If I read one more health-related article that links my stress to hormones and lineage, and not to the royal assholes who cause the daily stress explosions in my life, my head is going to pop like a MF-er!
Now I'm being told spending more money on what I drink will ward of the evils of the nut-jobs money brought and bought me in the first place? Ah, I see, raise my standards of living a little more; spend more, worry less, right? (I could have sworn wine was the worst thing to drink for people with migraines, at least that's why my family doctor always said!) Are these scientists insane, or just paid by the right people to say all this now?
BTW, what if migraines aren't a hereditary issue, but alcoholism and drug addiction is? Does that "grab a glass and go" policy still apply for us still lost and confused as ever angry adopted bastards?
It’s Official: Your Family Can Give You a Headache
Heredity and gender play a role in whether or not your head hurts.
A 13-year-old girl wakes up several mornings with intense pain and can’t function in school. The 34-year-old female CEO of an Internet start-up misses a week of work every month, leaving her team without direction. What do they share in common? Both suffer from painful migraines induced by a change in hormones. And both may have close relatives with the same health issue.
Headaches can be debilitating, especially those severe in nature, such as migraine and cluster. Even tension headaches, a tamer cousin, can leave a person wanting to crawl into a dark hole. While we’re still learning about the cause of headaches, we do know they are linked to gender and heredity, a connection especially clear with migraines.
“In general, migraines are three times more common in women than men, and most women with migraines have a first-degree relative with migraines,” says Stephen Silberstein, professor of Neurology at Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia and director of the Jefferson Headache Center. “It’s a combination of genetics and hormones.”
How Hormones Fit In
If you crave chocolate and are in a not-to-be-messed-with mood, tell your friends to watch out. You may be expecting your period—and a migraine.
Migraines are more likely to affect women between puberty and menopause, though they are most common in women between 35 and 45. This is in part because hormones, especially estrogen, play a large role in migraines. “It is the decline of estrogen, not the surge, that triggers headaches, not the steady high levels, but the rising and falling,” Silberstein says.
More than half of women who have migraines report headaches associated with their menstrual cycle. The prevalence of headaches in boys and girls is equal up until girls begin puberty, says Silberstein. After puberty, a woman has more migraine headaches than a man, a pattern that continues until she is past menopause.
Fluctuations in hormones that occur throughout a woman’s life can cause more migraines. Changing hormone levels associated with perimenopause can make migraines worse, as can changing hormones within a pregnancy. Many women susceptible to migraines have an increased rate after childbirth, once their hormone levels return to normal.
Conversely, taking birth control pills can stabilize a woman’s hormone levels—and, in doing so, decrease her number of migraines. Hormone replacement therapy can affect migraine rate too, Silberstein says. Women who use HRT in tablet form have an increase in migraines because they experience a surge and decline in hormones. Women who receive HRT through a patch get a steady dose of hormones and do not have an increase in migraines.
Heredity a Headache Link, Too
If your mom or your aunt were waylaid by migraines, it’s more likely you will be, too. Many people with migraines report a family history, so it is thought that heredity plays a role. This is especially true with migraines that come with visual symptoms, called an “aura.” “Genetics is more important for migraines with aura than without aura,” though only 20 percent of patients with migraines experience an aura, Silberstein says.
It’s thought that people with migraines may inherit abnormal genes that control the function of specific brain cells. A sensitivity then triggers the migraine. In the case of migraines with aura, the person can see flashing lights or zigzags, develop a short-term blind spot, or temporarily lose sight.
How Cluster and Tension Headaches Fit In
We hear about migraines all the time, less so about cluster and tension headaches, two additional types of primary headaches that can debilitate in their own right. Tension headaches are the most common, and both have links to gender and brain chemicals.
Many people experience tension headaches: a mild to moderate pain and tightness around your temples, forehead, back of head, and neck. Tension headaches can occur as often as every day, but they’re rarely debilitating and can be treated with over-the-counter pain medications. Women get more tension headaches than men, and those who get them are 40 percent more likely to have family members with the same problem. Some findings suggest that they can be triggered by a change in brain chemicals.
Cluster headaches, though rare, are more common in men and can be debilitating. “They’re called the suicide headache, the pain is so severe,” says Silberstein. Cluster headaches occur a fraction of the amount of migraines, but afflict men three to four times more than women, says Silberstein, and we don’t know why. They are caused by blood vessels swelling in the brain and—unlike migraines, which can occur for days—cluster headaches are bad for 30 minutes to an hour, then go away. They happen suddenly, in a series or cluster, and then can be absent for long periods of time in between. There are prophylactic methods to prevent cluster headaches for those with a chronic problem. Cluster headaches are not linked with fluctuations in hormone levels.
Headache triggers to avoid
If you have a tendency to get headaches, regardless of your gender or hereditary predisposition, reducing the amount of stress in your life can be an important step. “Stress is a trigger for everything, including migraines, but it’s not the underlying reason,” says Silberstein. Everyday stress, such as juggling a maxed-out schedule, is a headache trigger—and the recipe to managing stress resonates like a common mantra: Eat a healthy diet, including lots of fruit, vegetables, and water; exercise at least 30 minutes, most days of the week; practice relaxation techniques, such as yoga; and get enough sleep.
Silberstein also offers simple lifestyle tips to reduce your chances of a headache. “Stop smoking, don’t fast, get to bed at a regular time each night, don’t get drunk, don’t drink bad wine, don’t eat MSG,” he says, ticking off the list. The chemicals in MSG and young wines can activate the nerve endings that trigger migraines.
So the next time you need to relax, sit down with a good book. Turn on some soothing music. And fill your wine glass with the expensive stuff. Why not use your headache as an excuse to indulge?
Comments
Now I really have a headache!
If I read one more health-related article that links my stress to hormones and lineage, and not to the royal assholes who cause the daily stress explosions in my life, my head is going to pop like a MF-er!
Now I'm being told spending more money on what I drink will ward of the evils of the nut-jobs money brought and bought me in the first place? Ah, I see, raise my standards of living a little more; spend more, worry less, right? (I could have sworn wine was the worst thing to drink for people with migraines, at least that's why my family doctor always said!) Are these scientists insane, or just paid by the right people to say all this now?
BTW, what if migraines aren't a hereditary issue, but alcoholism and drug addiction is? Does that "grab a glass and go" policy still apply for us still lost and confused as ever angry adopted bastards?
It’s Official: Your Family Can Give You a Headache
Heredity and gender play a role in whether or not your head hurts.
By Jean Weiss for MSN Health & Fitness
http://health.msn.com/centers/headaches/articlepage.aspx?cp-documentid=1...
A 13-year-old girl wakes up several mornings with intense pain and can’t function in school. The 34-year-old female CEO of an Internet start-up misses a week of work every month, leaving her team without direction. What do they share in common? Both suffer from painful migraines induced by a change in hormones. And both may have close relatives with the same health issue.
Headaches can be debilitating, especially those severe in nature, such as migraine and cluster. Even tension headaches, a tamer cousin, can leave a person wanting to crawl into a dark hole. While we’re still learning about the cause of headaches, we do know they are linked to gender and heredity, a connection especially clear with migraines.
“In general, migraines are three times more common in women than men, and most women with migraines have a first-degree relative with migraines,” says Stephen Silberstein, professor of Neurology at Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia and director of the Jefferson Headache Center. “It’s a combination of genetics and hormones.”
How Hormones Fit In
If you crave chocolate and are in a not-to-be-messed-with mood, tell your friends to watch out. You may be expecting your period—and a migraine.
Migraines are more likely to affect women between puberty and menopause, though they are most common in women between 35 and 45. This is in part because hormones, especially estrogen, play a large role in migraines. “It is the decline of estrogen, not the surge, that triggers headaches, not the steady high levels, but the rising and falling,” Silberstein says.
More than half of women who have migraines report headaches associated with their menstrual cycle. The prevalence of headaches in boys and girls is equal up until girls begin puberty, says Silberstein. After puberty, a woman has more migraine headaches than a man, a pattern that continues until she is past menopause.
Fluctuations in hormones that occur throughout a woman’s life can cause more migraines. Changing hormone levels associated with perimenopause can make migraines worse, as can changing hormones within a pregnancy. Many women susceptible to migraines have an increased rate after childbirth, once their hormone levels return to normal.
Conversely, taking birth control pills can stabilize a woman’s hormone levels—and, in doing so, decrease her number of migraines. Hormone replacement therapy can affect migraine rate too, Silberstein says. Women who use HRT in tablet form have an increase in migraines because they experience a surge and decline in hormones. Women who receive HRT through a patch get a steady dose of hormones and do not have an increase in migraines.
Heredity a Headache Link, Too
If your mom or your aunt were waylaid by migraines, it’s more likely you will be, too. Many people with migraines report a family history, so it is thought that heredity plays a role. This is especially true with migraines that come with visual symptoms, called an “aura.” “Genetics is more important for migraines with aura than without aura,” though only 20 percent of patients with migraines experience an aura, Silberstein says.
It’s thought that people with migraines may inherit abnormal genes that control the function of specific brain cells. A sensitivity then triggers the migraine. In the case of migraines with aura, the person can see flashing lights or zigzags, develop a short-term blind spot, or temporarily lose sight.
How Cluster and Tension Headaches Fit In
We hear about migraines all the time, less so about cluster and tension headaches, two additional types of primary headaches that can debilitate in their own right. Tension headaches are the most common, and both have links to gender and brain chemicals.
Many people experience tension headaches: a mild to moderate pain and tightness around your temples, forehead, back of head, and neck. Tension headaches can occur as often as every day, but they’re rarely debilitating and can be treated with over-the-counter pain medications. Women get more tension headaches than men, and those who get them are 40 percent more likely to have family members with the same problem. Some findings suggest that they can be triggered by a change in brain chemicals.
Cluster headaches, though rare, are more common in men and can be debilitating. “They’re called the suicide headache, the pain is so severe,” says Silberstein. Cluster headaches occur a fraction of the amount of migraines, but afflict men three to four times more than women, says Silberstein, and we don’t know why. They are caused by blood vessels swelling in the brain and—unlike migraines, which can occur for days—cluster headaches are bad for 30 minutes to an hour, then go away. They happen suddenly, in a series or cluster, and then can be absent for long periods of time in between. There are prophylactic methods to prevent cluster headaches for those with a chronic problem. Cluster headaches are not linked with fluctuations in hormone levels.
Headache triggers to avoid
If you have a tendency to get headaches, regardless of your gender or hereditary predisposition, reducing the amount of stress in your life can be an important step. “Stress is a trigger for everything, including migraines, but it’s not the underlying reason,” says Silberstein. Everyday stress, such as juggling a maxed-out schedule, is a headache trigger—and the recipe to managing stress resonates like a common mantra: Eat a healthy diet, including lots of fruit, vegetables, and water; exercise at least 30 minutes, most days of the week; practice relaxation techniques, such as yoga; and get enough sleep.
Silberstein also offers simple lifestyle tips to reduce your chances of a headache. “Stop smoking, don’t fast, get to bed at a regular time each night, don’t get drunk, don’t drink bad wine, don’t eat MSG,” he says, ticking off the list. The chemicals in MSG and young wines can activate the nerve endings that trigger migraines.
So the next time you need to relax, sit down with a good book. Turn on some soothing music. And fill your wine glass with the expensive stuff. Why not use your headache as an excuse to indulge?