Migraine Affects One in Five Women and One in Ten Men

There are effective drug treatments for migraine that can control pain during an attack and improve quality of life if headaches are frequent. If a person experiences painful days 15 days or more per month—meaning chronic migraine—the botox method, scientifically proven to be effective, is used. Neurologists from Acıbadem Maslak Hospital Migraine Treatment Centre Prof. Dr. Ayşe Sağduyu Kocaman, Prof. Dr. Pınar Yalınay Dikmen and Assoc. Prof. Dr. Elif Ilgaz Aydınlar noted that migraine patients seek medical attention late and therefore receive late diagnosis. On the occasion of 22 July World Brain Day, they provided information on migraine, the most common brain disease, and recent developments in its treatment. .

Migraine is a Treatable Disease

Migraine headache typically starts on one side of the head. The throbbing pain lasts for hours and the person sometimes cannot tolerate sound, light or touch. Accompanying nausea and vomiting can make the condition even more severe. On 22 July World Brain Day, declared to raise awareness about brain diseases, neurologists from Acıbadem Maslak Hospital Migraine Treatment Centre Prof. Dr. Ayşe Sağduyu Kocaman, Prof. Dr. Pınar Yalınay Dikmen and Assoc. Prof. Dr. Elif Ilgaz Aydınlar shared important information on migraine. The specialists, stating that migraine is a treatable disease, emphasized that through patient awareness, lifestyle changes, correct medication and interventions during attacks, as well as measures to prevent the frequency of attacks, the disease ceases to be a nightmare.

'Red Flags'

When a headache can be classified as migraine is one of the most frequently asked questions on this subject. Nausea, severe headache affecting your daily activities, and sensitivity to light and sound are recognized as migraine symptoms. However, if you are experiencing a newly started or differently characterized headache, if the severity of pain increases over time, if it occurs with exercise, if you experience a headache with no particular pattern and that does not respond to treatment, you should regard it as a "red flag" and immediately consult a neurologist.

Triggering Factors

Migraine pain can be triggered by environmental factors, foods, stress and hormones. Chronic stress, anxiety, depression; pregnancy, the premenopause period; exposure to bright light, noise, air pollution or hot weather and wind-driven weather patterns and atmospheric changes can cause severe migraine pain. Besides these, fermented foods, chocolate, nuts, fish, alcohol, soy sauce or caffeinated drinks, or insufficient fluid intake can also trigger migraine attacks.

Botox in Migraine Treatment

Perhaps the most important information to know about migraine is that it is treatable. Through patient awareness about migraine, organizing their lifestyle accordingly, and compliance with the measures and drug treatments recommended both during attacks and to prevent them, migraine can be brought under control.

New Hope in Migraine: Migraine Vaccine

Neurologists from Acıbadem Maslak Hospital Migraine Treatment Centre Prof. Dr. Ayşe Sağduyu Kocaman, Prof. Dr. Pınar Yalınay Dikmen and Assoc. Prof. Dr. Elif Ilgaz Aydınlar said there is good news for migraine patients this year.   Migraine vaccines entered the market in both America and Europe in 2018. These vaccines, which contain monoclonal antibodies against the calcitonin gene-related peptide receptor—the most important chemical messenger released in the brain during a migraine attack that initiates headache—began to be used in America and Europe following years of scientific research.