what causes migraines and how come we haven’t developed a cure for them yet?
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I wouldn’t say there is not cure – I’m getting treatment for migraines , my neurologist got me started on beta-blockers and it has strongly reduced the number of migraines – it went from an average once a month to a few times a year. You can also take a medicine called triptan for a migraine is there – seems it works for most people.
Like everything, it depends on the people, and I guess on the cause of the migraines.
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As others have stated there are many types of migraines and scientist still haven’t been able to pinpoint the cause because there are so many types and triggers. I’ve read many theories and one popular theory says it has something to do with the blood vessels and chemicals in your brain. Triggers can be hormonal, dietary, external (like weather or lights), even emotional. They can also be genetic. You can also get them with or without an aura and they can last for hours or even days!
In my case my triggers are flashing/strobing lights, changes in barometric pressures, stress and certain smells. I believe mine are genetic as my mom gets them and my daughter also gets them. I’ve been prescribed a preventative called Zonisamide that has cut them down to almost 1 every few months if even that. Its an actually a low dose seizure med but it works. I also take a cocktail when I get them (triptan, anti nausea medication and an NSAID).
I worked in short term disability and can help explain.
In short, we don’t have a cure because migraines can be caused by any number of triggers. It could be a pinched nerve. In that case, a doctor might examine your cranial nerves. It might be blood flow so a doctor would administer either an NSAID (blood thinner) or caffeine (dilates vessels). It could be a muscle cramp in your jaw (yes that can happen). Maybe it’s sinus pressure or light/sound sensitivity.
There are just so many unique causes of migraines that there isn’t a one size fits all cure.
We don’t really know for sure. What we know is that they involve minor and temporary blood circulation abnormalities in the brain (which is why aspirin, beta blockers and triptans can help) and that they also involve inflammation to some extent (why anti-inflammatory drugs sometimes work too).
All the exams we can perform on the brain (imaging, recording brain activity…) are all normal in people with migraines, both during an episode and out of episodes.
My wife used to have massive migraines almost daily. She says it’s genetic because her mom also gets very bad migraines very often.
My theory isn’t scientifically proven or backed up by any studies, but the time she had the worse migraine was when she was a restaurant manager. She puts a lot of pressure on herself to perform because she was being sponsored with a visa to stay and eventually get permanent residency in that country so she was always stressed out and come home crying. When she broke down and decided to resign, her migraine kind of lessened.
With me coming from a family that eats healthy due to my mom retaining her gestational diabetes, when we got married, I started changing her eating habits by cutting down her sugar, salt, fat, and dairy intake. We still treat ourselves, but it wasn’t as bad as my wife used to only eat ice-cream for dinner and thick ramen soup for lunch because she was too tired and stressed to cook herself meals after coming home from work. Now she gets maybe bad migraine 2~4 times a year? vs. almost daily before… But like I said, my theory is not backed up by any proof or studies, but I like to think it somehow helped by changing her diet and work life balance and now she can live a happier life pain free for most of it.
Quite a complicated question.
Current theory (at least as I was taught in Pharmacy school, might be outdated) is that the blood vessels in your head will shrink (for various reasons, dehydration, coffee, medication, unknown reason..) and then suddenly you won’t get enough blood and the blood vessels will open up wide as a ” reaction ” (that’s very simplified but mostly the Idea. Your body regulates your blood vessel’s size to adjust the amount of blood flowing in one place, but sometimes is a bit brutal doing so)
When the blood vessels increase in size for too long, it will cause inflammation, and pain. That’s the theory.
Since the cause is an extremely delicate balance between “opening” molecules and “shrinking” molecules, and the reason of balance loss is mostly unknown, it cannot, atm, be cured totally cured.
Appart from painkiller and anti inflammatory meds (ibuprofen, paracetamol) , there is a specific class of anti migrain meds : triptans. They won’t force the vessels to shut down (that would only trigger your body to re-open them) but will fixate on the same receptors as natural “open up* molecules, without activating them, thus limiting the vessel’s widening and pain.
That’s the best of my knowledge but I had this course 6-7 years ago so some thing might have changed/be studied since, and new medication might have hit the market 🙂
Migraines have complex causes which are not well understood, hence the symptoms are treated instead of the actual underlying problems. It is also more frequent in women, and typically those illness are overall less studied.
Does anyone have migraines caused by inflammatory bowel disease? I know mine are linked to when I’m having an intestinal episode but it’s hard to prove and I don’t know if migraine medicine will treat that.
I’ve noticed my migraines specifically seem to be activated by a change in barometric pressure. For example if a big precipitation event is moving in, I’ll experience pre symptoms that day , and the next day I’m fucked. Still haven’t figured out how to prevent the migraine. I can tell when it’s coming, just wish I had a way to stop it from debilitating me for 24 hours.
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