BATON ROUGE, LA – “It can be a very scary experience, and also a type of headache that friends and loved ones don’t quite understand the degree of them, if they don’t have them,” said Dr. Gerard Dynes, a neurologist at the Baton Rouge Clinic.
No one wants to get them. They can be excruciating, and the pounding and the pounding can make every day tasks hard to do.
“They’re one of the few headaches that can really lay you out, take you out of work, put you in bed,” said Dr. Dynes.
In this week’s Women’s Wellness, I’m catching up with Dr. Dynes, and we’re talking about migraines.
“Migraines are not only intense, as far as the headache itself, but it’s really a whole body experience. People feel exhausted from them. Light bothers them. The sound bothers them,” said Dr. Dynes.
Dr. Dynes said migraines can happen to anyone, but they are more common in women.
“It often correlates to hormonal changes, and so it can happen at different times of the month, in more frequency. Migraines do have a genetic element, so many people have family members who have had migraines, but migraines can happen out of the blue,” said Dr. Dynes. “Although migraines are definitely more common in one’s teens, 20’s, 30’s, some may even persist in people in their 50’s, 60’s or even happen in young child.”
Now, how do you treat them?
“Between all these types of medications, oral, injections and other things. We really just have just a host of medications and options that you shouldn’t have to sit at home and suffer with you migraines,” explained Dr. Dynes.
Don’t worry, Dr. Dynes said just because you get migraines, doesn’t mean there is something detrimentally wrong with you.
“They hurt, but there’s nothing bad behind them. However, everybody is always worried. Is there something else going on? How could my head hurt this badly? So, sometimes people come to the doctor with the idea ‘do I need more testing?’ Now, in almost all cases, your migraines are going to have completely normal CAT scans and MRI’s. The reason we do other tests is because sometimes people have headaches, and it turns out to be something else. So it’s good if you’re having regular headaches or very intense headaches to go to the doctor.”
If you have questions about migraines, make sure to call your doctor.
For more information about migraines, just head to the links below:
http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/migraine-headache/home/ovc-2020243