Lesson 5: Theories about Migraine and the role of Root Cause Factors

Natural Migraine Relief for Women

There are multiple theories about the underlying cause of migraines, including:

-impaired production or metabolism of key neurotransmitters or nutrients

-variations of blood flow or oxygen delivery to the brain.

-variations in excitation or depression of cortical activity in the brain

-inflammation of blood vessels and nerves into or out of the brain.

-a reduction of energy production in brain cell mitochondria.

Let’s walk through these elements so we can see the migraine headache as a sequence of events:

1. a combination of underlying at-risk factors and overlying environmental trigger factors change the neurochemical balance of the central nervous system.

2. if this state progresses, one may see prodromal symptoms occur, such as an aura. When the threshold for an actual migraine attack is crossed, there are wavelike effects of neurochemical activity across the cerebral cortex.

3. at this point, vascular structures that supply the brain and cranial nerves such as the trigeminal nerve are also activated. Neuropeptides are released and these aggravate the underlying inflammation of small arteries in the meninges of the brain. And this is just the start...next,

4. this process can turn into a feedback system where pain fibers are activated, with nerve impulses sent back to the brain and brainstem. This goes on to provoke other migraine related symptoms such as nausea, vomiting and light sensitivity. This can become a cascading vicious cycle that results in the severe headache one experiences as a full-blown migraine event.

   The potential for overlap among the root cause contributions to this cascade explains why there are so many variations of migraine headache expression, multiple versions of therapy and then a varying spectrum of treatment outcomes. The conventional medical approach uses drug therapy which can be directed at some, but not all the root causes. Prescription drug therapy has several shortfalls: