When your migraine pain ends, there’s no question that the relief is real. But your migraine may actually not be over yet. For some people, certain symptoms that occur after head pain ends can feel a bit like a post-migraine “hangover.”
This final phase of migraine, known as postdrome, can last from 24 to 48 hours after migraine pain ends. According to research, the severity of the actual migraine attack doesn’t seem to affect how long this back-end hangover effect lasts.
Despite the fact that postdrome symptoms are experienced in over 80% of migraine attacks, they’re studied considerably less than symptoms of the prodrome (or premonitory) stage — that is, the phase that sometimes precedes a migraine.
In fact, according to Dr. Peter Goadsby, director, National Institute for Health Research, King's College, London, and an advisor to Mable, postdrome is the least understood stage of migraine. Many people in the postdrome stage may simply feel that symptoms of some sort are to be expected following the resolution of their head pain, or they attribute postdrome symptoms to their migraine pain treatment. Others may not recognize hangover-effect symptoms as symptoms at all.
Episodes of migraine typically occur in four distinct stages:
According to Dr. Peter Goadsby, director, National Institute for Health Research, King's College, London, and an advisor to Mable, postdrome is the least understood stage of migraine.
Interestingly, as many as 255 symptoms have been reported in the postdrome stage! Among those, the most common include:
Prevention can be key in averting not just the head pain phase of migraine but a prolonged hangover effect as well. Keep a headache diary to track your symptoms in each stage of your migraine. This can help you identify patterns — such as behaviors or foods coincidental with your attacks — and help you reduce your exposure to migraine triggers.
There is currently little evidence that specific prescription treatments help relieve prodrome symptoms. But Harvard Women's Health suggests these measures to help avoid lingering symptoms once migraine head pain has gone:
Recent studies highlight a similarity between prodrome and postdrome symptoms of migraine. Dr. Nazia Karsan, MRCP, PhD, King's College London, notes that patients often report similar symptoms — such as “tiredness and lack of concentration” — both before and after migraine head pain. She suggests these “pre” and “post” phases may not actually be distinct stages at all, but instead a continual presence throughout the entire migraine attack — a presence that simply becomes less noticeable during the headache/attack stage itself.
However, while some drugs, such as triptans, effectively treat migraine headaches, they don’t alter the fundamental mechanisms in the brainstem that generate migraine to begin with. So although triptans ease head pain, non-headache symptoms of migraine can persist.
Further research into postdrome may bring better understanding of the entire migraine process. Better knowledge about how, when, and why migraine episodes end can help identify key biological mechanisms, and potentially lead to better treatments.
Symptoms of prodrome may extend the discomfort caused by your migraine episodes. Mable can work with you to help reduce their frequency and severity.
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