I read a headline this morning on NPR's Health Blog - "Why Women Suffer More Migraines than Men" and as most chronic migrainers would do, I eagerly clicked the link hoping for some new insight into this lifelong affliction of mine. Yes, I know why women suffer more migraines than men, I've researched this topic for years, I've suffered for decades, but after losing two nights' sleep this past weekend and one entire day to migraine, I was hopeful. A chance to read a bit of good news on the research front was exactly what I needed. Early on, the article tells us that "Today scientists know a migraine is all in your head..." Ugh... like I haven't seen that old chestnut pulled out countless times during the last 35 years of migraines. Okay, so maybe I'm being a bit snarky at this point, but lack of sleep tends to do that to a soul.
As I read on, I found that the researchers' conclusions point to hormones - estrogen to be specific. Seriously? This warrants an article? Is this supposed to be "new" information? Most any woman who has suffered from migraine from an early age can attest to the fact that hormones have attributed to the frequency and severity of her migraines. Sure, she may have other triggers as well, I have dozens, but hormones are almost always an instigator and no reputable doctor would be expected to leave it out of early migraine discussions. Numerous articles and studies have already been done to support this fact and some of us even make allowances in our lives, recognizing the potential for hormone fluctuations as we track our cycles each month or the gradual shift in our hormonal levels as our bodies change during our lives.
The article went on to espouse the same old rhetoric I've seen in numerous other articles, "there isn't a cure", "as many as half of all patients say treatment isn't effective for them", and "migraines are slightly more common in boys than girls until girls begin menstruation." Frankly, I'd expected much more from something I read on NPR. I'd read all this so often before and was ready to scratch this article until a phrase in the next to last paragraph struck my interest. "Migraines beget migraines." Now, we're getting somewhere.
I conceded I was probably a bit wiped out from my weekend migraine and not in the best of spirits when I first sat down. So the writer probably isn't a migrainer... Maybe I hadn't been in the proper frame of mind to read this in the first place... I decided to begin again, this time with a bit more of an open mind.
On this reading, right alongside that old rehashed research (which I have to admit, was still there), I did find some interesting tidbits to carry along with me.
For one thing, Dr. Andrew Charles at the Headache Research and Treatment Program in the UCLA Dept. of Neurology describes how a migraine occurs in the article. He explains it as a "neuro-physiological event" and explains how the electrical activity begins in the vision center then travels across the brain, moving into the areas that control sensation - which is why we feel numbness and tingling - and then, most important to me, the wave hits the area that controls language. This wasn't new information, but it is an area in which I must admit, I am always searching for validation.
Language is important to me. I love words - I love to hear them, learn about them, collect them, repeat them, and savor them. When I speak or write, it's important that I am articulate and understood. Unfortunately, before, during or after a migraine, all bets are off for me in this department. Obviously, pain, nausea, and the general misery that accompanies chronic migraine is the worst thing about this disorder, but the frustration of having my words taken away follows closely behind. Dr. Charles says, when the wave hits, "it can cause dramatic difficulty finding words or garbling of speech" and I can certainly attest to that. I often lose words or even interchange them. I think there are few acquaintances who wonder if I can string a proper sentence together... I stopped worrying about those people a long time ago. I guess that's why I prefer writing to speaking - it's easier to edit.
When Dr. Charles was quoted as saying, "migraines beget migraines," in the next to last paragraph, it caught my attention for more than one reason. The first reason was his point that "the more of them you have, the more vulnerable you become to having another" because of research that links the frequency of attacks to permanent changes in the brain. The second reason it caught my attention was that as soon as I read that phrase I knew the writer of that article had missed an opportunity to make a average internet story into one that would be truly worth reading. In my opinion, she wrote an article leading off with a title to grab clicks - men vs. women - and followed it up with information too many people already know, backed by old research too easily found on any blog, book, or Google search. The best story was here all along, hidden in the last two paragraphs of her article.
I read this line a half dozen times: "...the frequency of migraine attack is linked to permanent changes in the brain..." Sorry, but WOW...
In the final paragraph, neurologist Jan Lewis Brandes, Founder of the Nashville Neuroscience Group puts an urgency on new research in this field - controlling the frequency of attacks. Finding a way to reduce how often headaches strike may be the window researchers have needed to turn the tide on migraine. I know I want to know more about this fascinating research. What was with that whole women vs. men slant, anyway? And to think, I nearly clicked off of the article before I got to the end.
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