Migraine headaches are a common disorder affecting over 13 % of the population in North America alone. A recent study conducted by the National Headache Foundation (February 2000) found that an astonishing 28 million Americans are migraine headache sufferers. Untreated migraine causes loss of time from work and school, and significantly reduce the quality of life for sufferers. Half of migraine and tension headache sufferers reported a 50% reduction in productivity while 39% reported pain so severe that bed rest was required - some for days at a time.
Migraine headache is a biological disease. Migraine is characterized by throbbing head pain, usually located on one side of the head. Nausea, hypersensitivity to light, vomiting, and dizziness often accompany an attack. Headaches vary in severity from mild, fleeting ones to those that last for as many as three hours to three days and virtually debilitate a sufferer. The most severe types are tension headache and migraine headache. The latter are described as vascular in that they are manifested by changes in the blood vessels within the brain. Migraines can be triggered by food, stress, hormones particularly during menstrual cycles and other causes as suggested above.
Headaches are unique to the individual experiencing them, making diagnosis harder than usual. Unfortunately there is not yet a "vaccine" that can prevent the likelihood of getting a maigraine or tension headache. Research has shown, migraine headaches often have dietary causes; either from the consumption of a "migraine trigger" food or drink, or the absence from the diet of certain minerals, vitamins, and herbs.
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