Migraine Symptoms - How To Spot Them

Migraine headaches are unpleasant, painful and cause havoc in your life. They drain you of energy and leave you feeling shattered and shaky at the end of any migraine attack. There are warning signs for the start of a migraine attack though. These symptoms can at least give you time to prepare for the migraine headache and maybe even stop the worst of the pain before it starts.

Paying attention to the symptoms is important because, as you know, a migraine can last days and nobody enjoys the experience. Always best to avoid this type of thing right?

The symptoms for migraine headaches vary from one person to the next. You might find yourself easily annoyed and craving odd foods. Some people will find they get an odd taste in their mouth or smell strange odors before the attack starts. A lot of people say that migraine auras are the dead give away for the start of an attack. A migraine aura is when you'll see either a shimmering or zig-zag pattern in your vision that won't go away.

Other symptoms that you're in the early stages of a migraine attack will be a lack of energy, nausea and a sense of being cold. Your hands or feet might just be cold or you might feel your body temperature is just lower than normal for no apparent reasons. You might also find yourself very sensitive to artificial light, strong sunlight or strobe/laser lights as a migraine starts.

Personally I wind up getting a bitter taste in my mouth and then a very faint aching in my jaw or neck as the migraine starts off. This usually gives me about 2 - 4 hours warning before the attack starts. My body temperature also tends to drop a little bit so I get a sense of having "chills" before the attack starts.

Part of paying attention to the symptoms is understanding your migraine triggers. Migraine triggers are usually caffeine, chocolate, dairy products or stress. If you find yourself exposed to a migraine trigger then you really, really need to pay attention to the symptoms that come along very soon afterwards. This whole process of understanding should become part of your own migraine early warning system.

It's also important to remember that most migraine sufferers will have more than one symptom that they can pay attention to. Of course once the symptoms start the key is to get yourself to a nice quiet, dark room and use whatever treatment you find works best for you - although I do recommend lavender oil as one of the best migraine treatments I know of. Peppermint oil is meant to be great for migraineurs too!