June is Migraine Awareness Month

The month of June is Migraine Awareness Month. In the DCH Outpatient Clinic, our Neurologist, Dr. Maher Loutfi, MD, helps patients with the pain and disruption that comes with living with migraines or chronic headaches.

There are many types of headaches that include migraines, chronic headaches, tension headaches, and cluster headaches. These different types of pain are often diagnosed based on the amount of time they last, the other symptoms they cause, and how often they occur. The most commonly diagnosed headache disorder is migraine.

When a patient seeks help, they are usually experiencing a throbbing-like headache, and suffering from other symptoms such as noise sensitivity, light sensitivity, nausea, dizziness, vertigo, blurry vision, seeing zig zags, seeing auras, weakness on one side of the body, and numbness or tingling.

The first time a migraine is diagnosed, a patient has typically experienced these symptoms between 3 hours and 3 days. Headaches might also happen multiple days each month and indicate potential chronic migraines. One of the deciding factors in diagnosing migraine is when the pain causes the patient to avoid daily activities.

The treatment for migraines is constantly developing. There are, in general, two types of medication to treat migraines. The first is a preventative medication. This is a daily medication meant to proactively treat the cause of a patient’s migraine. The second is an abortive medication. This is a medication taken as needed when a migraine starts, and is used to stop a migraine in process. Medication takes all forms such as pills, injectable, creams, and other tools.

If you suffer from consistent pain due to headaches, we might be able to help. Call us at 641-446-2285 to schedule your consultation with Dr. Maher Loutfi, MD.

For more information on our migraine treatment and neurologic services, and to watch the video below from Dr. Maher Loutfi with more information about headaches, or visit https://www.decaturcountyhospital.org/neurology.

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