One aspect of migraine pain theory explains that migraine pain happens due to waves of activity by groups of excitable brain cells. These trigger chemicals, such as serotonin, to narrow blood vessels. Serotonin is a chemical necessary for communication between nerve cells. It can cause narrowing of blood vessels throughout the body. When serotonin or estrogen levels change, the result for some is a migraine.
Serotonin levels may affect both sexes, while fluctuating estrogen levels affect women only. For women, estrogen levels naturally vary over the life cycle, with increases during fertile years and decreases afterwards. Women of childbearing age also experience monthly changes in estrogen levels. I want to preface this article by saying that it does not serve as advice on treatment of your symptoms, which may or may not be related to migraine. It is educational only, thus always seek advice from your doctor.
Despite the longevity of migraines, we still do not know what brings them on. However, we do know that there is a genetic predisposition to develop it and there is often involvement of the 5 th cranial nerve one of the newer treatments targets chemicals expressed in the ganglia nerves.
It is so common to hear people say that they suffer from migraines. However, a diagnosis hinges on frequency of symptoms as well as ruling out other pathologies that could cause headaches with migraine features.
There are many types of migraines. For simplicity purpose, we will focus on the two most common types. Episodic migraine sufferers experience at least five attacks characterized by headaches that last 4 to 72 hours assuming no treatment or failure of treatment and have at least two of the following characteristics:. For chronic migraine sufferers, they have all the features listed prior, but attacks occur eight or more days a month for more than three months and can be accompanied by an aura sensory changes that signal a migraine is about to come on.
I remember listening to a podcast that reviewed the historical treatment of women with pain whose etiology was unknown; opium was the drug of choice. I am sure a fair amount of these women probably were migraine sufferers. Headache: Hope through research. Accessed Feb. Smith JH, et al. Acute treatment of migraine in adults. Simon RP, et al. In: Clinical Neurology. McGraw Hill; Ha H, et al. Migraine headache prophylaxis. American Family Physician. Kissoon NR expert opinion.
Mayo Clinic. March 16, Preventive treatment of episodic migraine in adults. Kleinman K, et al. In: Harriet Lane Handbook. Elsevier; Taylor FR. ABC's of headache trigger management. American Migraine Foundation. Migraine adult adjunctive therapy adult. Mayo Clinic; Integrative and complementary migraine treatments.
Riggin EA. Allscripts EPSi. Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minn. March 1, FDA approves new treatment for patients with migraine. Food and Drug Administration.
0コメント