Migraine Headaches - The Critical First Ten Minutes

What you do in the opening minutes about the migraine may very well
determine how long it lasts and how severe it will be.

Anyone who has ever experienced migraine headaches knows
how painful and tortuous life can be after a migraine
begins. One never knows if the headache, once it begins,
will turn into one of those migraine headaches that can
leave someone incapacitated for hours or for days.

What makes decisions by people who suffer with migraine
headaches particularly difficult is the fact that migraines
can be confused with other headaches early on. And, people
with migraine headaches are just as likely to develop other
common types of headaches like sinus and tension headaches
like everyone else.

To those who experience these debilitating migraine
headaches, the decisions made in the first ten minutes -
are the most critical.

When a migraine headache first appears, two emotional
reactions occur: The first is, "Oh, God, not another
migraine!", and the second is dreaded anticipation of many
hours of misery, pain, lying down in a dark room, and
forced seclusion from spouses, children, work and social
activities.

To be proactive right from the onset however, a series of
questions that must be asked:

? Is this a sinus, tension or migraine headache?

? Is there an "aura" for those who normally experience one,
that would normally signal the onset of their migraine
headaches?

? Is this migraine severe enough to justify taking action?

? Should I take any (triptan) medication or not?

The answers to these questions will subsequently determine
the outcome of this migraine.

Under traditional medication management, the popular
migraine medications today are called triptans. These
triptan medications have brand names like Imitrex®,
Amerge®, Maxalt®, Zomig®, Relpax®, Avert® and Frova®.

Triptan medications have the best possibility of stopping
migraine headaches quickly if taken within the first 30
minutes, and especially, within the first 10 minutes. The
sooner they are taken, the better the result to obtain
migraine headache relief.

Unfortunately the decision to take these triptan
medications is not as easy as one would think:

? Triptan medications have very significant and
uncomfortable side effects.

? They are extremely expensive ? a single triptan pill can
cost up to $70 or more.

? If taken too often, they lose their effectiveness.

Failure to take a triptan medication (that still works) in
the critical first few minutes in what turns out to be a
migraine headache virtually guarantees a significant,
severe and long lasting headache.

In a valiant effort to achieve migraine pain relief people
end up taking their triptan medications several hours after
it starts. They mostly endure the side effects of the
medications and have very little effect. Nevertheless,
most will try to take a medication, even if it is too late.

There is another option ? a migraine cure. Cure the
migraine and never worry about the critical ten minutes
again.

Recent reports indicate that there is indeed a cure for
migraine headaches. A number of elite medical clinics that
cater to women have reported this. Under their treatment
protocols, migraines go away completely in 80% of these
women.

The successes are limited to women only. Addressing
women's hormones is the basis of the migraine cure. Some
clinics have published their treatment protocols and even
made them available to the public.

The Women's Health Institute of Texas believes a migraine
cure certainly eliminates the critical ten minutes
altogether and triptans may be no longer be necessary ? at
least in women.

----------------------------------------------------
Dr. Andrew P. Jones, M.D. is the Medical Director for the
Women?s Health Institute of Texas.
http://www.WomensHealthInstituteofTexas.com He is Board
Certified by the American Board of Internal Medicine and by
the American Academy of Biologically Identical Hormone
Therapy.
Find out more about Dr. Jones and the cure for migraine
headaches at: http://www.migraine-headaches-information.com