S.os migraine. Estimates indicate that in Italy about 15 million people suffer from it and more than four million have at least five episodes of migraine per month, even experiencing headache everyday.
The migraine, moreover, is a very common pathology. It’s a lot disabling. He is responsible for 5.6% of the years lived with disabilities (Years of Life lived with Disability -YLDs), as was illustrated in the Senate on the occasion of a meeting dedicated to the establishment of the “I-GRAINE Italian Migraine Registry“. And since it affects people of all ages (with peaks in the 30-50 range) compromising their social and working lifeis a social disease with high economic costs, direct and indirect. For example, consider the loss of productivity and the costs borne by the social security system.
«It is the second most disabling disease – he points out Piero Barbantiscientific director of San Raffaele headache and neuropathic pain center -, but he remains a character in search of an author, of which not everyone knows the dimensions, the disability, the dramas and the treatments“.
Who is the migraine patient who goes to the Italian headache centers?
Womanfrom 45 years, she does not play sports, has sleep disturbances, a history of illness of about 27 years and on average has to deal with migraine attacks over nine days a month, with very high intensity and disability. And this the identikit of those who turn to headache centers in Italysuch as illustrated by Barbanti in the Senate.
Migraine is not just a headache, but a complex neurological disease that mainly affects women. As indicated in the report Migraine: a gender disease of the National Institute of Healththe Rfemale / male intake is 3: 1. And particularly between puberty and menopause, about 27% of women find themselves having to live with this storm that lasts several days. Furthermore, migraines in women are more severe than in men, with more frequent attacks of greater intensity and duration.
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When the head bursts
Tiredness, irritability, depression, yawning, particular appetite for sweetsThese are symptoms that can anticipate the actual attack. Which results in a intense pain which can last from 4 to 72 hours and can be accompanied by nausea and vomit. The throbbing pain can be such as to induce the sufferer to isolate themselves in order to avoid lights and noises to which one is intolerant.
For about a third of people who suffer from migraines, the painful phase is preceded by the so-called aura, that is, by a neurological symptom that generally has to do with visual field disturbances, impaired sensitivity in one arm and the corresponding half of the face, difficulty in converting thought into words. It lasts an average of 20-30 minutes, and then dissolves with the onset of the painful phase of migraine.
As illustrated in the report of the National Institute of Health, migraine is comparable to a severe atmospheric disturbance which is repeated several times a month and can last up to 5-6 days for each attack. With debilitating effects that vary according to the severity and duration of symptoms, and the frequency of the attacks themselves, and consequent recurrent use of analgesics, to stop the attack or, in the case of prophylaxis therapy, to prevent it.
The Italian Register of Migraines
THEL Italian Migraine Register – I-GRAINE Italian miGRAINe rEgistry – is a national multi-center initiative – 38 Italian centers participate – to systematically collect the data of patients and migraine patients who refer to the various Italian specialist centers. And it could be uno tool to learn more about the “migraine galaxy”.
«We will finally be able to give numbers to the migraine phenomenon» explains the neurologist Barbanti, «to improve the patient’s life and reduce the waste of health resources».
In fact, many useless tests and too many wanderings of those who, suffering from migraines, go in search of a solution.
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