{"id":47853,"date":"2019-01-09T12:33:53","date_gmt":"2019-01-09T19:33:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/?p=47853"},"modified":"2021-02-08T08:11:51","modified_gmt":"2021-02-08T15:11:51","slug":"migraines-treatment-lags-other-chronic-conditions-u-of-c-professor-says","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/2019\/01\/09\/migraines-treatment-lags-other-chronic-conditions-u-of-c-professor-says\/","title":{"rendered":"Migraines treatment lags other chronic conditions, U of C professor says"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"
Not just in your head: <\/strong>Dr. Elizabeth Leroux, clinical associate professor of neurology at the University of Calgary, talks about the science of migraines on Nov. 20, 2018 in the Senator Burns Building on the SAIT campus. Leroux attended the University of Montreal for her neurology training, and focuses on headache medicine. (Photo by Sydney Walker\/The Press)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

W<\/span>ith not enough headache training in Canada, migraine patients encouraged to speak up about their condition as a disabling disease.<\/p>\n

\u201c<\/span>Migraines deserve a special understanding,\u201d Dr. Elizabeth Leroux, clinical associate professor of neurology at the University of Calgary, said during a talk on the SAIT campus Nov. 20.<\/p>\n

\u201cNobody wants to do headache medicine,\u201d Leroux said in response to the long waiting lists at headache clinics.<\/p>\n

It takes a long time to educate people and explain things, which is why nobody wants to pursue headache medicine, Leroux added.<\/p>\n

Leroux said she had contacted The Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada to suggest a mandatory elective for neurology residents to see migraine patients, but was told, \u201cit\u2019s not a priority.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s the problem, not enough training, not enough support, and also a complicated business,\u201d said Leroux.<\/p>\n

Approximately 12 per cent of the world\u2019s population has some degree of migraines, with one per cent suffer from chronic migraines.<\/p>\n

Leroux said that it is the third most common medical condition in the whole world and the second most disabling disease.<\/p>\n

The reasons for it has taken so long for physician to understand migraines, is because that one cannot see what is going on in the brain easily, said Leroux.<\/p>\n

\u201cMigraines are invisible, they\u2019re like Wi-FI,\u201d said Leroux. It\u2019s there, but doctors just can\u2019t see it.<\/p>\n

As a genetic disorder, having migraines is a mix of genes rather than just one, and it is not possible to see a migraine attack in a CT or MRI scan.<\/p>\n

Leroux said that the migrainous brain has a low serotonin state, and that when someone suffers from an attack, the brain shifts and the serotonin goes up, but the cause for this is unknown.<\/p>\n

People with migrainous brains can be hyper perceptive, whereas normal brains do not react the same way, said Leroux.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019re not crazy, migraines are real, it\u2019s a neurological condition,\u201d Leroux said.<\/p>\n

There is solid, scientific proof that the migrainous brain is different, and that \u201cit\u2019s variable.\u201d<\/p>\n

The genes, the software and the triggers also differ from patient to patient.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not because we can\u2019t see it on CT or MRI scans that it does not exist,\u201d said Leroux.<\/p>\n

\u201cChronic migraines are very disabling,\u201d Leroux said.<\/p>\n

The World Health Organization<\/a> recognizes that migraines, in general, is the second leading cause of disability in adults.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Lack of headache training in Canada prompts researchers to encourage migraine patients to speak up about migraines as a disabling disease. [ READ MORE ]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":503,"featured_media":47854,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_ef_editorial_meta_text_assignment-slug":"S5 Migraine Science Talk","footnotes":""},"categories":[9,1106,18],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-47853","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-life","8":"category-physical-health-and-wellness","9":"category-u-of-calgary"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47853","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/503"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=47853"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47853\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":48267,"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47853\/revisions\/48267"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/47854"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=47853"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=47853"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=47853"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}