Phases of Migraine Attack
What are the phases of the migraine attack?
We can distinguish four phases:
1. Podromo
2. Aura
3. Headache phase
4. Resolution and recovery phase
Not all patients are four stages or all attacks pass through them is mandatory
a) prodromal phase, appears in 40% of the people, are a nonspecific symptoms that vary greatly from person to person. May occur up to 48 hours before the crisis of pain, and they can often go unnoticed. They have little predictive value on the intensity or duration of the crisis.
Generally include changes in mood or behavior hours or days before headache debut. The patient feels a sensation of hunger, especially for sweets, changes in mood such as irritability, depression, drowsiness, yawning, fluid retention, and so on. Many of those who suffer this stage, if we recognize, will help us establish early medical treatment and so much better pain control.
b) Phase of aura: are a series of focal neurological symptoms that occur immediately before the pain (93 percent) or to coincide with their appearance (5 percent) and usually last less than 60 minutes. The present 20 percent of migraines.
The most common symptoms are visual aura (95 percent): blurred vision, flashing bright spots, loss of vision in part of the visual field, followed by sensory (40 percent) are characterized by a mixture of tingling and numbness on one side of the face or hand to cover an entire side of the body. Podrucen sometimes paralysis or loss of half-body strength.
c) Phase of headache and associated symptoms: This is the phase constant, in fact, many patients is the only phase present. The duration of pain between 4 and 72 hours, except in children, which may last less than 4 hours. If you exceed 72 hours is called a migraine status and is considered a complication of migraine. The pain is unilateral and pulsating. Usually moderate to severe intensity and worsened on physical activity every day, and it gets worse by light (photophobia) and sound (sonofobia).
By definition, the headache is accompanied by other features, have nausea in 90% of patients and vomiting in one third of them.
d) Recovery phase: Pain is CEDIECan there be tension headaches and migraines in one person?
This entity has a worse clinical profile definite migraine, so the diagnosis is based, rather than positive data, in the absence of symptoms of migraine. Some studies have established that the absence of nausea, photo and phonophobia, and exacerbation by the lack of physical activity would be the most powerful characteristics predictive diagnosis. In any case we must not forget that one individual can exist 2 types of headache, in fact, 63 percent of migraine has episodic tension-type headache and up to 25 percent of people suffer from migraine tension headache.