Anyone who has ever had a migraine will say they do not just happen in the head. The headache is usually the worst and most painful part of a migraine, but there’s more.  Most migraineurs (people who suffer from migraines) will talk about photosensitivity (sensitivity to light), phonosensitivity (sensitivity to sound), scent sensitivity, gastric pain, cramping, and vomiting.

Sometimes the abdominal symptoms show up without the other typical migraine symptoms.  When they do, a patient is said to be experiencing an abdominal migraine.  An abdominal migraine is pain, usually varying from mild to medium, in the abdomen.  The pain is either along the midline or unspecified and is frequently accompanied by abdominal tenderness, cramp-like spasms, bloating, vomiting, and loss of appetite.

Since abdomen pain can be caused by a wide variety of conditions other causes need to be ruled out before a diagnosis can be made.  In a classic abdominal migraine, no gastric cause for the pain can be identified.  Migraineurs need to let their doctors know about their migraines when they experience unspecified abdominal pain so that the doctor knows abdominal migraine may be a possibility.

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No one knows exactly what causes migraine headaches, or even what happens in the body and brain when someone has one. One thing that is known, however, is that three times as many women as men have migraines. Many female migraineurs will also confess that their headaches are likely to coincide with the period just before their menstrual period.

A whopping sixty percent of women migraineurs have migraines during their period and during the rest of the month. Fourteen percent only have a migraine headache during their period. Look at the numbers; seventy-four percent of all women migraineurs associate their period with their headaches, and while medical science does not deny the connection, the reason for it is still unknown.

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Exercise is good for you.  Being fit will help your whole body feel better, including your migraines, right?  So why did your headache specialist just tell you to drop out of this weekend’s 10K if you want to be able to go to work on Monday?

A regular exercise program is a great migraine deterrent, but it needs to be the right kind of exercise.  Many workout types put a real strain on the cardiovascular system and scientists have linked migraines to vascular problems in the temporal artery, among other potential causes.

Migraineurs who want to sweat need to warm up, slowly, for about fifteen minutes prior to any strenuous exertion, whether it is exercise or home repair.  Skipping this warm up is nearly a guarantee that a migraine will be interrupting your plans later in the day.

While any exertion can be good or bad and each migraineur is different, there are a few types of exercise that are notorious for bringing down the head.

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