not always an obvious cause.

Similarly, before the onset of menstruation, there is a drop in estrogen levels that can frequently induce a migraine attack (menstrual migraine).

There are other causes of migraine:

• Worry, annoyance, overwork leading to stress which can provoke an attack, heavy physical or mental exertion.

• Weather conditions: wind, cold or sudden changes in temperature.

• Strong odors from certain plants or perfumes.

• Circadian rhythm disturbances (too much or too little sleep, staggered working hours, etc.).

• Sudden changes in light

• Stress and emotions

• Dietary factors

• Exposure to noise or flashing lights

What can trigger a migraine?

As with the causes, the triggers of migraine attacks differ from patient to patient, and often appear in combined form. A daily headache diary can help to identify interactions with certain triggers:

• Fasting or a staggered meal

• Specific foods

• Lack of sleep or excessive sleep

• Episodes of fever

• Psychological factors. Migraine attacks are generally triggered after an episode of stress, strong emotions or great annoyance.

• Changes in lifestyle. Some people suffer from migraines mainly at weekends, when they go on vacation or travel. Migraines can intensify in the event of overwork, professional change or certain life events such as a wedding. In children, they are more frequent during the school year than during the vacations.

• EnvironmentalClimatic factors (wind, thunderstorms, excessive heat or cold) or sensory factors (light, noise, smells) are also incriminated in the onset of attacks.

• Changes in sleep patterns

• Chocolate, white wine and some alcohols, cheeses and citrus fruits are the most common culprits.

• Smoking

• Fatigue

• Also, if you regularly expose your brain to analgesics such as tylenol, NSAIDs, triptans or narcotics, these can react by further lowering the trigger threshold of your migraines, leading to a vicious circle: rebound headache or migraine medicamentosa.

Sometimes, an initial consultation can be carried out via teleconsultation from the comfort of your own home: Global Medical Institute's specialists will be able to explain whether your suffering can be relieved by our minimally invasive approach.