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The Mysterious Brain of a Migraineur

© Barbara J. Mitchell

The human brain is an endlessly fascinating organ about which researchers learn more every year. The brain of a person who suffers from migraine is even more interesting to me, and there are often new findings to explain why we have the specific symptoms of migraine.

Migraine pain has commonly been attributed to dilated blood vessels in the brain, for instance. However, some researchers believe it is actually caused by an electrical problem. We migraineurs may possess unusually excitable neurons, as indicated when researchers stimulated them with magnets and the subjects with a history of migraine saw spots which resembled a migraine aura. Subjects who didn't have migraines didn't see anything out of the ordinary.

So the theory is that these neurons send electrical impulses from the back of the brain down to the brainstem, which initially causes an increase in blood flow and then a sudden drop. Blood vessels are inflamed by this changeable flow. These same researchers believe that untreated migraines can actually change the brainstem's pain centers and that means chronic headaches.

Is your skin unusually sensitive when you have a migraine? You aren't losing it, and you aren't the only one this happens to. Beth Israel Deaconess Hospital in Boston has done a study in which 79% of migraineurs tested had "extreme skin sensitivity" several hours after a migraine started.

Rami Burstein, Ph.D., a pain researcher there, said patients had told them it was too painful to brush their hair, wear jewelry or eyeglasses, or even to shave during a migraine. This is one of those things many people already knew, but now it has been studied and documented. Others have reported tight clothing, a shower, or the weight of a blanket causes pain.

The reasoning for this takes us back to the brain again. Pain signals from the blood vessels in the brain make nerves unusually sensitive, which is why blood flowing through your brain, just like it does all the time, suddenly causes a throbbing pain.

These pain signals also make spinal cord neurons at the base of the skull more sensitive. Those neurons misinterpret signals from around the eyes and send pain alarms to the brain. Researchers think neurons in the thalamus may also become more sensitive and they may misinterpret signals from other parts of the body as pain.

Because these changes can become chronic, there is a need to treat migraines early or employ an effective preventive medication or lifestyle.

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