Cardiovascular disease and migraine
The connection between cardiovascular disease and migraine – how far does it go? We’ve talked here before about the connection between migraine and stroke, the connection between migraine and the heart defect known as Patent Foramen Ovale, and so on. E.N. Liberopoulos and D.P. Mikhailidis have suggested another possible connection for treatment purposes, and they’re calling for research to be done.
Their article in Headache revolves around a type of drug known as a statin. Statins are a type of lipid reducing drug, called hypolipidemic drugs, which are used for coronary heart disease, specifically to deal with cholesterol issues.
The researchers report on a patient who had frequent migraine attacks. When this person went on a statin drug, the attacks vanished. Now, that’s right, we’re talking about one (1) patient here. However, it is enough to make you sit up and take notice, especially when we’re discovering more and more that there is an important link between migraine, especially migraine with aura, and heart disease. This could be a life-saving study, because not only would migraine issues be resolved, the related (and potentially fatal) heart disease issues could be fought as well. This one’s worth watching.
Here’s more in the article Statins may be useful in treatment of migraine headache.
20 June 2012 @ 8:33 pm
Hi, James.
We know more about this then we did in 2006 (but we still have much more to learn). We know the link between cardiovascular disease and migraines (also chronic headache or migraines) is INFLAMMATION. Turns out statins probably really work by reducing the total body inflammation. This is based on studies that show statins can reduce your risk of heart disease even if you have normal or low cholesterol. Of course statins have many risks and side effects and there are many better ways of reducing inflammation, so I don’t recommend starting statins without looking at all your options.