Why so little is known about the causes and effects of migraines



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They affect one in five women and are the second leading cause of work disability, but research on these acute headaches remains low and the funds they receive are scarce. What is the reason?

The first time I had a migraine was an afternoon after leaving school.

  • Why is migraine a "misunderstood" disease?

A little discomfort in the head. it ended up becoming an excruciating pain that obscured my vision and turned the light that was in the room into a source of pure agony

Then came the vomit.

It is a cycle that I have lived countless times in recent years. One of those times, the migraine forced me to quit my job and stay with the feeling that nothing could help me anymore.

But while a simple headache can occur with an aspirin or ibuprofen, the migraine is aggressive and may eventually weaken the victim.

  Broken head.

Unlike a normal headache, a migraine can be so painful that it can blur vision and cause vomiting.

And she has not yet discovered what is the exact reason for this to happen (hormones and abnormal brain activity are just two possible theories) and there is no sustainable treatment offered by doctors.

Therefore, it is not surprising that in the survey The World Health Organization's most important global report on the well-being, with data from 195 countries, reveals that, every year from 1990 to 2016, migraine attacks were the second leading cause behind years of disability.

This is the second most common condition on the list of those who render a person unable to work or perform his normal daily activities.

  • When should you start to worry about pain?

Few Resources

And although it is one of the leading causes of work disability – only in the UK, for example, it costs $ 29 million for Health services and businesses …, is still one of the least studied diseases on the planet.

Not only that: it is an illness that is mostly suffered by women. One in five, to be precise, while the prevalence among men is one in fifteen cases.

Why? Again, the reasons are not clear.

A survey of the University of Arizona, published in April 2018 and conducted with male and female rats, showed that perhaps one of the reasons is the relationship between high levels Estrogen and low levels of the enzyme NHE1

Without sufficient NHE1 in the body, pain signals increase exponentially.

  Superstition.

In the Middle Ages, the cure for migraine was linked to "Based on these findings, we believe that women are more likely to suffer from migraine attacks because the magnitude of their fluctuations hormonal changes the level of NHE1, "said the researcher. Emily Galloway

  • "The pain is so strong that I feel like cutting my head"

However, paradoxically, most of the research that has been done on migraine is using male and female models. In the laboratory, even if in real life it is women who suffer the most

Long story

These severe headaches are one of the oldest complaints recorded by humanity.

Egypt and dating from 1200 BC describe exactly this evil.

However, the first more accurate description, with the symptoms and name, is due to a second-century Greek doctor, Areteo de Cappadocia.

In fact, the word migraine comes from the Greek word "hemicrania", which means "half-skull".

But despite the medical clbadification, treatment for lightening was still conditioned by superstition.

In the Middle Ages remedies related to witchcraft were suggested, such as the application of a clove of garlic on the temples.

  19th century

In the 19th century, women suffering from these acute headaches were ridiculed and cataloged by their

others recommended trepanation: a practice of piercing the skull. According to the beliefs of the time, this aggressive procedure was used to free the evil spirits of those who suffered from mental illness.

But beyond these questionable treatments, it was only in the nineteenth century that doctors noticed a higher prevalence. of migraine in women.

Although, again, the diagnoses have not been very successful. Many specialists at the time indicated that it was a mental illness that they called "the disorder of low-clbad mothers" whose spirit was said to be weakened by the daily work, the lack of sleep, badfeeding and malnutrition

. ] Women suffering from these acute headaches have been ridiculed and labeled hysterics, which has caused the stigma of neurosis that has not yet been completely eradicated.

"It was a disease that was linked to a delicate nervous system. And it was considered that women did not have the same ability as men for intellectual work and, therefore, were more likely to over-demand their "weak nervous system," says Joanna Kempner, professor of sociology at Rutgers University. ] In fact, one who is considered the modern father of research on headaches, the American Harold G. Wolff, made a similar difference between migraine According to him, men were ambitious and successful and suffered from migraine only when they were tired

  Migraine

The real cause of the attacks is still unknown. migraine

While women suffered from these severe headaches because they were unable to accept their role as women, especially when it was related to bad.

According to Wolff, women "believe that bad is, at most, a reasonable marital duty." In many cases, for them, it is frankly unpleasant and they feel it. 19659036] "At the end of the 20th century, migraine was almost synonymous with neurotic housewives.In fact, in some dictionaries, the word" migraine "was synonymous with" woman, "says Kempner.

The Mind Counts

It can not be denied that there appears to be a connection between this condition and mental health

Research concludes that migraines are badociated with different psychiatric disorders.

A 2016 study indicated that people who suffer from it are almost three times more likely to develop a generalized anxiety disorder (GAD), while patients with depression are three times more prone to migraine attacks.

Another study found that one in six people suffering Relapsed migraines had suicidal thoughts at some point in her life (the average in the general population is one in 10). 19659002] "But the big question is whether there is a causal relationship.When you suffer from a disorder like migraine, the likelihood of an overlap with other diseases is very high, "said Messoud Ashina, director of the Migraine Research Unit in Denmark.

  Pain

Neurology considers migraine as a benign disease.This is not cancer, it is not Parkinson's disease, but if you look at the personal and public impact it has, you see that it's a big problem. "

And of course , suffering from migraines can also lead to poor mental health, instead of being the "delicate mental constitution" but, beyond the debilitating effect, the condition is surprisingly misunderstood or studied.

"Many neurologists consider migraine as a benign disease. It is not cancer, it is not Parkinson 's disease. But if you look at the personal and public impact she's having, you see that's a big problem, "says Ashina.

Professor of Neurology at Mayo Clinic in Arizona, Arleen Starling stresses that in the medical community, many do not consider migraine as a subject for "serious" neurology study

And part of this difficulty may be based on a badist prejudice: we already know that In general, women have more difficulty taking their symptoms seriously or arriving at a correct diagnosis, compared to men.

Very common

According to experts, the large number of migraine patients should mean that specialists are familiar with the condition

  Headaches

"The headache is the most common symptom among outpatients of neurology and is the least taught to resident physicians of the specialty."

But this is not always the case:

"The dol The head is the most common symptom among outpatients of neurology and is the one that is the least taught to residents of the specialty. It's like training electricians but without talking to them about bulbs, "said a source to Kempner when he wrote his book" Tonight No: Migraine and Gender and Health Policies. " "

Fortunately, a new treatment seems to be underway: an injection called Erenumab, which is administered once a month and blocks a receptor in the brain that activates the migraine attack.

" What's interesting with this new drug, it is that it was specially designed to fight migraine. For another illness and it turned out that it could help relieve migraine, "Starling said.

"And being a drug created for a specific disease, the toxicity is less. In other words, it has fewer side effects. "

As a migraine sufferer, I can not be more excited, currently the treatment that I am with is with beta-blockers, which were originally designed for hypertension. 19659009] For people suffering from a migraine, the specialists pointed out that in the near future there will be drugs that can relieve pain.

It turned out that they were fighting also migraine, but they are not specific, that I constantly suffer from fatigue, dizziness and, if I stop taking it suddenly, I can have a heart attack.

Now after six months without migraines, I am in the process of reducing the dose.

My goal? Reach the point of "zero drug."

But recently I had a new attack, and a few months earlier I 've got a new attack. had to be hospitalized because I had all the symptoms of a heart attack. [1 9659002] rte was a false alarm. But that has opened my eyes to the need for treatment for my migraine that does not affect my vital organs.

Fortunately, it seems that a solution is already on the horizon.


  BBC Mundo


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