Migraine is one of the oldest ailments known to man. Some of the earliest cases were recorded by ancient Egyptians and date back to 1200 BC. The word ‘migraine’ has been derived from a Latin word ‘hemicrania, “hemi” meaning (half) and “crania” meaning (skull). This term was first used by Galen in 200 AD to describe the pain felt across one side of head. In addition, he also pointed to a possible connection between brain and stomach due to the vomiting that seemed to be related to migraine. Migraine varies with age and tends to occur most commonly in the second and third decades of life. This common and occasionally severe disabling disorder is usually characterized by recurrent headaches frequently unilateral, lasting between 4 and 72 hours, typically …show more content…
Headache accounts for about one third of analgesic use across the counter. Indirect costs include the cost of absenteeism and reduced productivity at work. Hu and colleagues estimated that productivity losses caused by migraine cost American employers 13 billion dollars per year. The Headache classification committee of the International Headache Society (IHS) recently introduced an updated version (3rd edition) of the International Classification of Headache Disorders,(ICHD-3 beta) which has classified headaches into primary, secondary & tertiary headaches. Primary headaches are more common and do not have any underlying pathological cause, they include Migraine, Tension-type headache, Trigeminal autonomic cephalalgias and other primary headache disorders. The group of secondary headache includes headache attributed to head and neck trauma, cervical or vascular disorder, non vascular intracranial disorder, substance or its withdrawal, infection, disorder of homeostasis, disorder of cranium, neck, eyes, ears, nose, psychiatric disorder, these entities add up the 10% of all headaches. The third group comprises of the rarer concurrent headaches such as cranial neuralgias and central or