Migraine headache is the second most common type of headache disorder behind tension-type headache.
It is typically characterized by one-sided throbbing pain that ranges in intensity from moderate to severe.
It is often accompanied by nausea, vomiting, altered bodily perceptions, and many other symptoms.
It is three times as likely for a woman to experience the symptoms of migraine as compared to a man, but can also affect children, young adults, and the elderly.
According to the National Headache Foundation about 3/4 of all sufferers have a family history of migraine.
There are approximately 32,000,000 (thirty-two million) migraine headache sufferers in the United States alone, which is about 10% of the entire population.
And that's just the tip of the iceberg because there are an estimated 300 to 400 million migraine sufferers all around the globe.
There are about 20,000,000 migraine headache occurrences each and every day.
Migraine attacks can be triggered by many things including medications that cause blood vessels to swell, missing or delaying a meal, altering the sleep-wake cycle, specific foods, stress, depression, loud noises, bright lights, and many others.
Between 14% and 35% of adult women and between 6% and 15% of adult men will experience at least one migraine episode in any given year.
A smaller percentage of children under 12 years of age will suffer from migraines with the same percentage of occurrence in both boys and girls.
However, once puberty is reached girls will see a rapid growth in incidence as compared to boys.
By adulthood approximately 25% of all women will experience migraines at least once per year compared to about 10% of men.
The majority of migraine sufferers will have their disorder go into remission at around age 50, but by age 70 approximately 5% of the population is still experiencing migraine symptoms.
There are many different ways to treat migraine, with the most common being painkillers.
However, drugs are not the only approach, and maybe not even the best approach.
All drugs have side effects, some of which can be very serious.
Additionally, painkillers can often increase the intensity of the pain instead of relieving it.
Two-thirds of all chronic headache sufferers will actually experience an increase of their pain symptoms when taking medication.
Research has shown that analgesics, also known as painkilling medications, seem to be a primary factor in promoting the development of chronic pain.
Instead of relieving the migraine headache pain they were created to vanquish, they may actually be causing it.
Natural treatment for migraine headache pain is gaining in popularity.
More and more migraine sufferers are getting tired of taking potentially harmful or addictive drugs and are turning to safer treatment approaches.
With the many effective natural treatment methods available today, there's a good chance that a migraine headache sufferer can find a successful treatment that does not require the use of drugs.