migraine

wearing a balaclava or beany hat, including going to bed with one on is also a great help as it keeps the head warmer and the arteries and capillaries dilated when migrainy

using a hot water bottle on the sinuses

chewing gum stresses the temporomandibular joint and contiguous nerves !

the new view of migraine is that there are a lot more different types than people realize and some may not even have pain !

there's a stage before the actual migraine called the Prodromal where you sorta feel super good and revved because the good mood brain chemicals are being released too much................

interestingly the pain receptors for the face and head have their own area in the brain and the perception is more intense which is an evolutionary valuation of the problems of head injury compared to other parts of the body !

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if you have any degree of astigmatism even if the optometrist doesn't think it necessary, it pays to get glasses !

contacts are not a good idea because of reduced oxygen to the eye and infection risk !

interestingly wood, cigarette and fuel smoke in the eye penetrate the lens capsule and cause oxidative damage which contribute to cataract !

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in my case, among other factors, i think i have too many red blood cells and platelets and this topical iodine protocol in combination with taurine, blood donation and vitamin E have pretty well left me migraine free

basically my blood is a bit thick and tends to aggregate too easily, this is getting worse as i get older and i am keen to avoid ever going on warfarin as there is always an unavoidable amount of brain haemorraging with warfarin !

I think people vary as to what helps, which my case is say 150iu of alpha tocopherol vitamin E when i start to feel migrainey which can be about every five days, but it really depends on viral exposure, it is a blood thinner so you have to be a bit careful, but I have thick blood !

I do think you need say 4 to 8 days separation from a bolus dose and donating blood or surgery or anything of that nature, i did a blood donation the day after a bolus dose and got a good sized bruise, not normal for me at all

this is effective against migraine because tocopherols reduce neuro-inflammatory effects, this bolus system dose i use seems to work well, taking advantage of the tocopherol half life of two to three days and anti neuro-inflammatory when needed but levels trailing off so that hopefully its inhibition of tumour supression also drops off !

taking the vitamin E half life as 2.5 days, the 150iu half life trajectory is 150iu, 2.5 days 75iu, 5 days 37.5iu, 7.5 days 18.75iu, 10 days 9.3iu

vitamin K and selenium supplementation would also help offset the reduced tumour supression !

if you bleed easily that high a dose may make the blood too thin !

my migraines had become almost continuous as i progresssed beyond 55, thankfully due to vitamin E, taurine and topical iodine i am ok 90% of the time, but that 10% still sucks ! :o(

migraine and myelin sheathing quality !

a good quality fish or krill oil helps thin the blood,reduce brain inflammation ! and build up the myelin sheathing !

stand-alone d-alpha tocopherol vitamin E i find helpful, but d-alpha tocopherol with mixed tocopherols i don't !

the iodine used as per this protocol reduces platelets sticking

interestingly nanoscale silver also does something similar but of course silver is toxic
study article

i also have to watch not eating too much meat so to keep my iron levels down

“ also, deposition of free radicals in brain stem structures of migraine patients may contribute to mitochondrial energy decline in these patients

the accumulation of iron ions is proportional to the frequency of attacks, being greatest in chronic migraine wherein the attacks may occur every day

it is known that deposition of iron ions deteriorate the surface of mitochondria and reduce the efficiency of the respiratory chain and the neuronal energy substrates

thus, it is probable that the deposition of iron radicals may progressively favor tyrosine metabolism along the decarboxylation pathway and deteriorate the neurotransmission of the pain matrix ”

the problem is that iron levels low enough to enable one be pretty much migraine free are too fatiguing and leave one susceptible to throat infections !

head movement exercises may help !

ketones !

epileptic brain irritiablity cycling over a day and a multidien period of twenty to thirty days may also hold for migraine !

i know that i inevitably get migraine at separated intervals of several weeks and just about always they start in the afternoon !

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chewing on fresh ginger (spitting out the remains of the root) gives very quick relief from migraine, you can also brew a tea from chopped fresh ginger root, good quality is important

one report i read on the web put the ginger in boiling water in a thermos to brew it and took it with him

brewed fresh ginger is better i think as it is then pasturized !

i think ginger has some rebound effect once it wears off and hence is somewhat problematic !

tyramine in red wine can be a problem !

oranges that have been in storage a while also seem to develop high levels, though externally and internally they look ok !

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liquid creams are much worse for migraine than solid/double creams

they must be different fractions of milk fat and the thinner fraction has some migraine causing substance in, maybe the A1 protein in, anyway it's worse than milk, must really catch the culprit in that fraction

also maybe the cream is beaten a bit to be solid at room temp but maybe it's a fraction issue.

butter which is heavily oxidised by aerated beating also doesn't seem to cause migraine, maybe the troublesome peptide or fraction is denatured by the oxidation.

also seems to be less of an issue for true thick/heavy/double cream (no seaweed or other scd illegal thickeners!!!) which i don't know wether is beaten at all so in fact may be a fraction issue - double cream being a heavier fraction than liquid cream and thus of different composition.

however nutritionally cream is much better than butter except when the pasture is very dry and the butter is from a better time in the season

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not eating once you perceive a migraine coming on really moderates its intensity, seems to force some metabolic change very favourably to reducing the migraine. this is the single most important thing you can do to moderate migraine

too much lamb fat is migraine inducing, but promotes sleep!

it strongly promotes cell melatonin/serotonin binding, which is bad for migraines, though good for sleep.

there is a basic trade-off between good serotonin/melatonin binding by cells, especially nerve cells and hence sleep which is migraine promoting, and increased cell permeability - msm, omega 3's do this - but poorer sleep and more manic and less migrainey

olive oil is complexed in effect, being high oleic acid which promotes serotonin binding by cells but also reducing blood platelet stickiness

taking a dessertspoonful of a cobram estate (australian brand) olive oil helps with removing a constant migrainy feeling, olive oil is much better within a year or six months of its pressing, it does degrade with time !

the extra virgin “rich and robust” may be better but i am finding the “light flavour” useful !

extra virgin camellia tea oil seems to be an ok oil, but availability of sufficiently fresh is difficult

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the onion family - garlic, onions and leeks - seem to have some rebound effect that is very migraine inducing, however i now eat a lot of onion for their haemolytic effect and my high vitamin E dose seems to protect me from any rebound migraine problems !

eating a lot of onion does give a weak feeling, likely a combination of haemolysis and lower blood pressure !

before the vitamin E regime, i found that eating a pressure cooked brown onion when i had a migraine, helped

also iodine helps !

“the gas hydrogen sulfide (H2S), produced by red blood cells from garlic-derived organic polysulfides, works by relaxing vascular tissue and improving the flexibility of veins and arteries, making for a smoother flow of blood around the body (arterial relaxation)

hydrogen sulfide is a gas naturally produced in the body that acts as a signaling molecule. the vasoactivity of garlic was synchronous with hydrogen sulfide yield. interestingly, glutathione and other thiols (including cysteine and n-acetylcysteine) reacted directly in the absence of red blood cells to liberate hydrogen sulfide from garlic

In the case of high blood pressure, a reduction in nitric oxide results in increased blood pressure, while H2S may counteract this.

The enzymes that make H2S in the body do so slowly

H2S has a role in the body not only in the cardiovascular system but also in inflammation, neurodegeneration and diabetes”

garlic for me gives an intial feeling of spaciness/dizziness from low blood pressure to be followed in a day or so by migraine from vasoconstriction rebound from the garlic vasodilation

raw garlic is a much more potent source than cooked or processed garlic of the allicin that decomposes in aqueous solution into the sulphur intermediates that are then converted into hydrogen sulphide on the surface of red blood cells

“garlic varies greatly from crop to crop in its make-up the amount of allicin in regular garlic supplements varies greatly, with much destroyed through the distillation process or by stomach acid and heat. ”

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trigger foods are pineapple, chocolate, coffee, tea, caffeine, excess nitrates.

too much protein seems to cause problems !

cow's milk is particularly bad for migraine, the more milk fat in it, the worse for migraine. it has a lot to do with the A1 protein problem, low fat A2 cows milk is much less migrainy.

i am having a drink of 300ml of goats milk on an empty stomach every two or three days, first heated to 82C/180F then let cool to 62C/126F and opening a capsule of the rice bran filler peptizyde onto the 62C milk, and then mixing until it curdles, and then drinking that still warm and it doesn't seem to make me migrainy

62C may give the most complete digestion of the milk proteins without damaging the enzymes, and going to 82C denatures the problematic enzymes not cleaved by the enzymes enough

there's something in milk that is needed that cheese doesn't provide, presumably in the branched amino acids in whey

i emailed devin houston about this and he replied:

“ you are very correct; high temperature will denature the casein protein and essentially leave the whey portion. and the higher 50C temp is the optimal temp for the enzymes, that is the temperature usually used when assaying the enzyme activity ”

apples (skinned and cooked are a lot better) and coconut cream are not a trigger but seem to contribute to a migrainey feeling.

some of these triggers are strongly related to the digestive efficency of phenols and the houston enzyme no fenol, helps here

phenols in fruits i find that give me migraine are a little black skinned gooseberry i have growing here, plums with skins on, though washed dried prunes seem ok, apple and pear skins, i will add to this list !

chelated bisglycinate molybdenum is helpful

selenium as per 'the minerals i take' in the compendium index or just the source naturals selenomethionine improves robustness to migraines.

tea, coffee and caffeine have to be given up completely as the adaption/withdrawal cycles that occur with them cause migraines, in addition the tannins in tea and coffee are anti-nutritive and inhibit the absorbtion of magnesium.

this question of tea may not be straightforward, tea contains yeast killing tannins, yeast overgrowth in the bowel can be a problem for some people, also tea may help passivate chlorine in town water supplies. also the need for coffee may be indicative of mercury toxicity as coffee facilitates an enzyme that is reduced by mercury. a friend who was in japan swears by the japanese green tea which contains 30 - 40% anti-oxidant polyphenols called catechins compared to black teas 3 - 10%.

surprisingly tea and coffee (brewed and not instant is much bettter for this with coffee) are a major, if not the major source of anti-oxidants in the western diet

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“ previous clinical data support a relationship between sleep quality and migraine, so we used an established model of sleep deprivation to measure levels of proteins that lower the activation threshold of peripheral and central nerves involved in pain transmission during migraine. we found that REM sleep deprivation caused increased expression of the proteins p38, PKA, and P2X3, which are known to play an important role in initiating and sustaining chronic pain ”

this is also relevant for fibromyalgia

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typically, migraine is considered to be an episodic disorder with discrete attacks of headache. but new research by dr. till sprenger (ucsf headache group and technische universität münchen) found increased network activity -- stronger functional connectivity -- bilaterally in the visual, auditory and sensorimotor network in migraineurs.

“ there has been increasing evidence that the processing and perception of sensory stimuli is abnormal even outside of attacks, now our findings underline that abnormal brain activity in migraineurs is not restricted to attacks – that there is an extensive alteration of functional connectivity in multiple networks reflecting the migrainous phenotype, emphasizing that migraine is a disorder of the brain ”

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a new study suggests that migraines are related to brain abnormalities present at birth and others that develop over time

“ compared to controls, migraine patients showed reduced cortical thickness and surface area in regions related to pain processing. there was only minimal anatomical overlap of cortical thickness and cortical surface area abnormalities, with cortical surface area abnormalities being more pronounced and distributed than cortical thickness abnormalities. the presence of aura and white matter hyperintensities—areas of high intensity on mri that appear to be more common in people with migraine—was related to the regional distribution of cortical thickness and surface area abnormalities, but not to disease duration and attack frequency ”

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the sphenopalatine ganglion

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lowering plasma homocysteine levels (MHTFR gene mutations) via folic acid coupled with B6 and B12 vitamin reduces the frequency and severity of migraines study

B2 also important?

however too much folapro, which is a great homocysteine reducer, makes me migrainey !

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insufficient glutamate clearance from brain synapses is associated with a dna variant and migraine

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OXIDATIVE STRESS LEADS TO MIGRAINE

“ thus, it seems likely that migraine attacks are not simply triggered by oxidative stress, they actively protect and repair the brain from it ”

“ a number of migraine components are considered , cortical spreading depression, platelet activation, plasma protein extravasation, endothelial nitric oxide synthesis, and the release of serotonin, substance P, calcitonin gene-related peptide, and brain-derived neurotrophic factor. Evidence is presented from in vitro research and animal and human studies of ischemia suggesting that each component has neuroprotective functions, decreasing oxidant production, upregulating antioxidant enzymes, stimulating neurogenesis, preventing apoptosis, facilitating mitochondrial biogenesis, and/or releasing growth factors in the brain ”

“ all traditional triggers had a propensity to generate oxidative stress, an imbalance between the production of free radicals and the ability of the body to counteract their harmful effects

the findings suggest that antioxidants might help prevent or preempt migraines

an acute migraine attack may be an attempt by the brain to protect itself, and possibly — when you look at certain chemicals released during an attack — to heal itself ”

“ they found that some of the regions of susceptibility lay close to a network of genes that are sensitive to oxidative stress, a biochemical process that results in the dysfunction of cells ”

that's why lower iron must be so helpful for me

high iron levels are a huge source of oxidative stress, i find that reducing the amount of meat i eat (which was quite a bit !) and donating whole blood greatly helps in reducing migraine frequency and severity !

viruses are a major source of oxidative stress as well

reducing iron stores to the point of fatigue i find helpful, tho one is faced with a tradeoff with a fatigued state being more migraine free

personally i think i do better at the lower haemoglobin levels of 130 -138

one of the problems of donating blood is a rebound migraine say three days later and maybe more immediately after the donation as well

taurine and iodine help with this

yikes !

well he was walking five miles a day, maybe he had circulation problems that he felt he needed to walk that amount and also exercise consumes iron, his ferritin levels may have been very low while the Hb levels were still within range

“ ferritin reflects the iron stores that can be utilized to make enzymes for oxidative energy production ”

blood donation centers really should test ferritin as well, at least occasionally !

Ah Ha !

‘canadian blood services’

“ How is iron measured?

The amount of iron reserves can be estimated by measuring ferritin levels. Ferritin levels are not measured on blood donors. Your fingerstick hemoglobin test may be normal, even if your iron reserves are low. If you are a frequent blood donor, discuss measurement of iron reserves with your physician. ”

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“ children with autism showed signs of abnormal blood-vessel function and damaging levels of oxidative stress compared to healthy children. The children with autism possessed levels of biochemicals that indicate the presence of constricted blood vessels via the endothelium (the cells that line vessels) with a higher tendency to form clots (through cells called platelets) ................ ”

MINI STROKES AND MIGRAINE WITH AURA

i think if you get migraines regularly you need to keep running fit, tho i have found the compendium supplementation adequate and don't do a lot of exercise

no wonder no eating if you feel a migraine coming on helps, and vomiting can be part of the bodies adaptive response to migraine — it greatly reduces oxygen demand from the digestive system

if you get migraine, it's much better if it's without aura because aura means oxygen starvation in the brains visual center !

“ we found reduced blood oxygenation level–dependent functional magnetic resonance imaging signal response response in patients reporting scotoma and increased response in patients who only experienced positive migraine symptoms ”

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Mice with a migraine show signs of brain damage

Effect on brain resembles that from a mini-stroke

Migraines may be doing more than causing people skull-splitting pain. Scientists have found evidence that the headaches may also be acting like tiny transient strokes, leaving parts of the brain starved for oxygen and altering the brain in significant ways.

“Normally, the focus of migraine treatment is to reduce the pain. We’re saying that migraines may be causing brain damage, and that the focus should be on prevention, which will stop not only the pain but also minimize potential damage,” said Maiken Nedergaard, M.D., Ph.D., the neuroscientist who led the research team.

By combining two recently developed imaging technologies, Nedergaard’s team was able to get an unprecedented look at the events that happen in the brain of a mouse as a migraine unfolds. The team uncovered a complex, unexpected tale of supply and demand regarding blood flow and oxygen.

In short, the team found that the brain develops a voracious demand for energy as the organ attempts to restore the delicate chemical balance that is lost in the initial throes of a phenomenon known as cortical spreading depression, which is thought to underlie many migraines.

Even though the brain’s arteries expand dramatically and make a great deal more oxygen-rich blood available to meet the demand for energy, some parts of the brain still wind up experiencing severe oxygen shortage, or hypoxia. This causes parts of brain cells’ sophisticated signaling structures to disintegrate, similar to what occurs when a person has a mini-stroke, or after a severe injury, or when blood flow to the brain is completely stopped, such as during a heart attack.

“In mice, the damage from these episodes looks exactly like the damage that occurs to the brain from repeated TIAs, or transient ischemic attacks,” said Takano. “It’s long been known that patients having a migraine attack are functionally impaired from the pain. It’s also been shown recently that with repeated migraines, a person’s cognitive abilities decrease. But actually doing damage to the brain – that is a surprise.”

Deborah Friedman, M.D., a neurologist who was not involved in the study, says that a few studies have found that people who get auras with their migraines are at increased risk for vascular problems like heart attack and stroke. The Women’s Health Initiative, for instance, found that such women had a 50 to 70 percent higher risk of stroke compared to other women. And a study led by Michel Ferrari of Leiden University in the Netherlands showed that in women under the age of 45, those who suffered from migraines were much more likely to have the type of brain damage done by a stroke, even though they had never reported symptoms of stroke.

The work puts the visual disturbances known as auras that many migraine sufferers report in a different light. The aura that precedes the headaches for at least one out of four migraine sufferers might involve floating black spots, flashing light, or some other visual changes. Nedergaard says those disturbances might actually be a visual sign that parts of the brain are short of oxygen.

this study about the network of arteries supplying blood to the brain being more likely to be incomplete in migraineurs, particularly in the visual cortex, seems to confirm that !

In the work described in Nature Neuroscience, Nedergaard studied a phenomenon known as cortical spreading depression, or CSD. The process is now considered by many scientists as the basis for some migraines, particularly those involving an aura. CSD is an electrical event that initially involves a burst of intense activity among the neurons on the surface of the brain, followed by a gradually spreading wave of suppressed brain cell activity.

Many scientists believe that the phenomenon contributes to injury from stroke and from traumatic brain injury as well as migraine.

While it’s been widely recognized that CSD underlies some migraines, Nedergaard’s team linked the phenomenon for the first time to both severe hypoxia and to damage to brain cells. As a result of CSD, the team found changes to the synapses, the connections between brain cells known as neurons. The team observed that nerve cells swell and begin to disintegrate, with neurons shedding important connections known as dendritic spines – the tiny extensions of an individual neuron’s body that usually number in the thousands within a synapse. Mice in the grasp of a migraine lost up to three-quarters of these important cellular components.

Ironically, the team found that during CSD, even though blood flow in the brain overall increases dramatically, some parts of the brain still suffer from a lack of oxygen.

The problem begins as the brain tries to recover from CSD, which throws the proportion of crucial ions like potassium and sodium out of balance, taking away the brain’s ability to function efficiently. This change in the proportion of chemicals gradually sweeps across the brain like a slowly spreading wave.

The brain, in turn, is under tremendous stress, developing a voracious appetite for oxygen as it works frantically to restore the proper chemical balance. Oxygen-rich blood pours into the area to allow brain tissue to work overtime; the team found that the brain’s arteries expand by more than 50 percent to keep up with the demand.

It’s at this stage that Nedergaard observed the unexpected: While blood flow increased, bringing more oxygen overall to the brain, there were still pockets of severe hypoxia. The brain was working so hard to restore the chemical balance and to resume normal cellular function, using so much oxygen, that the brain simply couldn’t keep up with the demand.

“Basically, even though the body has really stepped up the availability of oxygen, the brain’s demands for oxygen are suddenly so great that the blood vessels in the brain can’t keep up,” said Nedergaard. “It’s a mismatch between supply and demand.”

Brain tissue closest to the oxygen-rich blood vessels soaks up the oxygen as fast as they can, leaving tissues further away with a diminished supply. It’s like a pride of lion cubs fighting for their mother’s milk – a few may get nudged away, go without, and will eventually die. In a brain in the midst of cortical spreading depression, brain cells closest to oxygen-rich blood vessels survive, while cells further away don’t get access to the oxygen and are in jeopardy.

“People have always thought that in order to treat a migraine, you treat the pain. We’re going beyond that. Migraines could be dangerous. The focus should be on prevention,” said Nedergaard, who notes that by the time a person feels pain or notices a visual disturbance, the changes to the brain are already well underway.

To make the finding, the team used a sophisticated laser system known as two-photon imaging to look at the activity of live cells in the intact brain of a mouse. They combined that with a new technique to precisely measure how brain cells allocate and use energy.

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MIGRAINE WITH AURA DIAGNOSTIC OF PFO'S

"PFO, an opening in the wall between the two upper chambers of the heart, usually produces no symptoms, but in some people it significantly increases the risk of stroke and migraine.

In the womb, the opening is necessary to allow efficient circulation of blood and oxygen before the lungs start working.

After birth, the hole should close to separate the two chambers. Sometimes, however, this does not occur correctly.

And when pressure is created inside the chest - for instance by coughing - a flap can open, allowing blood to flow in either direction.

In turn, this means blood can bypass the filtering system of the lungs and if debris are present in the blood, such as small blood clots, these can travel to and lodge in the brain, causing a stroke.

PFO is only linked with certain types of migraine - migraine with aura, where the person experiences symptoms such as visual disturbances, numbness or dizziness.

These are not the most common type, and only account for about 10-15% of all migraine cases."

(bbc article on dr. micheal mullen who uses the 'biostar' biodegradable pfo umbrella implant)

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eileen writes:

The migraines I used to get before pfo closure all had aura's, Would get it in my left eye pre migraine like TV white noise then would lose the sight completely in that eye just before the migraine struck, That was really freaky, I haven't had one since the closure.

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MAGNESIUM ACETYL-TAURATE FOR MIGRAINE

“ Belgian supplier Synaco is targeting an off-patent magnesium vector that has never been commercialised at the food supplements market, the company has announced.

magnesium acetyl-taurate is an inhibitor neurotransmitter of Kaïnic Acid, the latter being involved in neuronal hyperactivity

The N-acetylation of taurine makes taurine more lipophilic and increases its cellular penetration, therefore increasing the neuro-muscular activity of beta-sulfonic amino acid.

The ingredient is soluble and taste neutral.

The European Food Safety Authority issued a positive opinion for magnesium health claims in 2009 that backed the mineral’s ability to benefit, “electrolyte balance, normal energy-yielding metabolism, normal neurotransmission and muscle contraction including heart muscle, normal cell division, maintenance of normal bone, maintenance of normal teeth, and normal protein synthesis.”