Orright – Hands up who knew there’s a connection between heart disease, stroke, and migraines? Rule 303 last night.

You made me look for the latest. This is a very detailed overview and covers history of knowledge as well.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5539409/

From the abstract:

Why: migraine is largely accepted to be an inherited tendency for the brain to lose control of its inputs. How: the now classical trigeminal durovascular afferent pathway has been explored in laboratory and clinic; interrogated with immunohistochemistry to functional brain imaging to offer a roadmap of the attack. When: migraine attacks emerge due to a disorder of brain sensory processing that itself likely cycles, influenced by genetics and the environment. In the first, premonitory, phase that precedes headache, brain stem and diencephalic systems modulating afferent signals, light-photophobia or sound-phonophobia, begin to dysfunction and eventually to evolve to the pain phase and with time the resolution or postdromal phase.

That is a very long and detailed paper. I haven’t read it all yet.

I knew about migraines, stroke and heart disease. Either Alex or Luke told me once.

My mum’s had migraines ever since she can remember. When I was growing up, she had near-constant migraines and sought help. No one knew anything to help her. The migraines reached their peak around menopause. She was prescribed Endep as a preventative, with some success. Hers are triggered by food or smells. (There’s a list of things she thinks triggers them, but don’t, and as such tends to eat a very limited diet. A good example is KFC; she swears pepper and other spices trigger migraines yet can eat KFC with no problem. She also thinks citric acid is a trigger yet she can drink Coke.)

She has been hospitalised for migraine as well as associated drug use; once, she had no idea how many codeine she’d taken and ended up in an altered state in ICU until her blood chemistry calmed down with medical intervention.

There’s an expensive injection you can get for migraines now

It works

wookiemeister said:

There’s an expensive injection you can get for migraines now

It works

Think there’s more than one.

“Injection therapy is not a cure for migraines, it does however represent an effective preventative intervention in many migraine patients.”

wookiemeister said:

There’s an expensive injection you can get for migraines now

It works

There are multiple, botox, emgality, aimovig et al

This question came from a nurse mate who suffered bad migraines from age six until he had an Angiogram, where he reports that the initial Angio produced a migraine on the table, which went away when the Cardiologist moved the probe, and he hasn’t suffered one since having a stent placed (6 years). I suffered painless prodrome symptoms, especially aura, which were immediately and permanently relieved by CABG (9 years).

Also a very interesting article, on what would seem to be cardiogenic neurological involvement in migraine: https://www.neurologyadvisor.com/topics/migraine-and-headache/the-link-between-migraine-cardiovascular-disease/

Note also the discussion of an association between oral contraceptives, migraine with aura, and stroke risk.

Rule 303 said:

Also a very interesting article, on what would seem to be cardiogenic neurological involvement in migraine: https://www.neurologyadvisor.com/topics/migraine-and-headache/the-link-between-migraine-cardiovascular-disease/

Note also the discussion of an association between oral contraceptives, migraine with aura, and stroke risk.

Oh, that oral contraceptive link has been around since I was on the pill many years ago. If I remember rightly it was one of the reasons the mini pill (lower dosages) was developed. I found what seems to be the main (Danish) study linking cardiovascular and migraine.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5791041/

Ah, I see the Danish study is referenced in your link.