Unlike normal headaches that many of us suffer with, a migraine is often a hereditary complaint that starts when someone is still in childhood. Sometimes they will last for many days but usually for a few hours but can be so painful that the victim has to go to bed. It is a debilitating condition that leaves its victims feeling weakened and exhausted even when the pain has subsided.

The frequency of attacks between sufferers is not consistent with some only having one episode a year. Certain symptoms are common for many sufferers including a problem with bright lights, sometimes even dull light, in addition to flu like chills and lightheadedness. Most migraine attacks occur between the ages of 10 to 40 years old although why this is no-one really knows; in almost every instance however, attacks usually diminish or end in later adult life usually once the person is over 50 years old.

Members of the same family are often cursed with migraine and there is believed to be a hereditary link; whilst genetic factors may be involved, this link has yet to be proved. An inflammation of blood vessels and nerves near the victim's brain seems to be a common trait amongst sufferers. With this condition, women do not fare as well as men with a ratio of 3 to 1 suffering from the condition regularly; only one in twelve men will experience an attack in their lives.

Migraine with aura is a symptom where some sufferers are able to predict an attack up to half an hour before it happens. There are many warning indicators of the attack:

*Feeling of sickness *Problems with vision *Loss in the sensation of taste *Lack of sensation in sufferers extremities

Other symptoms exist but these appear to be the most common. The most common type of this condition is known as migraine without aura; this also includes nausea which can be aggravated by movement, noise and light which is the reason most sufferers lie quietly on a bed in a darkened room.

At the moment the theory that blood vessels leading to the brain become narrower and affect the nerves is the closest science has come to discovering the cause of migraines. It might be that it is the expansion of the blood vessels afterwards that causes the headache; however, all suffers say the attack knocks them out and they are unable to carry out even the most simple of daily tasks. The range of possible triggers that create an attack is huge; the most common are listed below:

*Bad weather *Particular foodstuffs *Traveling in a plane *Particular drinks *Strong bright lights *Not enough sleep *Personal or work pressures

Monitoring and recording the triggers in a diary can help avoid future attacks so it is something that all sufferers must learn to carry out.