Migraine Headaches

Migraine Headaches

A migraine is a splitting headache that just seems to set in apparently due to no reason at all. The reasons for a migraine are mainly vascular. That means that certain changes in the blood vessels that supply blood to the brain trigger of the pain. Of course, the causes for the changes in the blood vessels may vary from person to person but this is generally how it starts.

Migraines are easily the most common headache syndrome. It affects 10 to 15 percent of the global population. One peculiar feature of a migraine is that it usually starts in childhood or adolescence and is most common in young and middle-aged adults.

The only good thing about a migraine is that it usually stops as people get older. Migraines have nothing to do with a person’s background, upbringing, or social class. Migraines do not discriminate.

Migraines have a strong impact on the quality of a person’s life. It affects not only the person but also the lives of those who move in close contact with he person. Migraine attacks can some times be so severe that person may have to abandon his or her routine activities for three or four days at a stretch.

Once the pain of a migraine sets in, it is sheer agony. It is almost as if one side of your head is being ripped off. There is very little a person can do to stop this pain.

The good thing about a migraine is that it is transient, that is the pain will go away after sometime. This usually happens after the person gets a few hours of sound sleep. But the worst thing about migraines is that they recur. But migraines too can be prevented to a very large extent as the tips below explain.

There are two main types of migraine, the classic migraine and the common migraine. Both the classic and the common kind can occur as often as several times a week or as rarely as once every few years.

Both types can occur at any time. But for some people at least, it is possible to predict the occurrence of the migraine. For example there is a greater tendency for a migraine near the days of menstruation or every Saturday morning after a stressful week of work.

Although many sufferers have a family history of migraine, the exact hereditary nature of this condition is not known. People who get migraines are thought to have an inherited abnormality in the regulation of blood vessels. The following factors often act as triggers that set of the migraine.

Stress is one of the major factors that can contribute to the onset of a migraine. Now it may not be possible for you to get away from the cause of stress, particularly if it is something connected with your job.

Anger can trigger of a migraine as well. It would be good for short tempered people to learn ways of controlling their anger. The best method is of course the one to ten method. The next time you get angry count to ten very slowly before you really blow your lid. By the time you get to ten you should have cooled down.

Both physical and mental fatigue can lead to a migraine so do not push your self too much. Enough is enough and when your body starts giving you signals that it has had enough, take heed and stop whatever you are doing. Just bear in mind that a little more productivity on one day is not worth the productivity of the next couple of days.

Is There Such a Thing as Male Menopause?

Is There Such a Thing as Male Menopause?

Women may notice it first in their male sexual partners. The decline in virility around the time middle age hits their man. Ever heard of the phrase, "male mid-life crisis?" The crisis may not be all psychological. It may be influenced by male hormone imbalance according to Dr. Karpas, who first published his research regarding male menopause in 1977. His theory includes symptoms, causes and the effects it has on the male body and his lifestyle.

He states that the symptoms start as early as age 40 and can be experienced through age 60. The symptoms are recorded as being: depression, increased irritability, lethargy to some degree, mood swings but the physical symptom most noticed is that he will have difficulty in both attaining and sustaining erections.

These symptoms hit hard especially as they cut the male ego to the quick. These symptoms are compounded if the male does not have an understanding partner/spouse. The statistic for how many males stay sexually active beyond age 70 is 40%. This statistic tells us that it is not normal to experience this particular symptom; and cannot be caused by the aging of the male in of itself.

Male menopause has no known cause as of yet, though it is being researched. There are some known factors that have come from the current researching and those are:

* Alcohol consumption of above average levels
* Getting less than ideal levels of exercise
* Hypertension
* Hormonal deficiencies
* Poor circulation
* Psychological problems
* Smoking
* Some interactions with both prescribed and non-prescription medications

Testosterone:
The hormone testosterone according to many endocrinologists and scientists is a male hormone. It is present in the male infant at birth and is responsible for bone and muscle growth in adult males as well as for the sexual drive they experience during puberty and beyond until it decreases to pre-puberty levels at age 80.

This hormone is responsible for the male libido or sexual drive. Men who experience lower than normal levels of testosterone experience difficulty with being able to concentrate, depression, fatigue, and also a decrease in endurance and muscle strength. It is expected that when males have low testosterone levels they will experience difficulty with sustaining or even achieving erections.

Some of the nay Sayers to this theory state that there are other conditions that can also exhibit the same symptoms. Conditions such as: being obese, having been diagnosed as having hypertension or high cholesterol. Men who also suffer from heart disease have poor blood circulation and as erection is dependent on good blood flow, heart disease can have the direct impact of erectile dysfunction for men with heart disease.

There are also known drug side effects from a variety of different medications that include symptoms of impotence. There have been studies that have shown that long term alcoholism of at least 10 to 15 years show that there can be significant and irreversible nerve damage to the penis which would impair the ability of have an erection.

Is male menopause for real, or is it just another label for symptoms of other conditions? You decide!