Migraine Risks - Some Perspective

Thank you for the translation of the blurry statistics to which we've been treated all along by the medical 'authorities'.  My husband has a degree in mathematics, and he has always maintained that statistics is one of the only way to lie with numbers; having taken a few courses in it myself and designed and participated in studies and surveys, I must agree.  Seeing the concrete numbers is reassuring, even when you remember that there are differences in morbidity for migraneurs and this DOES affect lives.

I believe that the difference in breast cancer incidence will quickly be shown to be an artefact of research and if the sample size is increased by, say, widespread record study it will either dissappear or we may find a non-related reason for the difference in breast cancer incidence; perhaps age is a factor, or there is a hormonal aspect they haven't discovered.  Either way, I do not believe it is wise of them to announce findings from a single study of such a small number of people; it's done very often and when one reads the methodology or number of people in the sample it seriously erodes research credibility.

Eventually, you learn your lesson and read the whole article and not just the headlines to find out how the research was conducted and how many folks took part, and whether women were included (this is a fault of MANY, MANY studies -- they think that ovaries and menstrual periods make women a different species and therefore not admissable in human research); then one can make a somewhat educated conclusion on whether the research is at all germane to their situation.  Unfortunately, few of us have studied statistics, and for good reason.  It's dead dull boring and the math is complex.  If you aren't interested in psychology, sociology, or how the pols lie to us, you'll drop the course in about two sessions and study something useful -- say, underwater basketweaving.  It is worth persevering, though.  I learned a heck of a lot more than math in it, and it makes you a sharper consumer and a smarter citizen.  You who are studying for, say, your MBAs will have to take it, and just grit your teeth and remember how much more you'll know -- and how cynical you can be.

I think you are underestimating the power of hormones and their fluctuations causing migraines.  There is a reason that women get more migraines than men and hormonal fluctuations is mostly likely the answer.  I don't know why women frequently set aside hormones as the MAIN cause of their migraines so often.  It is no wonder why older women who have already passed menopause do not experience as many migraines as they once did.  You can even read it right here on these boards - most of the women who frequently complain of migraines are younger or middle aged, and not past menopause.  That should tell you something!  I would be so bold as to say that hormonal fluctuations are about 75% of the main reason why most women get migraines.

I agree that this is a useful MigraineCast in general and a helpful reminder to not panic or make assumptions from sometimes confusing and misleading articles and the numbers in them!

Thank you, Teri.

P.S. I also agree with the second comment; I think the role of hormones will continue to get more attention and research. It's my limited understanding that we have many, many more hormones than estrogen and progesterone (reproductive), and that many of them impact digestion as well as chemical balances and interactions throughout our bodies and brains. I'm sure a biology person can say this much better than I can.