Friday, June 15, 2012

Migraine Awareness Month Blogging Challenge #15: Migraine Genes (Prevalence in Women)

New research has identified a specific region on the X chromosome as playing a role in Migraine. Please take a few minutes to take a look at these two articles that discuss this important new research - Migraine Genes: X Marks the Spot - and - New hope for migraine sufferers.

Here is an excerpt from the first article that helps outline the significance of this type of research:
"Finding these genetic links to Migraine is especially important because we don’t entirely understand the pathophysiology of Migraine and there have been precious few studies to help us figure it out. Learning more about how and why Migraine attacks occur will help researchers find or design specially targeted treatments for those of us who suffer Migraine. It may also be the smoking gun we need to finally turn Migraine disease into something we can diagnose by testing for something instead of simply excluding everything else we can think of to reach a diagnosis. This is called a diagnosis of exclusion and is currently the only way physicians have to determine if a patient truly suffers from Migraine disease" (Migraine Genes: X Marks the Spot).
If you remember from high school biology, all females have two X chromosomes, while males have an X and a Y chromosome. "'These results provide more support for the role of the X chromosome in migraine and may explain why so many more females suffer from the disorder,' said Professor Griffiths" (New hope for migraine sufferers).

This research is a very important step in moving forward in Migraine diagnosis and treatment - "the research provides compelling evidence for a new migraine susceptibility gene involved in migraine. The study also indicated that there may be more than one X chromosomal gene involved and implicated a gene involved in iron regulation in the brain" (New hope for migraine sufferers).


This post was written as part of the Migraine Awareness Month Blogging Challenge (MAMBC), which is initiated by www.FightingHeadacheDisorders.com and the National Migraine Awareness Month is initiated by the National Headache Foundation (NHF).

4 comments:

  1. Thank you for choosing to feature one of my Migraine.com articles! <3 Now, let's use this knowledge to figure out how to help Migraineurs...

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  2. Hi! It's me again. While I've had migraines for years, this is the first one to last 35 days. It's a true migraine and not a headache. Is this "normal" for a chronic migraineur? I've always considered myself a frequent migraineur, but...sheesh! Life is getting pretty hard to deal with. Nothing is helping. I'm curious if anyone else has them this long, or literally every day with absolutely no let-up. A recent CT scan showed up normal, so I'm not worried about masses, or clots. I'm a homeschool mom, so I'm getting pretty nervous about starting school in this much pain.

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  3. Layla, I'm not sure there's really a "normal" for chronic migraineurs. The link we all have is that we experience migraine pain 15+ days per month, but each person experiences his/her migraines differently. I've known someone that has had a 26 month continuous migraine, and I've known people that have 15 migraines every other day. I have chronic migraines and daily headaches.

    Are you seeing a migraine specialist? If you aren't, I would recommend that you do. I'm glad to hear that your CT scan was normal.

    "Status migrainosus" are headaches that last longer than 72 hours, and require immediate medical attention. These headaches are often more difficult to treat, and they increase the risk for stroke. So, I would recommend that you contact your doctor and make sure they understand that it's been continuous for 35 days. The doctor may put you on a steroid pack or something to try to stop the long-term migraine.

    Let me know how things are going. <3

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  4. Thank you so much for your reply! They are trying to get me into a headache specialist, so I'm hoping that won't take too long. They did reccomend a Medrol pack, but decided to not give me one, since they give me headaches (go figure). That said, I thought this migraine would be gone by now, so I'm wondering if I should go ahead and try the steroids. I didn't know about the risk increase for stroke, so that's good to know. I will call my doc again tomorrow and ask about trying the steroids. Thanks again!

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