Monosodium glutamate is a food additive and flavor enhancer that has a makeup similar to the brain chemical glutamate, which plays an important role in your memory, learning capabilities and overall brain function. If you have an allergy, your immune system mistakes a particular substance as toxic and responds harshly when you're exposed, causing potentially severe physical reactions. Although it's not considered an allergen, MSG may cause adverse symptoms in some people.
The pains can come on suddenly and sometimes take days to retreat, causing significant disruption. Fortunately, most cases of stabbing head pains are preventable with lifestyle changes, and treatable with self-care and medicati...
The National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke states that there are four main types of headache: vascular, tension, traction and inflammatory. Migraine headaches are often considered vascular headaches, although t...
Pain in the forehead area is common. Different types of headaches exist; based on your symptoms, your doctor can determine the cause of your headache and how to treat it. Most headaches are not due to something serious. Consult...
Bacteria or viruses can cause eyes to become irritated and inflamed, and eyestrain may result from excessive computer use, driving, improper lighting, tension and anxiety. Treating eye conditions promptly may help avoid further...
Some migraines are preceded by warning signs such as a visual aura, blind spots, or tingling in your limbs. While the causes of migraines are not clear, lifestyle changes such as changes in your dietary habits can sometimes hel...
Headaches affect nearly everyone at some point and may be the result of bad eyesight, a head injury or poor diet. Symptoms can range from mild to moderate and may often lead to migraines. Headaches caused by poor nutrition are ...
Migraine headaches in any shape or form, from ocular to aura, are excruciating and, in severe cases, debilitating. Radiating pain, in addition to sensitivity to noise and light, may cause you to remain in bed and unable to work...
The cause and treatment of headache varies from patient to patient. While some people suffer a tension headache from time to time, others suffer with painful, recurring migraines and cluster headaches. Headache may simply be th...
Ah, summertime! Fun in the sun, sleeping at the side of the pool, playing a game of softball . . . and winding up with a huge headache. If you were physically active during the brightest part of the day, or even if you were tak...
Migraines vary in symptoms and intensity, and their causes are often a mystery to the patient. According to FamilyDoctor.org, fluctuating chemicals in your brain may cause your blood vessels to swell, resulting in a migraine. F...
Although the underlying cause of migraines remains somewhat mysterious, many migraine patients learn to identify their triggers---the factors that cause individual migraine attacks. Some people are susceptible to a number of tr...
More than 45 million Americans experience chronic, recurring headaches and 28 million suffer from migraines, according to the National Headache Foundation. Women are more likely to be afflicted, making up 70 percent of headache...
Double vision, or binocular diplopia, results when the two eyes are misaligned and aim at different targets. In these cases, two non-matching images are being sent to the brain and double vision results. Permanent double vision...
Headaches caused by anger can occur for different reasons. Many people experience some sort of headache when they become angry enough about something. Coming up with a remedy that works for you and addresses both the anger and ...
This is the case with tension headaches and migraines. When they occur together, the condition is called a mixed tension migraine, and it can cause symptoms that are normally present with both types of headaches. The key to con...
Headaches can be debilitating. Knowing what triggers your pain can help you to avoid the discomfort before it happens. Sensitivity to the sun can intensify headaches if you don't plan ahead. Summer months can be particularly di...
There are several different types of headaches that affect teens, most of which do not signal a serious problem. See a doctor if a headache reoccurs more than once a month, causes serious pain, and does not go away easily.
Certain foods are migraine triggers, but not everyone has the same reactions. A food that triggers a migraine in one person may not affect another person. A trigger food may cause a migraine one day but not on another day. Acc...
According to the National Headache Foundation, about 30 million Americans suffer from migraine headaches. Sumatriptan, a prescription drug sold under the brand name Imitrex, was the first in a class of drugs called triptans tha...
For people who have cutaneous allodynia, sensations on the skin that do not normally cause pain such as the feel of a simple touch with a finger or mild heat can cause pain or unpleasant feelings. Allodynia is a condition that ...
Triptans are drugs that increase the levels of serotonin in the brain so that the blood vessels constrict. This treats the symptoms of migraine headaches, which can cause nausea, vomiting, visual disturbances, sensitivity to so...
Additional inflammation can occur in tissues throughout the brain, making the pain worse. At the same time nerve endings in your brain release substances called neurotransmitters, which leads to the worsening of symptoms. The e...
Migraines commonly strike children, causing the same pounding head pain, nausea, vomiting and sensitivity to bright lights and loud sounds that adults experience. No one wants to see a child suffering in pain, so it's importan...
In addition to the pounding in the head, migraine sufferers may experience other symptoms, such as nausea, vomiting and a heightened sensitivity to sound and light. Though no cure is available for migraine headaches, Mayo Clini...
The condition results from damage to the jawbone, which causes pressure on the trigeminal nerve that is connected to the face. The nerve in turn controls other sensations and muscles in the face, neck and throat. The subsequent...
National Library of Medicine says are some of the most common. Headache symptoms can range from mild to very severe, and many be accompanied by nausea, sensitivity to light and other symptoms. Headaches can be caused by stress...
Of adults who suffer from persistent headaches, as many as 20 percent began experiencing them as children--before the age of 10, according to the American Headache Society. Migraines are very severe headaches that can cause nau...
Migraine headaches are painful headaches that often are heralded by obvious and disturbing warning signals. According to leading experts such as author Dr. Dennis Lee, migraine headache is generally brought on by the enlargeme...
What causes optical migraines? The short answer is a change in brain chemicals. The chemical changes are caused by the same triggers as other types of migraines. Avoiding these triggers can help you prevent future headaches.
Less than half of those who suffer from migraines have received the correct diagnosis of migraine from their physician; unfortunately, migraine headaches are often misdiagnosed frequently as a sinus or tension headache. While h...
These headaches can be incapacitating. According to the Mayo Clinic, sometimes migraines have warning signs before they occur (known as auras) where the patient perceives light flashes or blind spots, or has arm and leg tinglin...
Although the exact cause of migraines and headaches is not well known, they all have a common anatomy and physiology. The brainstem and upper cervical spinal cord contain a region called the trigeminocervical nucleus. This are...
On the benign scale, the condition can stem from nothing more than migraine headaches. On the other hand, anisocoria can be indicative of much more severe problems, such as stroke, tumor, carotid artery dissect
Migraines are likely caused by a disruption in the trigeminal nerve system, a pain pathway, and by imbalances in brain chemicals. These factors dilate your blood vessels, and a migraine headache results. Luckily, we've found t...
