Migraine pain is something that anyone who has ever experienced it wouldn’t wish on anybody else except her worst enemy. And yet, one can argue that that very same migraine pain has been the genesis of some truly amazing feats of artistic accomplishment. The conventional wisdom is that only great suffering spurs great art. In the case of art created by migraine sufferers, that conventional wisdom may be very wise indeed.

Painters especially have been very effective in taking their pain and translating into great art. The visual disturbances associated with migraine aura lends itself to artistic expression in a wide variety of disciplines, from watercolors to oils and from surrealism to expressionism. The first pictorial evidence of migraine aura symptoms may very well be reflected in the drawings of a medieval mystic known as Hildegard of Bilgen. Hildegard not only translated her visions into art, but also wrote extensively about the disease.

Surrealism especially seems to have been an outlet for painters suffering the effects of migraines. The surrealist painter Georgia de Chirico is on record as having been a migraine sufferer. Salvador Dali is also suspected of having created much of his bizarre images out of visual hallucinations associated with migraine aura.

There are various webs site devoted to what is known as “migraine art” and there have even been migraine art exhibitions. In fact, there have been migraine art competitions in which paintings were judged based on how well the painters translated the following the guidelines from inside their head onto the canvas. They had to successfully paint their own singular impressions of any form of visual disturbance which heralds a classical migraine attack, the pain associated with a migraine attack, as well as the effect that migraine headaches has had on their lives.

If you’re looking for art that may have been inspired by migraines, be sure to check out the following artists:

Georgia O’Keefe

William Blake

Vincent Van Gogh

Peggy Hoffman

Neel Kar

Angela Butt

Gill Knox

Sofia Greene

Molly Barr

Mark Fitzgerald

Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland books are well-known examples of literature inspired by migraines, and probably the most famous. But they are hardly the only books written by migraine suffferers.

Joan Didion’s essay “In Bed” is an achingly honest—no pun intended—account of her battle with migraines. Anyone who has ever suffered through the misery of migraines can commiserate with Didion. It’s probably one of the most honest and sincere works of literature about any kind of debilitating ailment ever written.

Karla J. Dorman’s poem “Lady of the Lights” is a fantastic recreation of the bizarre visual disturbances associated with migraine aura. All of those who have seen flashing lights, shooting stars and zigzagging lines dance before their eyes during the throes of a migraine only to be told that there is no such things as a migraine and it’s all in their head will appreciate this honest representation of what Dorman describes as a circus.

H.G. Wells’ “The Remarkable Case of Davidson’s Eyes” is often thought to have been inspired by migraines.

And then there’s music. Generally, music isn’t terribly conducive to migraines. After all, sensitivity to noise is a hallmark of migraines and one of its triggers. Of course, one doesn’t necessarily have to create music during the midst of a migraine episode. The memory lingers on, as they say. Several really big names in music suffered from migraine headaches, including Gustav Mahler and Elvis Presley. Jeff Tweedy of the group Wilco is well known-documented migraine sufferer who has expressed his pain through music. In addition, some specific music and songs owe their genesis at least in part to migraines.

“Migraine” from the album Abrasive by Puddle of Mudd

“Migraine” from the album Nightfreak and the Sons of Becker by The Coral

“Migraine” from the album Broken Airplanes by Troubled Hubble

“Migraine” from the album Sleep No More by DJ Signify

“Migraine Induced Madness” by Brad Preston. This one was allegedly written by Preston while in the midst of a migraine episode.

Let’s face facts, sometimes medicine doesn’t work. Sometimes the top alternative treatments don’t work. Sometimes crazy things that you never in a million years thought would work—work!

Mention the word migraine or the word headache in a room with more than two people and you are almost guaranteed of receiving free advice. There’s an almost limitless amount of possible treatments that you may or may not want to try. Most are harmless enough that it really wouldn’t hurt to go ahead and give it a shot. So next time you’ve got a real brain popping migraine and nothing works maybe you should see if one of these will do the trick. It may just turn out to be the magic pill you’ve been looking for all your life.

One common methods that seems to be circulating involves drinking a lot of water. Not just a few glasses, mind you, but a truly titanic amount of water. For some people, it seems the more water you try the better. Maybe this is just a case of transference. You know, your bladder starts hurting so much from expanding under the weight of that liquid that you forget all about your head hurting. Other suggestions are that the migraines are triggered by dehydration and the water fixes the problem in a jiffy.

Others swear by an alternative liquid treatment. Not water, but Benadryl. This probably works by making you so sleepy that you forget all about the headache. Obviously, this is not recommended if you are pregnant. Not to mention that some people suffer from a reverse reaction to Benadryl and get all hyper and probably will suffer a reverse reaction in regard to headache by making it worse. This one, as with all involving medicine, requires caution.

Massage, of course, is a frequently tried alternative method, but it takes time and money and usually isn’t exactly convenient as far as helping out right when the headache attacks. But self-massage is easily done and many, many migraine sufferers turn to it without even realizing. The preferred method seems to be using the fingertips and gently rubbing the temples, the tips of the ears or the back of the head. Of course, many professional massage therapists.

Draw. Just because you aren’t exactly Van Gogh doesn’t matter. Art therapy works wonders and nobody can even come close to explaining why. Maybe it’s just the physical activity, maybe it’s the creative drive coming to the surface and driving away all that nasty pressure taking place inside the cranial vessels. It’s really an amazing thing to watch. People barely able to keep their eyes open have been known to pick up a pen or piece of charcoal and begin applying it to paper and within a half hour their migraine headache symptoms begin to subside. Oddly enough, this therapy has proven more effective in those who claim to have no artistic talent than those who do; actual artists actually seem to be affected the least.

Play a video game. This is probably not the best idea for those whose migraines tend to be triggered by light or noise. If your trigger doesn’t seem related to sensitivity to light or noise, then give this a try. It seems to work best if you play a game that doesn’t require a significant amount of strategy; either shoot to kill or sports-related games tend to have the best results. It is assumed that sports games work through their ability to a migraine sufferer focused on the outcome of actually winning a game that can be won in the time it takes have a migraine. By focusing on the game and having a goal that can be met, the stress that is related to migraines seems to be eased.

And finally, for the minority of migraines sufferers who are male, there is one last suggestion. Of course, there are disadvantages to this approach in that you need the assistance of a willing participant, but those who try it swear by it. (And when you find out what it is, you’ll understand why). Apparently, being on the receiving end of a certain type of sexual practice associated with France has been known to relieve more than just a few migraines. And even if it doesn’t, well, this one is definitely worth giving the old college try.

How long have migraines been around? Contrary to the beliefs of many, migraines are not a new disease, only a newly-named. In fact, based on the symptoms, it appears that migraines are among the oldest diseases known to mankind.

Conditions that have been linked to migraines were described in detail in Babylonian writings dating back to 3000 BC, and papyrus scrolls dated from around 1550 BC that were found buried alongside a mummy in Thebes contain even more detailed accounts that are remarkably similar to what modern migraine sufferers describe. Even the Father of Medicine himself, Hippocrates, described what are clearly migraines in 460 BC, when he described a shining light that was typically seen in one eye and followed by severe pain that started in temples and worked its way to encompass the rest of the head and down into the neck. Hippocrates was also well ahead of his time by being the first to correlate head pain with exercise and seven sexual intercourse. Of course, Hippocrates also attributed migraines to vapors making their way up to the head from stomach and thought that the headache pain could be relieved by throwing up.

The Ebers Papyrus, named after George Ebers who obtained it, dates back to at least 1200 BC is an encyclopedic compilation of various prescriptions and medical treatments, including one for shooting pains in the head consistent with modern day migraine headaches. According to the instructions on the papyrus, Egyptians were to use a strip of linen to tie a clay crocodile holding grain in its mouth to the head of the patient. On the linen were written the names of those gods that the Egyptians believed could cure their ailments. As in so many things, the Egyptians may have been preternaturally aware of modern techniques because it is believed that this procedure could possibly have brought relief to the headache sufferer by compressing the scalp and collapsing the blood vessels that were causing the pain. At the very least it made more sense than the previous Egyptian cure for head pain, which was to simply rub a fried fish on afflicted side of the head.

Plato is considered one of the all-time great thinkers the world has ever produced, up there in the pantheon of great philosophers. And yet he seems to have been so wrong about so many things, including migraines. As far as Plato was concerned, head pain was caused by people paying too much attention to the body. In fact, Plato seems to be in that camp that thinks migraine sufferers are a bunch of whiners and that it’s all in their heads, but not in their expanding and constricting blood vessels. It may be time to start second-guessing this whole idea of Plato being really, really smart.

Hua T’o was a Chinese surgeon in the second century who is given credit for the invention of anaesthetic drugs among other things. He was also perhaps the first to take to acupuncture needles to cure migraines. In one particularly infamous and, hopefully, quite rare case, when Hua used a needle to carve a tumor out of patient suffering from pain between his eyes a canary flew out. The man not only lived, but was cured of his pain.

Hildegard of Bingen was a medieval nun and mystic who began experiencing visions at an early age. Her visions eventually led her to write several books on health and medicine and natural remedies. Both her written accounts and the illustrations she drew that reflected her visions have led the belief that those visions may have been the result of migraine auras. Her visions were detailed and vivid, as were her descriptions and she has built a significant following who consider her to be the first migraine-inspired artist. The typical treatment of migraines during Hildegard’s time during the Middle Ages basically consisted of opium and vinegar solutions applied to the skull, with the vinegar thought to have been used to open the pores of the scalp so that the opium would be more quickly absorbed.

Centuries, if not millennia, from now people may be reading a history of migraine treatment and shake their head when they reach the 21st century. Could treating with the ingredients found in medication one day be laughed at in the same way as we might laugh at the idea of treating it by rubbing a fried fish on our head?

Migraine headaches are different then a standard stress or tension headache. You can describe headaches in groups or primary and secondary group types

Headaches are described as being either primary or secondary.

Primary headaches include migraine, cluster headache, chronic daily headache, tension-type headache, and medication overuse headache

Secondary headaches are can be a symptom of something else like a sinus infection or a side effect of an illness or stress.

Migraine being a primary headache would not surprise most people, especially anyone who has ever suffered from one.

A migraine is not just regular headache or is the symptoms always the same as a headache. Moderate to very severe head pain is the most common migraine symptom; there are usually other symptoms that help diagnose frequent hurtful headaches as a migraine. It is important for you to understand and recognize these symptoms in order to help your doctor diagnose your headache and provide you with proper treatment.

The effectiveness of migraine treatment depends on a variety of factor. Treating migraines with prescriptive medication can be very effective, but don’t count on it.

Many do find relief through the newer medications on the market, but there are plenty who suffer through the trial period without any gain in the end. You may have to try out several medications before you come across the one that finally ends your misery.

Treating migraine through homeopathy is becoming a very popular alternative to medicine-based treatments. Homeopathy is basically a method or theory of healing that attempts to stimulate the body into healing itself by using natural remedies. Part of a homeopathic treatment is preventing the headache from starting in the first place.

In homeopathic treatments it’s very important to determine what your migraine trigger is. How successful you are in avoiding your, how proactive your are in administering your treatment, the patient is in using treatments such as relaxation or drugs and how well the patient responds to treatment. All contemporary knowledge about migraines points to chemical reactions in the brain causing blood vessels to constrict and then expand creating a sudden blood flow as the process, which creates the headaches, associated with migraines. Therefore the key to avoiding migraines is limiting exposure to triggers.

An enormous list of triggers has been accumulated through research into migraines. Among the most common triggers to be aware of: Stress, aroma, menstruation, sleep pattern disturbances, climate change, and diet. A huge amount of scientific research has been processed about the various triggers of migraine headaches and in short, the researchers have come to believe that two primary culprits stand out in the crowd of triggers. Many researchers have decided that food and food additives are part of the main reasons behind triggering migraines. On the other hand, many researchers are adamant that the primary trigger for migraines is stress.

It’s very important know triggers your migraine so you can determine whether to avoid it or not. Finding trigger by journaling (writing down what you eat and what stresses happen around the time a migraine happens can help in preventing the triggers in the first place.

Modern medical techniques for migraine relief are leaning more toward preventive applications and preventive medications also.

Migraine prevention medicine is different from migraine pain relief medicine. For most people who suffer headaches, migraine prevention medicine is a whole new way to treat their migraines. Preventive (prophylactic) medications are prescribed for severe headaches that occur more than twice a month, and that significantly interfere with daily activities. Preventive medications are intended to reduce both the frequency and the severity of the headache and are usually taken daily.

Often doctor prescribed migraine treatments are separated into these categories; migraine prevention medicine and acute migraine pain relief medicine. Here’s how the two types of medicine differ. Severe migraine pain relief medicine is taken at the start of migraine headache pain. Migraine prevention medicine is taken daily to help reduce the frequency of migraines, so you can have fewer of them. It does not provide relief from the pain of a migraine in progress.

So whether or not a person suffering from an acute migraine wants homeopathic techniques or medical research and a doctor’s advice finding triggers and preventive measures are both suggested.

Many people with migraines go for years without being properly diagnosed because they continue their erroneous assumption that what they are experiencing is merely a common sinus headache. One study found that a whopping 97% of people who described their headaches as sinus headaches were actually experiencing symptoms associated with migraines. The problem is that the symptoms of migraine headaches and sinus headaches often overlap, leading to confusion that can be very serious if your migraine goes undiagnosed. One reason behind this confusion may lie in the fact that the same nerves that carry migraine pain also travel to the sinuses. Pain in the sinuses, face or around the eyes can be felt during a migraine on one or both sides of the head. In addition, the nerves that cause stuffy or runny nose and watery eyes can be also be activated during a migraine.

Sinus headaches

Sinus headaches usually result from a sinus infection or allergies, or else follow hard upon the heels of a cold or the flu. The cause of sinus headaches are an inflammation of the sinus passages, which are the air cavities located behind and above your nose. The increased pressure that results from the closing of infection of the sinuses is what causes the headache. The pain is involved with a sinus headache can be quite severe and last for an extended period of time. They tend to begin in the morning after waking.

The usual treatment for sinus headaches is antibiotics but physicians are beginning to question the validity of this approach because of the building up of resistance to the drug when it taken repeatedly. Common sinus headache symptoms include pain and pressure around the eyes, an ache in the upper teeth, fever or chills and swelling about the face.

Heat and ice can be used to relieve the facial pain of sinus headaches with many doctors recommending hot compresses, hot drinks such as tea or broth, and even a steamy shower. A cool-mist humidifier can also be of tremendous help in keeping your sinuses moist.

Migraine headaches

So how do migraines differ from sinus headaches, then, and how do you determine which one you’ve got. To begin with, there isn’t just one migraine headache, but two. Migraines with aura and migraines without aura. Common migraine symptoms include pain that is prefaced by visual disturbances, a throbbing on just one side of the head that ranges from mild to extreme, nausea, vomiting, an increased sensitivity to both light and noise.

Migraines require a trigger to get your head to hurting. These triggers are wide in scope and can very significantly from person to person. Most migraines seem to be triggered by food. The most common food triggers seem to be wine, chocolate, aged cheese, processed meats, Chinese food and caffeine. Other triggers include flashing lights, loud noises, menstruation, intense exercise, weather changes, exposure to smoke or perfumes, lack of sleep, stress, or sex In addition, some medications such as birth control pills and estrogen replacement therapy have been proven migraine triggers.

So what’s the big deal with misdiagnosing a migraine headache as a sinus headache? Well, for one thing all that money you’re shelling out on medicine specifically marketed it not actually designed to treat sinus headaches will do you no good whatever if you are suffering migraines. In addition, if you are under the delusion that you are experiencing sinus headaches you may be unduly extending the life of your migraines by continuing to eat food triggers, or continuing to experience environmental triggers that you could and should otherwise avoid.

Basically, treating a migraine headache as it were a sinus headache is really no different from treating a toothache as it were a sinus headache. The problems are completely different, regardless of how similar they may seem and how much they may have in common physiologically. A sinus headache is a headache; a migraine is a disease that has as one its symptoms excruciating head pain. Do yourself a favor. If you are absolutely convinced you are suffering sinus headaches, go see a doctor who knows the difference.