Migraine Essay

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Migraine is not only a debilitating disease affecting millions, it is a women’s health issue. Primary headache disorders including migraines are one of the top leading causes of disability for women worldwide (Migraine Research Foundation, 2014). Chronic migraine is and should be considered a complication of episodic migraine that extracts a significant human and social burden from those living with this condition. This is particularly true for women, since they experience a greater disease burden as demonstrated by greater headache related disability and reduced productivity relative to men. In women, the prevalence of chronic migraines is more two fold higher than in men (The Journal of Family Practice, 2014).
Problem Statement: Migraines are in fact tension headaches or associated with a psychological, psychosomatic, or natural hormonal changes in your body. Hormonal changes are a big contributor to the higher female incidence (Women’s Health, 2012). Several risk factors have been identified to increase a person's chance of having migraines such as family history, age, gender, and certain medical condition as well as household income and urban vs. rural residence. It is a disease and headache is only one of its symptoms. The reason for migraines being misunderstood for headaches is that it is one of the most misdiagnosed and mistreated diseases. Social stigma occurs when society disapproves of a person because they are different in some way—either externally, as with a birthmark, or in an unseen way, as with migraine. A stigma can hurt an individual's personal relationship, their work prospects, and their state of mind (Science Daily, 2013).
Methods: This paper focused on both the medical perspective and also the sociological ...

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... The social impact of migraine is comparable with that of patients suffering from other diseases such as diabetes or hypertension.
A survey was conducted by Turner-Bowker and associates which was intended to compare the affliction of migraines to that of other chronic conditions in 7557 participants of which results showed that it affected the social aspects of sufferers especially during periods between attacks as a result of apprehension and worries that are associated with the occurrence of the next one (Velasco, Gonzalez, Etxeberria, & Garcia-Monco, 2003). Migraine patients reported to have experienced more sleepiness, less stamina as well as shortened time spent in activity with family and friends during the day as compared to patients without migraine. This study clearly showed that migraine is a restricting condition that leads to compromised quality of life.

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