While migraines are most common in adults, particularly women, children are also prone to developing them. Migraines are not caused by stress or tension, like tension headaches, but rather result from an intricate biochemical process involving the constriction and expanding of blood vessels in the brain. It is estimated that as much as 5% of children are affected by migraine. Boys and girls equally are affected by migraines when they are very young, but during puberty the shift begins toward females suffering more than males. This shift in teenage girls is due to changes in hormones.

Migraines may be diagnosed in children as young as 4 years of age, though the process of diagnosis of migraines in children is a process of trial and error. Migraines are diagnosed as the cause of headaches only after ruling out more serious causes. In addition, a comprehensive family medical history should be provided, and both a general physical and neurological examination can be expected before diagnosis can be determined as migraines.

Most children who suffer with migraines will have inherited the sickness. Should migraines run in your family, you would be wise to keep an eye on whether your child is experiences any kind of motion sickness. Motion sickness if often seen as an early indicator of the possibility of developing migraines later on. It’s very possible, in fact it’s quite probable, that there will be a family history of migraines. In addition, kids who develop migraines experienced colic, nightmares or disturbances in sleeping patterns. The throbbing pain experienced by a children’s migraine is often intense enough to interfere with school and other daily activities. You should also be aware that physical activity can exacerbate the situation so make sure your child’s school PE teacher is aware of your child’s condition.

As with adult migraines, auras may or may not accompany a child’s headache. Auras are visual experiences such a flashing points of lights, zigzagging lights, etc. Unlike migraines in adults, however, the duration of migraines usually don’t longer than three or four hours. Some extreme migraines may be accompanied by temporary neurological problems such as an inability to speak, a loss of sensation or even, in rare cases, a loss of consciousness.

Specific to children and migraines is the so-called "Alice in Wonderland" Syndrome. This syndrome involves hallucinations that distort images and shapes, or sometimes causes objects to appear larger or smaller. In fact, one theory has it that Lewis Carroll himself, the author of Alice in Wonderland, suffered from migraines and that the bizarre occurrences in his children’s classic is a rendering of his experiences.

Treatment for children’s migraines often includes the use of medications. Most children benefit from acetaminophen (Tylenol and other brands), or anti-inflammatory medications such as ibuprofen. If these over the counter medications don't alleviate your child's pain within several hours, you may need to look into the possibility of prescription medication. Some drugs are used to prevent or lessen the frequency of migraines, while others are used for immediate pain relief. Children can be involved in treatment by keeping a headache diary which may help them to identify factors that "trigger" a headache. They can plan for rest (headaches may be relieved by sleep) and learn to manage stress. Studies have shown that the frequency of migraines may be lessened by the use of biofeedback, relaxation techniques and acupuncture.

In addition, you may want to look into the many non-drug therapies that are available such as stress biofeedback, meditation and stress management. These approaches needn’t take the place of medication, they can work in conjunction with medical treatment. Also, don’t underestimate the importance of good nutrition, sticking to a solid sleep routine and making sure the child gets enough exercise.

If you suspect that your child may be experiencing migraines, consider making an appointment with your pediatrician after first keeping a migraine journal in which you recorded the following information:

How many headaches your child had each week.

Where on the head was the pain located.

How painful was the headache?

How long the headache lasted.

Did any foods, drinks or activities seem to set them off?

Does your child's headaches affect his/her normal activity?

Public speaking can be a rewarding experience that allows individuals to showcase their skills or knowledge in a public forum. Public speaking opportunities can allow an individual to help enrich the lives of anyone in the audience by impressing experiences or information that can have life changing qualities. That being said, many individuals suffer extreme shyness or nervousness when faced with public speaking situations. These situations can range from large audiences of hundreds or thousands of participants to rooms with a few people present. Regardless of the situation, ensuring you have the proper level of public speaking self confidence will aid you remarkably in this foray.

When it comes to public speaking, possessing self confidence is a must. If you find your self confidence low or nonexistent, the best way to boost it up is to practice, practice, practice. Individuals with high self confidence have an ingrained sense that they can handle any and all situations, regardless who is watching or listening. These individuals are well versed in their specific subject matter and have a good idea of how they are going to present the information so that the audience will have the greatest understanding. Additionally, these individuals are capable of fielding questions on their particular subject and can explain the topic on several different levels. If you find yourself unable to do this, begin preparing for your public speaking opportunity at once. Ensure your knowledge in the topic is high and seek out to learn as much as you can. This knowledge will help you indefinitely in both planning your speech and delivering the speech to an audience of individuals who may or may not be familiar with it. Furthermore, in depth knowledge of your subject will aid you immensely when dealing with question and answer sessions that most likely will follow any public speaking opportunity. If necessary, ask other individuals about your topic and be able to explain the topic to individuals of all levels.

When writing your speech, take care to analyze your audience. If you are speaking to individuals who have a great understanding of the topic, you can clearly use a more in depth approach, more acronyms, and more jargon than if speaking to an audience unfamiliar with the subject. Furthermore, know the average age and educational extent of your audience in order to create a speech that will speak directly to these individuals. After you have written your speech, being making notes and prompts to that use can use when giving your speech in public. Knowing your speech is written to the best of your ability will boost your self confidence, as will having the necessary notes and prompts that you can rely on while giving your speech.

When preparing for your speech, take care to not memorize the content. This may seem like a good idea, but can lead to disasterous results. If you find yourself to be nervous before you present any project or speech to a public audience, you might forget the content of your speech and be forced to pull it together from memory. Additionally, if you leave out a specific idea or topic from your speech, your audience may not clearly understand the topic of point of your presentation. The best way to prepare for your speech is to make notes that allow cues or special points you should make in your speech. Have a general idea of what you plan to say and ensure the content covers these points. Also, have any visual materials carefully arranged in the order of presentation so that you will remember to include all items seamlessly in your presentation. Public speaking should not produce a crisis, and ensuring your self confidence is high in yourself and your capabilities will make all the difference in the quality of your presentation.

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.

Multiple Personality Disorder and Posttraumatic Stress Disorders are often linked, since patients with MPD are severely abused survivors in all cases as a rule. Multiple Personality Disorders often have symptoms, including distinct personalities, including different genders, or ages, multiple signatures, different IQs, personality types, amnesia, voices within the head, frequent nightmares, the us of we when referring to self, outer body experiences and so forth. The patients are often left alone in the world since rarely does the researchers, experts, philosophers and so on have enough information put together to understand this diagnoses. As a survivor of both Multiple Personality and Posttraumatic Stress Disorder, I can tell you in most cases do you ever hear the truth in full about multiple personality disorders. The distance between Multiple Personality Disorders and other common disorders is that MPD patients will fight against lying, strive for accuracy, and enforce precision. As a rule most female patients are rarely violent, however there has been known cases of male patients that were sent to prison for rape, robbery, and other crimes. The fact is the patient was merely acting on a “Projection” and “Interjection” that was sent to him by another alter. In other words, the patient is reliving a horrific moment that probably including rape, robbery or other crimes, and acted out on his visual actions. This means that the patient was thinking that he was fighting, or retaliating or reenacting what the perpetrator did to him. I am not writing many details about Multiple Personality Disorder since I have an upcoming book going on the market. Any information about Multiple Personality Disorder will be provided in great details in my book, I am afraid to close my eyes, when I open them, I might not be me…the Black Demon. Multiple Personality Disorder is a REAL disorder without fictional characters, as many believe. The personalities, including child alters, adult, teen, elderly, are all sub parts of an actually human being that was traumatized beyond a persons ability to cope with trauma. Multiple Personality patients often suffer anorexia and bulimia; they may also suffer from sleeping disorders and discomforts. Some of the personalities are stronger than others, and most all multiple personality survivors are artistic and highly creative. Multiple Personality patients are also extremely intelligent. This diagnosis takes years to relieve, and most therapists will avoid diagnosing a patient even if he or she has two or all of the symptoms of multiple personality disorder. Multiple personality patients also have difficulty with medical treatment, since the blood rates raise and lower, MRI can find seizures one day and nothing the next, respiratory rates often flounder, and some alters may even be blind. The person often goes through life with this disorder, and when they reach a certain age, shattering beyond coping begins. This is when Integration needs to take place. Integration is the processing of sending the alters to an area of the mind for permanent stay. Once the Integration process is completed, most MPD patients are lost in the world. After living an entire life with ‘families’ within, and then all of sudden coming into a corrupted system all alone with little support, is it any wonder they often hate life after Integration. The people often feel a sense of loss when Integrated, since the only family they knew and loved is now sitting comfortable in the chambers of their mind, while they have to deal with all the lying, stealing, controversies, work, and other life stressors alone. The personalities once Integrated can still communicate with the patient, however it is never the same. Most MPD patients also have posttraumatic stress disorders, since trauma from early childhood and throughout their lives is the ONLY reason MPD develops in the first place. There has been many arguments on this controversial disorder, but the fact is, it is real and we must face the truth of its diagnose. The many controversies that has swept the market is often linked to criminals that used this diagnose as an excuse to get away with crime. Had the system been informed and accepted MPD as a real disorder, they wouldn’t have been so naïve as to believe just anyone claiming to have Multiple Personality Disorder, and would have stopped the defendant at the front door.

The interpretation of dreams can be anything from a fun and interesting hobby to a serious pursuit. Many people interpret their dreams simply for the fun of it, and any enlightenment that is gained is a happy accident. Others make dream interpretation part of their careers, and take it quite seriously. For instance, many psychologists and therapists incorporate dream interpretation into their practice, and find that it is a very useful way to gain access to hidden desires and deep seated personality issues.

We will take the more fun approach in this article, by giving you some popular interpretations of symbols and objects frequently encountered in the dream world.

Dreaming of colors
Many people report dreaming in color all or most of the time, and colors can be very revealing when applied to the dream world. The meaning of a particular color is dependent on the color, and a quick guide is presented below.

 Pink – pink is the color of love, and pink in a dream often symbolizes the healing power of love
 Red – red can symbolize either passion or anger, depending on the circumstances of the dream
 Black – black is often thought to stand for the unconscious mind or the void. Black can often symbolize the fear of death and aging.
 Grey – grey is a middle color between black and white, and it often symbolizes fear or confusion.
 White – white is a symbol of purity, but like black, dreaming of white objects can often symbolize a fear of death. White can also be symbolic of a fear of new surroundings.
 Green – green is often a symbol for renewal (both spiritual and physical), growth or healing.
 Blue – blue is often used to symbolize spirituality. In certain circumstances blue could stand for sadness as well. It is important to look at the context of the dream.
 Yellow – yellow is a symbol for peacefulness, calm and hope.

Dreams about numbers
Many people put great stock in dreaming about numbers, and some people even claim that dream inspired numbers helped them win the lottery. While we can’t guarantee your dreams can make you rich, we can give you some of the meanings people have associated with numbers they encounter while in dream land.

 One – often stands for unity, wholeness or completeness.
 Two – can symbolize balance – spiritual balance, gender balance, equality, etc.
 Three – in the Christian religion three is the symbol for the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Three is a number often seen in dreams, and it can stand for unity, harmony and spiritual fulfillment.
 Five – the number five is often a symbol for upcoming change. Five in a positive context can mean the change has been accepted, while five in a negative or threatening environment can symbolize a fear of change.

Dreaming of a baby or a pregnancy
Dreams of pregnancy and babies can of course symbolize the wish for a child, but pregnancy and baby dreams can also be symbols for new experiences in your life. The longing for new experiences, or an upcoming life change, often trigger such dreams.

Of course those listed above are not the only interpretations possible fro these various dream symbols. Each dream must be examined in its own context, as well as in the context of the life of the dreamer. It may be obvious to you what a particular dream is about, even if other people would not interpret it that way.