News on migraine

Migraine protects against diabetes, several studies have shown in recent years. It may also protect against certain hormonal cancers. American researchers have just demonstrated why. A balm for people suffering from migraines, for whom it is difficult to get treatment in Quebec, despite recent advances in medicine.

Mathieu Perreault
Press

Pancreas and brain

Women with migraines have a 30% lower risk of developing diabetes, according to several studies. The link between the two evils is not obvious. Thanh Do, a researcher at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, decided to elucidate it. “One disease has its source in the pancreas, the other in the brain,” said the American biologist, who presented his results last August at the annual meeting of the American Association of Chemistry.

“I thought to myself that identifying the mechanism that links the two might give us new targets for diabetes drugs. Mr. Do targeted two molecules involved in migraine: the calcitonin gene-linked peptide (CGRP) and the pituitary adenylate cyclase activator polypeptide (PACAP). CGRP inhibitor drugs have just arrived on the market.

The goal now is to reproduce all of this in an animal model.

Breast and ovarian cancer

Since 2008, researchers around the world have observed that women with migraines are less likely to get breast cancer. But the decrease is small – other studies have also noted, on the contrary, an increase in this risk. Shelley Tworoger, head of epidemiological studies at the Moffitt Cancer Center in Florida, decided to find out what happened to ovarian cancer. “Migraine affects women three times more than men,” says M^me Tworoger. This makes it a good variable to associate with female cancers. We searched the large health monitoring studies of nursing cohorts [Nurse’s Health Studies]. At the moment, the results are inconclusive, but it seems to be related to the fact that some ovarian cancers are not hormonal. I think it’s the same with breast cancer. If we could have funding to isolate patients with hormonal cancer, maybe we would establish a protective effect of migraine. ”

Oxidative stress

The link between cancer and migraine could be “oxidative stress”, increasingly targeted as a cause of migraine. “Migraine is often presented as an overreaction of the brain to stress, stimuli or threatening molecules,” says M^me Tworoger. While migraine fights oxidative stress, it might work similarly to foods that contain antioxidants, which appear to protect against cancer. ”

The Tampa epidemiologist names beta-carotene, found in carrots, for breast cancer, as well as flavonoids, such as in tea and blueberries, for ovarian cancer. Antioxidants protect molecules in the human body from unwanted changes.

Élisabeth Leroux, Montreal neurologist specializing in migraine, confirms that migraine could be a reaction to external or internal threats. “When you have a migraine, you put yourself in a state where you don’t consume a lot of energy,” says D^D Red. She also emphasizes that migraine has a significant vascular component, which may not be linked to oxidative stress.

A neglected disease

The D^D Leroux also believes that one should not put too much emphasis on the “benefits” of migraine. “If there is a decrease in breast cancer, it is very, very small compared to other factors such as weight and lifestyle,” says the Montreal neurologist.

“I tried without success to set up a multidisciplinary migraine clinic at the CHUM,” she continues. Then I went to Alberta half a dozen years ago for a migraine clinic project, which ultimately didn’t work. In Canada, it is only in Ontario where there are adequate clinics, with very close multidisciplinary monitoring of patients, to find the right medication to help them. There is academic training, it is taken seriously. It’s a shame, because there are precisely new drugs. When I came back to Montreal, I went to see the people at an old migraine clinic. They explained to me that Quebec migraine tracking billing codes do not allow enough time to be spent with patients. ”

Migraine like the Alps

Nicole Parent has lived her entire life with a “shameful” illness. The semi-retired Boisbriand lawyer has never let her migraine, which appeared in adolescence, interfere with her practice, but she no longer counts the suppers or trips canceled at the last minute. Her life was hell until she met the D^D Leroux, at the age of 51. “She spends 45 minutes with her patients, that’s three times longer than all the neurologists I had seen before,” says M^e Parent. Before the D^D Leroux, generally, the doctors told me that there was not much to do. ”

“When I go on a trip, for me the jet lag lasts two or three days,” she says. I really like to cycle; for me, a migraine is like a hike in the Alps, you are always climbing a hill. ”

Migraine and diet

One of the few effective tactics that M^e Parent had adopted before meeting the D^D Leroux is no longer drinking wine for 10 years. “Of course we can identify foods that are associated with migraines, often with a lot of sugar,” says Dr.^D Red. But you usually can’t control migraine just with diet. ”

At the end of November, the publication in the journal BMJ Case Reports much has been written about a study reporting a cure for a migraine sufferer with a plant-based diet. “A case report is used to indicate an avenue of research,” says the D^D Red. But the study is presented as a treatment to follow. I have many patients who display healthy disbelief in the reporting of this study. Study author David Dunaief explains that he himself created the LIFE (Low Inflammatory Foods Every Day) diet for patients in his GP practice. “I know that usually a case report is used to stimulate research, but like with diet there is no risk to the patient, I don’t see why other people wouldn’t try. the LIFE diet. ”