Migraine: Is it really “Brain Hives”? (part 2)
Earlier this week we looked at the history of a strange term for migraine – brain hives. In the past, doctors have sometimes thought of migraine as an allergy, partly because of the way that certain things tend to trigger an attack.
Although this view may be thought of as overly simplistic, we also saw that more recent research has actually shown a connection between allergy and migraine.
But, brain hives? (By the way, here’s a blogger who used the term brain hives a few years ago – wondering if they made “brain scratchers” to relieve symptoms!)
Like migraine, much of the time we don’t know what triggers an attack of hives.
Also known as urticaria, hives may be triggered by eating a certain food, by an insect bite, or by contact with some other irritant.
Histamine is released, and the capillaries in the body leak fluid. As the fluid accumulates, a rash appears on the skin. The skin swells, and itchy pink or red round or oval “wheals” or welts appear.
Some cases may last for a few hours, other cases can last for weeks, or even become chronic, although we’re not sure why. Read more here: What are hives?
Earlier this year at the Migraine Summit, respected migraine researcher clinician Dr. Stephen Silberstein was discussing the migraine chain reaction. Interestingly enough, he brought up the term “brain hives”. Listen to what he said:
We still don’t know exactly what triggers the migraine attack, where the pain comes from. Some people believe, with a lot of good evidence, that in many ways, migraine is like brain hives. What are hives? Chemicals are released from nerves on the skin, we get swelling and itching.
We think in many ways, migraine may be like that, chemicals are released from nerves lining the surface of the brain. They produce a chemical reaction, swelling, leakage end up perhaps to pain of migraine. Very simple analogy to think that migraine is brain hives.
Dr. Silberstein’s main point was not that migraine is an allergy – I want to be careful not to misrepresent him. However, his point was that there are similarities between the migraine chain-reaction and the hives chain-reaction.
As the authors of “Managing Your Headaches” pointed out, “allergy shots will not protect you against migraine.” It’s easy to jump to a simplistic answer – just give me an allergy test and a pill. It doesn’t work that way for migraine (and sometimes not for hives either!).
Their thoughts were:
A great number of foods have been implicated in triggering migraine. It is important to understand that when we talk about these food triggers we are not implying that are you are “allergic” to the particular food involved. Allergies imply an immunologically mediated trigger. When foods trigger migraine, they generally do so by influencing the head pain pathways that we have discussed previously. Allergy shots will not rid you of migraine or your susceptibility to your migraine triggers.
But doctors have been so quick to point out the differences, that they’ve sometimes missed the connection. If a migraine patient is generally more “sensitive” to triggers, wouldn’t it make sense that an allergy – even a mild intolerance – could be a part of the story?
Maybe doctors of past generations had a point. There may be a closer relationship to allergies and migraine than we usually think.
The link between food and contaminants and migraine is also controversial. Just how much should patients focus on avoiding triggers? How much does it help? Can you over do it?
But the fact remains that patients are often helped dramatically when they avoid a food or change hairspray. And some have even been able to discover the connection through allergy testing.
So let the research continue – not just in the labs, but maybe in your own home.