Migraine Headaches
Introduction
A migraine headache can be defined as a pulsing sensation or intensive throbbing in one section of the head. It is normally accompanied by extreme sound and light sensitivity, vomiting and nausea. Migraine attacks can result to intensive, uncontrollable pain for hours or days. Some migraines are accompanied or preceded by sensory warning symptoms which are commonly referred to as aura. They include tingling in the leg or arm, blind sports, of light flashes. This disease is more common to women as compared to men. Migraine can be treated but it cannot be cured (Mayo Clinic Staff, 2013). This paper focuses on developing a care plan for 24-year-old woman suffering from migraine.
Care Plan
Daily Headache Log
To be able to offer the best care to the patient, a daily headache log will be kept by the patient where the patient or the care giver will be required to indicate a number of essential information. This include time when the headache begins and when it ends at every time migraine occurs, daily physical examination results of the patient which include temperature, blood pressure, and physical appearance (happy, gloomy), food consumed, guess of the possible trigger for each migraine attack, pain scale (severity), pain location (area of the head), other associated symptoms such as vomiting or nausea, and medication taken during the day. This will assist in monitoring the patient condition and realizing the best medication that works for the patient.
Potential Triggers
There are a number of factor that might trigger migraine. They include hunger, stress, taking alcohol particularly red wine, too much or too little sleep, eating food with high level of nitrate, caffeine or that has tyramine or monosodium glutamate and the use of oral contraception, or menstruation. Migraine headache is also associated with genetic component and thus, one has a chance of getting migraine if there is a history of migraine in the family (Mayo Clinic Staff, 2013). To ensure proper care, the caregiver should make a close observation on the patient to be able to identify the aspects that trigger the condition. An interview with the patient would be necessary especially when the headache is not very severe. This will assist in understanding possible trigger of the condition. The care giver should focus migraine history in the family, food taken by the patient (frequently), sleeping hours, possible difficulties in patient’s life, and the patient’s lifestyle. This would give a clear picture of the possible trigger of the condition.
Medications
The two types of drugs that can be used to treat migraine in this case include abortive treatment or pain relief medications and preventive medication. Abortive drugs will be used to relief pain. They include triptans for serotonic, beta-blockers, and Ergotamines. Preventive medications will be used to lower the frequencies and severity of migraines. This includes botox, antiseizure medications such as neurontin, antidepressants such as anitriptyline, and high blood pressure medication such as metoprolol. This medicine will be given based on the identified treatable migraine trigger in this case (Chawla et al. (2014).
Medication Mechanism and Potential Side Effects
Abortive drugs are specifically used to relief pain. Some of the abortive drugs are used to relief the pain and to handle other symptoms such as nausea and vomiting. However, preventive medication does not focus on relieving pain, but the condition that can result to migraine. This medication focuses on reducing the possible trigger for migraine. For instance, stress is one of the migraine trigger and thus antidepressants are used to lower the chances of experiencing migraine out of stress. The main side effects for migraine treatment are experienced on abortive drugs. Triptans side effects include tingling, chest and throat tightness, flushing and sleepiness. Ergotamines causes nausea, while beta-blockers causes dizziness, insomnia, nausea, depression and fatigue (Chawla et al., 2014).
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