I frequently have patients tell me that this or that condition is “under control” with medication. As a society we have been completely duped into this type of thinking.
Migraines are no exception.
Regardless of whether someone is medicated or not, the fact that they are having migraines means that something is wrong. Merely the suppression of the symptoms does NOTHING for the underlying cause. In this particular study, the research strongly suggests that patients who experience migraines with aura are under much higher levels of oxidative stress and inflammation, which has consequences such as heart disease and stroke.
Here’s what they found:
- Women with active migraine with aura had a 225% higher risk of a haemorrhagic stroke.
- For bleeding within the cerebral cortex (intracerebral haemorrhage) the risk was slightly higher at 278%.
- For fatal strokes, the number skyrocketed at 356% higher risk.
This association plays out pretty consistently in the medical literature. The bottom line is that we have to make the changes necessary to get rid of the migraines or suffer the long term damage.