10 Mind-Boggling Reasons Behind Your Pounding Migraines

It starts with a whisper – a strange scent, a flicker in your vision, an inexplicable craving. Then, the whisper escalates into a cruel symphony: a jackhammer pounding behind your eye, a searing nausea that twists your gut, and a crippling sensitivity that makes light and sound your tormentors. This isn't just a headache; it's a migraine, an insidious hijack of your senses that can steal hours, even days, of your life. For the millions who suffer, these debilitating attacks are a cruel enigma, often dismissed or misunderstood. But what if the relentless throbbing isn't always what it seems? What if the root causes are far stranger, more intricate, and utterly mind-boggling than you ever imagined? Prepare to have your perceptions about migraines shattered...

1. Genetics

Scientists are currently studying the relationship between genetics and migraines. Current estimates suggest children of parents with migraines have a fifty to seventy-five percent chance of developing the condition themselves. Research on familial hemiplegic migraines, a type of migraine that runs in families, has identified alterations of the CACNA1A, ATP1A2, SCN1A, and PRRT2 genes as a cause of this particular condition. The alterations are inherited through an autosomal dominant pattern, which means patients with only one copy of an altered gene inherit the condition. However, some patients with the inherited alteration never display symptoms of familial hemiplegic migraines. Additional research published in 2013 identified specific substitutions that occurred on the MTHFR gene as factors that increased a patient's likelihood of experiencing migraine symptoms.