Are these “Benefits” of Migraine?

Is it possible that migraine actually has some benefits? I’m not talking about psychological or philosophical benefits, but physical, biological benefits. Well, some people think so.

For example, there’s type 2 diabetes, A study published this spring in JAMA Neurology reported the surprising finding that women with “active” migraine were less likely to develop type 2 diabetes. Often, when someone’s migraine symptoms decreased, their risk of type 2 diabetes increased.

This study confirms what doctors have observed in the past. But why exactly is this the case? Could elevated blood sugar levels actually protect against migraine, and increase risk of type 2 diabetes? Could CGRP (calcitonin gene-related peptide) function, which has been the focus of recent migraine treatment development, be the connection (since research has connected it to both conditions)? The truth is, we don’t know enough about either type 2 diabetes or migraine to really know for sure.

Every once in a while there’s a new headline about the benefits of migraine – for example, in 2008 it was claimed that migraine in women lowered your risk of breast cancer. You can read about that here: Does Migraine slash Breast Cancer risk?

Would you believe that migraine may lower your risk of alcoholism? Well, this study did show that migraine patients were at lower risk.

As much as we’d like to have nice rosy thoughts about how lucky we are to have migraine, you know that’s not where this article is going. None of these studies demonstrated a drastically lowered risk for anything. If further studies confirmed it, there might be a slightly lower risk – for some with migraine – for some things. But that is balanced by the higher risk that migraine patients have for many other conditions.

And what is causing this lower risk? It might not be anything that’s specifically unique to migraine. For example, many people with migraine avoid alcohol – could it be that it’s that simple trick that lowers risk of alcoholism? Could a certain migraine medication also be a protector for other conditions?

In the end, this information is probably not significant enough to be helpful, although it is interesting as we grow in our understanding of migraine and how it works.

I have said before, however, that migraineurs may end up outliving everyone if they use migraine as a reason to eat healthier and live a generally healthier lifestyle. We do tend to think more about our health than many other people do.

But even if the pain was not an issue, there is no reason to want to hold onto migraine just because it may make you healthier in some ways. There are simply too many dangers and risks that are related to migraine – and of course such a huge, lasting life impact. So — let’s keep fighting!

Post inspired by: A silver lining for migraine sufferers?