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Pilar Pérez Madrid
Madrid
Updated Wednesday, March 6, 2024-15:55
Pain without scars is invisible.
It can not be measured.
But it is there and those who suffer from it live without the ability to express it.
In addition, it carries the stigma of
"it's fine, but it's nothing
. "
Along with the hammering of the temples, these words are the ones that resonate in the millions of heads of the 12% of the world's population who suffer from migraines.
Thus, those who suffer more than 15 days a month from headaches should have a diagnosis of chronic headaches or migraines.
There's no cure.
Only treatments that reduce pain.
That lessen crises.
For
Amanda Ellison
, a neuroscientist at the University of Durham (United Kingdom), it is a challenge "to know what happens in the brain and body of a person who undergoes this process."
Her approach “to improve the lives of these patients” involves revealing what happens before the pain appears.
Not many migraineurs are able to predict when and how;
to identify the previous run run after years of living with it.
Ellison's mission is "for everyone to know how to prevent those first discomforts that turn into stabbing and hammering."
And even more important:
"Don't let them settle for living like this: with pain as part of your life
. "
Through a deep and enjoyable manual on the question
: Why does my head hurt?
What is hidden behind headaches
(Alienta),
the neuroscientist goes to the origin of each of the types of pain that we identify as headaches
, "but that are reflected in other parts of the body."
She makes it clear that "the brain does not hurt, but rather the nerve endings translate perceptions from the rest of the body into this symptom."
To know more
Health.
Basic manual to break the slavery of migraines: "There are many ways to live with it"
Editor: PILAR PÉREZ Madrid
Basic manual to break the slavery of migraines: "There are many ways to live with it"
Ellison, on the other side of the screen, tries to forget the medical jargon to be as didactic as possible.
"Pain is a big deal," she stresses.
"If it exists it is because something is wrong in the body."
And on this matter he insists in several moments of the conversation with EL MUNDO: "You can't say to someone whose head hurts: 'Come on, get over it!'
We must make visible that this pain exists and is incapacitating
.
If we don't ask a person with something broken "to make extra effort, why should we with a migraine?"
«It is not a pain located only in the head.
It is a whole body experience.
Here, Ellison alludes to all the complements that accompany headache: altered vision, nausea, dizziness, sensory hypersensitivity...
That is why he emphasizes that the mission of his book is "the understanding of patients, friends, family and society what we are talking about when we refer to it's just a headache."
But it is not only a clinical exposition of the different types and what causes them, but also an allegation of nonconformity directed at those who suffer from them.
"It was inevitable.
There is nothing I can do.
"I can't help it."
As a professor of Psychology at an English university, this defeatist stance is counterproductive.
«We must unblock this behavior in people.
"You have to understand that this can be controlled."
And here we come to the crux of the question that every migraineur asks: how?
"We must understand what we can control and what we cannot."
And this is key, according to her, because the next step is helplessness and incomprehension when pharmacological treatments do not work.
"
Why does this happen to me?
».
That's when desperation comes.
«Negative thoughts appear:
'Nothing works for me.'
And it turns into guilt and shame for not meeting the expectations of those around you
.
Keys to headaches
Typologies.
It is important to distinguish between headache, pain in part or all of the head, in any of its varieties, and migraine, characterized by attacks of throbbing headache lasting several hours.
Treatments.
"Solutions come to those who cannot control their crises in any way. Molecules designed to act on calcitonin, since in them the excess of the substance produces imbalance"
Healthy habits.
The expert points out that the keys are diet, hydration and sleep and she regrets that prevention messages do not penetrate society, even though doctors "repeat them, over and over again."
Drug dependence.
Ellison points out that there are routinely prescribed painkillers that play with the brain's perception of pain.
"You have to know when and how to prescribe them"
Headaches get a bad press because they are associated with an excuse for not doing something.
"Not today, my head hurts
. "
Those who really deal with migraine attacks on a monthly basis know that this does nothing but damage their reputation.
How many times has a headache ended up canceling plans and locking the sufferer in the dark in their room with a cold mask just taken out of the freezer, until everything calms down, after taking the painkiller or treatment on duty.
In order not to reach this point, with which at least four million Spaniards are sure to identify, Ellison wants us to know what happens in our brain.
Regarding what we know about headaches today, she is sure that "in 15 years we will know much more."
«But
now we try to see how our nerve cells interact, how they communicate with each other
.
And how our way of eating, our way of acting, the management of our moods impact them... The beauty of neuroscience is being able to have all possible angles when faced with a problem.
It is clear that we are facing a multifactorial disease.
"Exactly.
It's like being in front of a Picasso painting, you may see the elements out of place, but they are all there.
The mission of doctors, yours as a scientist, is "
to discover how it affects each individual."
Because there are patterns, but there are almost as many types of headaches as there are people
.
“Each one can be impacted more by one factor than another.”
That is why it is key to know the culprit of the "internal imbalance of the organism."
"Sometimes it is stress, other times poor posture, lack of sleep, fasting... Only then can we discover if it is a migraine, headache, sinusitis..." she lists.
Amanda Ellison, Durham University (United Kingdom).
In this
, being a woman also adds as a risk factor
.
"Women have changes in the menstruation cycle."
The appearance is due to "the tendency toward imbalance."
And here, Ellison stresses that there is little to be done.
«They are inevitable, we cannot fight against hormonal changes.
But we don't give up because we can look for formulas to make them more bearable.
She calls it “learning to dull the pain.”
But
not everyone is aware that migraines develop before pain
.
How do you then teach it to handle it?
«It is important to identify which headache you have to treat it in the most correct way possible.
There are ways to see that you are going to have a migraine up to two days before.
But patients are sometimes very bad at seeing them coming.
"There are predisposing habits and we must take them into account."
The beginning of one of the chapters perfectly describes this situation that Ellison insists on.
«I have an offensive from all fronts, it is Friday and things are going for a long time.
I'm here with a throbbing headache.
It's like you have an elastic band wrapped around your skull and a ton of weight on top of your head.
(...) I know that being able to do everything is superhuman, and the truth is that I am not from Krypton, so there is a cost and I am the one who assumes it.
(...) Not only does my to-do list stress me out, but managing it all doesn't give me any satisfaction.
Emotions are important.
«
Don't you know anyone in pain who is happy?
».
Ellison asks this question whose answer is clearly negative.
A person with a headache "is much more irascible, more sensitive and that is why they crave intimacy."
Or what is the same, they move away from noise and people.
We return to the dark confinement.
At this point, neuroscientists offer the key answer to that need.
«
The brain actively tries to take advantage of behavioral strengths
.
What do you need?
Balance.
As?
"Increasing the levels of dopamine and oxytocin that have been depleted and as a result are expressed in the form of a migraine."
Chemical painkillers do not regulate this imbalance.
They have other purposes.
They act as anti-inflammatories or on transmission routes.
Ellison describes the importance of happiness and what that means in our brain.
"You may be going through a physically painful process, but something good happens, let's say you meet the love of your life or they give you fantastic news, and the pain goes away."
What happened?
The Durham professor responds with a clear explanation: "Does that mean that her nerve is no longer affected or what was behind the suffering has disappeared?"
No, it was your brain that was able to disconnect.
But the pain is still there.
The neuroscientist is committed to increasing neuronal assets.
That is,
giving the neurotransmitters chemicals that restore stability to the mood.
More own painkillers.
«
More dopamine and oxytocin to counteract exhaustion.
"If you get frustrated because you can't do anything, it's hard to release them
."
With this Ellison seeks to make it clear that there are ways to control this pain.
Not all of them are 100% approachable or avoidable, but they can be modified, he insists.
Which opens the door to unraveling myths and legends: chocolate, yes or no?;
Does sex cause migraines or dampen them?
alcohol and hangovers...
Let's give an example: "Whenever I have a headache, my body asks for sweets, specifically chocolate."
Is this need the triggering factor?
"Yes and no".
After this ambiguous answer, he gets down to business.
«In reality,
physiologically speaking, dark chocolate, pure cocoa, has a chemical substance, tryptophan, which is transformed into serotonin in the brain
.
This is our main mood stabilizer.
When our neural communication system is exhausted, serotonin helps its recovery.
“In short, chocolate is a mood stabilizer for the brain.”
But what happens when you drink chocolate and the pain appears?
«On those occasions the pain process was already underway.
The brain was looking for a resource to avoid it.
This happens particularly with women, when sugar cravings appear during the menstrual cycle.
In reality, the body tries to self-medicate.
"It happens a lot with migraines associated with menstruation."
More complicated is the issue of sex.
Does it cause or prevent?
"Again, both."
Ellison argues that there is a type of tension headaches that occur after sexual intercourse.
«But
if we replace sex, reduced to the act itself, with intimacy, we can attribute benefits to it.
"The caresses, the pleasant sensation of a massage... There are demonstrable effects on brain chemistry."
For Ellison, all of this presents a challenge.
«
How do you prove that you have prevented something that has not happened?
This intrigues and fascinates me in equal measure.
Above all, because she emphasizes that “this does not work for all patients.
"There is no magic formula that has the same uniform result."
This bothers the neuroscientist who believes that "the
little time doctors have
in consultations forces them to choose the easy way out with their patients:
'Here, here's your pill
. '
"Instead of drawing up a diagram of how and when the pain appears."
Why does my head hurt? What's Hiding Behind the Headaches
, by Amanda Ellison, is now on sale.
You can buy it here starting March 13.