A Journal of chronic debilitating migraines & their effect on everything…
Ah chocolate! Nearly every living person loves chocolate. I think were safe in the assumption that those who do not are in a negligible minority for sure. If you consult a dictionary, it will describe chocolate something like this:
“a food preparation in the form of a paste or solid block made from roasted and ground cacao seeds, typically sweetened”
I identified it as a primary trigger.
The aura went almost unnoticed as I traveled home from Wichita. It had been a couple of weeks since my last migraine attack, a record for me in recent years. After a few strange flashes of light and noises I recognized it as a warning of intolerable pain. Within minutes I had been overwhelmed with pain, dizziness and nausea. All I had with me was Maximum Strength Excedrin which is only effective for the most minor of migraines. In an effort to beat the pain I went ahead and took four. It was not fast enough, the rise from nearly unnoticeable to completely unbearable took all of ten minutes.
The triggers are still unknown to me, I had not done anything out of he ordinary other than the short two day trip to Wichita. My diet had not changed and my sleep schedule was only slightly modified, neither had been a factor before.
An aura is the perceptual disturbance experienced by some migraine sufferers before a migraine headache, and the telltale sensation experienced by some people with epilepsy before a seizure. It often manifests as the perception of a strange light or an unpleasant smell.
An aura does not necessitate the onset of either a migraine or a seizure and not everyone who suffers from migraines or seizures will experience auras. Though auras tend to be an unpleasant and irritating sensation, they can be beneficial. Most injuries from seizures occur when there is no warning. Auras allow epileptics time to prevent injury to themselves. The time between the appearance of the aura and the onset of a migraine or seizure can be anything from a few seconds up to an hour.
Photophobia (also light sensitivity) or fear of light, is a symptom of excessive sensitivity to light and the aversion to sunlight or well-lit places. In medical terms, it is not fear, but an experience of discomfort or pain to the eyes due to light exposure.
Light sensitivity is usually due to too much light entering the eye, which causes over stimulation of the photoreceptors in the retina and subsequent excessive electric impulses to the optic nerve. This leads to a reflex aversion to light, and discomfort or pain. Too much light can enter the eye if it is damaged, such as with corneal abrasion and retinal damage, or if a pupil(s) is unable to normally constrict (seen with damage to the oculomotor nerve).
Patients with photophobia will avert their eyes from direct light (sunlight and room lights), or may seek the shelter of a dark room or wear sunglasses.
As it relates to this Journal photophobia is a common symptom of Migraine headaches.
Thebaine (paramorphine) is an opiate alkaloid. A minor constituent of opium, thebaine is chemically similar to both morphine and codeine, but has stimulatory rather than depressant effects, causing strychnine-like convulsions at higher doses[3]. Thebaine is not used therapeutically, but can be converted industrially into a variety of compounds including oxycodone, oxymorphone, nalbuphine, naloxone, naltrexone, buprenorphine and etorphine.
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