Study: Migraines Can Cause Brain Damage In Women
Lesions In Brain Can Damage Senses, Coordination
POSTED: Wednesday, June 24, 2009
The migraines that affected one out of ten women may actually be damaging their brains.
A new study in the Journal of The American Medical Association Magazine this month shows that women who experience auras or other visual disturbances with their migraines are at most risk.
Those disturbances cause the blood flow to stop and start, which can cause sufferers to develop lesions on the cerebellum. Those lesions can damage the part of the brain that controls coordination and the senses.
The lesions seem to be particularly prominent in middle-aged women who have suffered with migraines for years.
The lesions can also develop in men, but for some reason they do not cause the same amount of damage.
This is the first study to show long-term health consequences from the debilitating condition.
Contrary to popular belief, migraines are not headaches; they are a genetic neurological disease characterized by flare-ups that include symptoms from headaches to nausea and sensitivity to light.
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