srberrie-blog

[srberrie-blog]

What are migraines, what causes them, and how do we fix them?

    Migraines are a troubling and confusing thing that people deal with.  There is no one specific cause for migraines, however there are theories on what some of the contributing factors may be.  There are quite a few treatment options for migraines, from naturopathic medicine, to drug therapy.  

    I spoke to my aunt about this, seeing as she is a medical professional, I thought she could offer me some insight.  She is the head of the nursing staff and Fairbanks Memorial Hospital, she sees countless different types of medical conditions including migraines.  In all of her training and years of experience she had yet to see a drastic improvement in the study of migraines.  When I asked her what causes them I got “I’m not really sure, no one is.  Most of the chronic migraines we see are due to dietary or seasonal allergies.”  Through some research of my own, I found out that that was the case for a lot of migraine sufferers.  

    In an article titled “Food Allergy in Migraine. Study of Dietary Exclusion and RAST.” the author goes into some detail about the correlation between food allergies and migraines.  Some of the most common allergens found were milk, cheese, eggs, chocolate, tea, tomatoes, coffee, shellfish, orange, fish, wheat rice and apple (Monro, 1980).  But what if you don’t have any food allergies? What explanation does that leave you with?  Well, not only is there correlation with food allergy and migraines, but for those who do not suffer from allergies, the foods you eat could be affecting your migraines anyways.  In an article titled “Low-Lipid Diet Reduces Frequency and Severity of Acute Migraine Attacks.” the author discusses how studies have shown a high level of fat consumption, particularly saturated fats can worsen the occurrence and symptoms of migraines.  This study also points out that those with a higher BMI or body mass index, tend to have more attacks.  Although eating high amounts of saturated fats is not directly causing a higher BMI, there is a significant correlation (Ferrara, 2015).  

    Going off of that, natural medicine is a popular way chosen to treat migraines.  Like obesity is correlated with increased migraines, healthier lifestyle changes are correlated with less migraines, and less intense symptoms.  A study in February of this followed aerobic exercise and its effects on migraine length, and intensity of symptoms.  While no significant correlation was shown between aerobic exercise and migraine days, it was shown that regular exercise can reduce the amount of pain the symptoms can cause (Lemmens, 2019).

    A natural treatment for migraines from a nutritional aspect has also been studied.  A study published in 2018 followed how Omega 3s can impact migraine sufferers.  While Omega 3s did reduce the overall number of days of suffering, it did not reduce the intensity of the symptoms (Maghsoudi-Nowrozabad, 2018).  Another study in 2017 explored nutraceutic treatment of migraines in adolescents in children.  While this study was primarily migraine focused, it was also used on children who suffer from frequent normal headaches.  This study ran into some road bumps due to the fact that there is no set guideline on how much and of what to use.  In the study they used magnesium, coenzyme Q10, riboflavin, butterbur, feverfew and melatonin to treat migraines.  These natural supplements showed a lot of improvement in adolescents and children who suffer from migraines (Sangermani, R., and A. Boncimino, 2017).

    Like most medical conditions, complications can arise, and a common one happens to be migraines.  For a long time I was getting migraines without warning, suffering from chronic fatigue and being unable to focus my vision.  It took seeing five different providers for one to finally take me seriously.  I had been seeing her for roughly a year and we eliminated a lot of possible causes of my migraines.  She then ran a blood panel of my hormones, glucose, and CBC (complete blood count) to see if she could make some sense of it.  From the results of the blood test, and other further tests, she diagnosed me with a pituitary adenoma, which is a tumor on the pituitary gland which is located at the base of the brain, luckily for me these tumors are almost never cancerous.   

    Of course one of the textbook symptoms of pituitary adenomas is in fact, migraines!  We then established my treatment plan, and after all was said and done my migraines are not gone, but have decreased significantly!  Her and I had a long discussion about providers not taking me or many adolescent females seriously and how much of an issue it has become.  She had referred me to counseling sessions because of the physiological damage, caused by years of thinking that I was crazy and being told that I did not have migraines.  This was a big lesson for me and should be for anyone who suffers from chronic pain to be a self advocate, I cannot stress how important that was for me and my treatment.

This caused me to ponder what other conditions can cause migraines.  Like I discussed earlier, we know that food allergies and sensitivities are a huge contributing factor, and I now know that tumors located on the pituitary gland can also cause them.  While I was researching I found that Open Angle Glaucoma, which is a condition of the eyes is also generally associated with migraines.  I found this one particularly interesting because I work at an eye clinic, I’ve seen several patients with both Open and Closed Angle Glaucoma but I have no idea what they’re going through by having that condition.  

Like any other migraine sufferer, I have encountered a lot of negative attitude regarding migraines.  Possibly the most frustrating responses include “Oh I get headaches too”, “Just take a pain pill”, or my personal favorite from a former employer “Oh it can’t be that bad, just come in anyways and suck it up.”  Over just unamusing responses (insert eyeroll here).  In an article titled “Cognitive Dysfunction and Migraine” the author discusses the scientifically proven correlation with a migraine and significantly decreased cognitive function (Vuralli, Doga, 2018).  I think if science has proven that your brain doesn’t work the same during an attack, it should be taken a little more seriously.  Luckily for us migraine sufferers this dysfunction is only temporary!  

Unfortunately there is no solid treatment for migraines, and most of the time symptoms are just eased, but not erased.  Research on migraines still has a long way to go in both the medical and regular community.  There are medical conditions associated with migraines, and at least for me, getting treatment did help.  I hope the medical and regular community can become more enlightened about migraines so they are taken as seriously as any other chronic medical condition.  

        Sources

Sangermani, R., and A. Boncimino. “The Use of Nutraceutics in Children’s and Adolescent’s Headache.” Neurological Sciences, vol. 38, May 2017, pp. 121–124. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1007/s10072-017-2896-7.

Ferrara, L. A., et al. “Low-Lipid Diet Reduces Frequency and Severity of Acute Migraine Attacks.” Nutrition, Metabolism and Cardiovascular Diseases, vol. 25, no. 4, Jan. 2015, pp. 370–375. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1016/j.numecd.2014.12.006.

Monro, J., et al. “Food Allergy in Migraine. Study of Dietary Exclusion and RAST.” Lancet, vol. 2, no. 8184, Jan. 1980, pp. 1–4. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ffh&AN=1981-08-C-0279&site=eds-live.

Maghsoudi-Nowrozabad, Leila, et al. “Effects of Omega-3 Fatty Acids on the Frequency, Severity, and Duration of Migraine Attacks: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials.” Nutritional Neuroscience, vol. 21, no. 9, Nov. 2018, pp. 614–623. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1080/1028415X.2017.1344371.

Vuralli, Doga, et al. “Cognitive Dysfunction and Migraine.” The Journal Of Headache And Pain, vol. 19, no. 1, Nov. 2018, p. 109. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1186/s10194-018-0933-4.

Huang, Jehn-Yu, et al. “Migraine and Increased Risk of Developing Open Angle Glaucoma: A Population-Based Cohort Study.” BMC Ophthalmology, vol. 19, no. 1, Feb. 2019, p. 50. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1186/s12886-019-1062-9.