How to Prevent Migraines

Video Transcript

"Hi! This is Dr. Christina Peterson. I'm a founder of the Oregon Headache Clinic in Portland. We're discussing how to prevent migraine. Migraine is felt to be a familial disorder in most cases and is therefore suspected to be genetic. If a careful history is taken, a family history of migraine can be found in someone in the family in one of three generations back. We have not yet identified the genes responsible for migraine with aura or for migraine without aura. It is therefore difficult to conduct what we call primary prevention which are measures to avoid the development of the disease or disorder. We have only recently begun to understand that migraine is a lifelong disorder and that in some people, it can be a progressive disorder. Thus, the best we can do is just try for secondary prevention which means to prevent the progression of the disease or disorder. This is a new concept in migraine and we are just now looking at how best to do this. Most of what we consider prevention in migraine today is really what preventative medicine and health promotion would consider tertiary prevention, which is not all that great, but we do what we can. The best means we have of this form of prevention is avoidance of migraine triggers. In order to do this, you must first identify what your triggers are. Every migraine sufferer has different triggers. Food triggers are perhaps the best known but there are other triggers and many of these are manageable if not avoidable. Skipping meals, losing sleep and even changing bedtime can be headache triggers. Exposure to bright light, hyanbin and tea, and weather changes can also be migraine triggers for many people. Dehydration can also be a trigger. It is important to remember that your triggers can be additive. Emotional ups and downs may also trigger headaches for susceptible individuals. Finally, there are a number of preventative medications that are available. This may be appropriate and are usually offered if you have three or more headaches a month that are disabling, and may even be considered if you have fewer attacks per month but cannot utilize migraine specific medications."