Why Do We Get Headaches?

Why Do We Get Headaches?

Why Do We Get Headaches?

One way to understand diseases is to understand the normal function that has gone awry. For example, we understand that insulin helps the body utilize sugar and when the insulin supply runs low, we get diabetes. We understand that airways change size according to changes in the air but when the system reacts to non-threatening changes like exercise or cold, we get asthma. Similar interpretations can be given to most chronic diseases. They are either a result of a loss of necessary function or a gain (over-response) of necessary function.

So what about migraine? What normal system goes bad in people with migraine? Headache specialists believe the system gone afoul is the pain system the system that alerts the brain to the fact that there is something hostile out there in the environment. In the normal (non-migrainous) person, it takes quite an assault to bring on a severe headache. It can happen: people who climb to high altitude without adequate time for adaption, people who are exposed to seriously noxious fumes, people exposed to extreme heat without adequate protection and hydration can all experience a migraine-like pain.

It is important to us as a species to have some mechanism that will alert us to a hostile environment, and it has served us well. But just as the insulin system works well for most people, there are those at the extremes of regulation that have problems. Similarly, there are people who don't need to camp on the side of a volcano and inhale sulfur fumes to get a headache. They simply need to walk past the perfume counter at the local department store.

It is tempting to suggest that migraines are evolutionarily more advanced than our insensitive non-migrainous co-habitants, but this not likely to be the case. The migraine response to certain environmental stimuli is what anthropologists call "mal-adaptive". Unfortunately, we are not X-men, but neither are we neurotic. Migraine is a chronic disease, much like asthma or diabetes. It is, to a large degree determined by our genetics, and can be managed effectively, particularly once we understand the system that has the problem.

Without the system that leads to headache, we as a species would not have survived and flourished. Humans need the pain response to interact safely with the world. And who knows? It may turn out that avoiding those toxic perfumes, dark chocolates, and unprotected days at the beach will ultimately ensure our survival. It may turn out that migraine sufferers, not the meek, shall inherit the Earth!

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