I have done some pretty stupid stunts in my life. I have jumped out of moving vehicles at 30 mph, I have broken toes while playing volleyball and continued playing barefoot, I have dislocated a pinky and popped it back in, I have had multiple concussions, I have grabbed electric fences, I have stabbed my foot with a fork, I have jumped off a barn, I had swine flu, in short I had quite the interesting teenage years.
It is with all of this qualification that I can rightfully say none of these things hurts nearly as bad as having a migraine. This is an ailment that makes even light hurt terribly. This is the sort of pain that forces you to lie in bed for days, only to arise so that you can puke. This is not the sort of pain that one can just simply “tough it up and work through,” it is completely debilitating. Because of this, it is easy to see that this would be a heavily researched area of science.
Our paper discussed that migraines are likely caused by vasodilation in the brain. This means that the blood vessels that supply blood flow to the brain are carrying more blood than they normally do. This is caused by, and conversely causes a multitude of reasons/symptoms.
This vasodilation can sometimes cause something called an Aura. An Aura is commonly experienced as a visual disturbance. Imagine staring into the sun for a couple minutes and then trying to look somewhere else, that is essentially what an aura looks like. Auras do not have to be visual however, they can be associated with hearing, smell and deja vu or jamais vu. These auras, in whatever form they come, usually arrive minutes to hours before a migraine attack begins. They are your body’s little pleasant reminders that you are about to be destroyed from pain radiating behind your eyes.
There is not currently any “cure” for migraines. However, many medicines can help alleviate the symptoms. Hopefully, research in the future will lead to a powerful and robust treatment for this detrimental illness.
Migraines
