If you’ve experienced migraines, you know they are painful and often debilitating.
About 38 million people suffer from migraines in the U.S. alone–sometimes as often as once a month. Fortunately, most migraines are treated successfully at home.
But it’s not “just” a common headache. The severest migraine headaches need treatment from your doctor or a hospital for relief.
How do you know when your migraine is severe enough to get help?
Here are five signs it’s time to seek urgent care for migraines for a headache emergency.
Frequent migraine sufferers know what to do when they feel a migraine coming on.
At the first sign of a migraine, they take prescribed or over-the-counter medicine, turn out the lights, find a quiet place, or get in bed.
They also try ice packs, caffeine, supplements, and stretching to help relieve the pain. But sometimes, nothing helps migraine pain go away.
You’ll know when it’s time to go to the hospital for severe migraine help if your symptoms last a few days or longer.
Many migraine sufferers also experience blurred vision during a migraine. It’s often one of the first symptoms letting you know a migraine is on the way.
Some sufferers also lose vision in one or both eye. Or they see tiny dots, flashing lights, or “floaters.” Floaters are those tiny strand-like “cobwebs” that appear to float in your eye.
This is an ocular migraine. Symptoms should last no more than an hour.
If these ocular migraine symptoms continue longer than an hour, seek urgent care.
A migraine suffers sometimes reports that one side of their face is numb. This is a common symptom of migraines, closely related to an ocular migraine.
If numbness continues more than 24 hours or spreads to more of your head or down your neck, seek emergency medical attention.
The severest migraines often come with vomiting.
In most cases, nausea and vomiting begin shortly after the onset of pain. Then, as a headache begins subsiding, the vomiting will stop, too.
But if the vomiting continues, you could be dehydrated, or something else is wrong.
Get to an urgent care facility if you aren’t able to hold down fluids and vomiting goes on longer than 24 hours.
You probably have a support team of people who know how to help you when you’re home and migraine occurs.
But if you’re away from home on vacation and a severe migraine hits, an urgent care facility is the best option for help.
In the middle of a headache, it’s hard to know what to do for severe migraine pain. But if your symptoms call for it, use urgent care for migraines.
Our facility takes walk-ins between 9 am and 8 pm seven days a week. We treat many emergency and non-emergency medical issues, often in less time and at a lower cost than the hospital emergency room.
Contact us for questions before you come!
