It's All In My Head (Brain Stem)

[ljgeoff]

New Article on Migraines at Scientific American:

Migraine is more than a headache: it is intensely painful and has distinct phases.

The disorder used to be considered a vascular one, but recent research reveals it to be neurological, related to a wave of nerve cell activity that sweeps across the brain.

The root of migraine may reside in brain stem malfunctioning.

Although debate swirls about the precise cause of migraine, discoveries are already permitting the development of new treatments

A long and very interesting article:

"The question then becomes, Does pain typically arise from the intrinsic hyperexcitability of cortical neurons (which leads to cortical spreading depression, activation of meningeal trigeminal pain fibers and the pain of a migraine)? Or does some glitch in brain stem activity incite the pain (by directly rendering the trigeminal neurons spontaneously active or by facilitating cortical spreading depression, or both)? The latter scenario is more convincing to some researchers because the pivotal control exerted by the brain stem over so many aspects of our experience could explain the varied symptoms of migraine."

Comments

[porcinea.livejournal.com]

*Fascinating*. Thank you.

[ljgeoff.livejournal.com]

Yes, and rather disconcerting, too. I mean, for some reason, the idea that I have a vascular malfunction is less scary than the idea that I have a *brain stem* malfunction, that things are screwy at such a basic, cellular level. NA/P pumps! My god!

[ljgeoff.livejournal.com]

But then, too, the whole cortical-brain-storm thing is *so* Spock, eh?