New migraine genetic research
You may have read about the new study done by Dr. Andrew D. Hershey and his team. The study was published in Headache: The Journal of Head and Face Pain in November.
The team took 56 patients, 7 of whom had migraine and 15 of whom had chronic migraine. Blood samples were taken from all the patients, and genomic expression patterns were analyzed. Genomic what?!
Basically, this means that the researchers read some of the genetic "language" in the material that makes up human blood. Imagine intercepting coded language between a foreign government and its spies – you might find out what they’re being told to do, who they are, and so on. These researchers have intercepted messages in the human body.
What they’ve discovered is that the messages in migraineurs are quite different than the messages in the other patients. For example, there seem to be more messages encouraging the increase of blood platelets (those things that help blood clot). There was common ground between those with migraine and chronic migraine, but there were also differences between the two types of migraine.
So what does this mean? Well, it’s further evidence that migraine has a strong genetic component. It also may mean that we’ll someday be able to differentiate between different types of migraine on a genetic level, and so develop custom-made treatments for your specific migraine. For now, this information isn’t a lot of help when you’ve got a pain in the head. But it does mean that research is progressing.
3 August 2007 @ 1:17 pm
I have been suffering from silent migranes for over 45 yrs . I only get the aura but it can been maddening . I have found that taking 3 asprin , (just plain ol’ asprin ) will make it go away in 20 minutes of taking the pills . Nothing else will do it and believe me , I’ve tried everything .
I find the medical profession lacking in the knowledge about “Silent migranes ” . I would have never known what I have had it not been for another sufferer told me . I asked my family dr about it and he had no idea what I was talking about . He sent me to a nuero surgeon who also had no idea what I was talking about . Need I tell you how unsafe I was startng to feel . After a MRI he informed me that there were no tumors and sent me home . I would have never bothered getting it checked out except I started expierencing them 2 and sometimes 3 times a day when the norm was evry 2 months . Anway , I went home from my MRI to continue taking my aspirin . This remedy is great if you don’t have 2 or 3 a day . No one needs to be taking that much aspirin but if you are a once a weeker or less , or even a once a dayer , this really works .