Migraine myths BUSTED!
There’s no known cause for migraine, apart from being genetically predisposed, but it’s thought it can be triggered by some aspect of change.
The migrainous brain doesn’t like change as it has a problem processing sensory information. Triggers can include hunger (not eating enough or not eating regularly), travel, stress – and relaxation after a stressful time – and too much or too little sleep. A migrainous brain likes someone to have a nice routine, get up at the same time, have breakfast and go to bed at the same time too, etc. There’s no evidence for this. It’s very likely that in the early stages of the migraine attack, before the person is aware it has started, symptoms often include a craving to eat chocolate, cheese or starchy food.
It can seem that eating the food has caused the migraine, but it’s the other way around. It might feel like migraine is damaging the brain as the pain is so severe, but research suggests it doesn’t. The problem with migraine is the impact on the sufferer’s quality of life.
If a person is having a lot of migraine attacks, maybe three a month, and taking over-the-counter painkillers every few days, it might cause a condition called medication overuse headache, which is a dull headache that persists most of the time.
In this case, it’s a good idea to visit your doctor to see if the painkillers might be causing the headaches. Scans are used to see what’s happening in the brain during a migraine attack for research purposes, but migraine doesn’t show up in a test. If a doctor’s unsure whether it’s migraine or something else which would show up in a test, they might refer that person for a scan. People often mention that bright and flickering light can cause migraine, but this is complicated by the fact that if a person is about to have a migraine attack, or the migraine has already started, they might feel the light seems very bright anyway. You can’t always tell the difference between migraine triggers and early symptoms.
A new jab designed especially for sufferers has been granted a licence and may be made available on the NHS
While everyone’s hoping for a cure, it doesn’t seem to be in sight yet.
Migraine is a brain disorder and the brain is very complex. There have been improvements in treatment but sometimes people need to try things in a systematic way to see what works best. It’s often helpful to keep a diary too, which can identify triggers as well as helping to manage migraine in the most effective way.