Yes, Migraines Can Cause Brain Damage

Study Results

• Study Migraineurs with a high frequency of Migraine (more than three attacks per month) showed significantly more abnormalities than those with fewer attacks.
• Study Migraineurs with a history of Migraines longer than 15 years were found to have more changes in the brain than those with a shorter history.
• Predilection sites (sites with a higher likelihood) of damage to the brains of Migraineurs were identified in the:
  • frontal lobe
  • limbic system
  • parietal lobes
  • brainstem
  • cerebellum

Study Conclusions
 

• Both the frequency of Migraine attacks and the length of history of Migraines are indicators for brain damage in Migraine.
• Attack frequency and disease duration have an influence on brain structure and integrity in Migraineurs.
• Migraineurs with higher frequency of Migraine attacks showed abnormalities in both white matter and grey matter of the brain.
• The frontal lobe was shown to be one of the most prominent areas of brain abnormalities in Migraineurs.
• High frequency of Migraine attacks or a long history of the disease might contribute to accumulating brain damage due to the repetitive occurrence of pain-related processes, thus making Migraine a progressive disease.

Summary and Comments

The bottom line here is that this study provides evidence that frequent Migraines and having had Migraines for longer than 15 years significantly increases our risk for brain damage. This provides more evidence that Migraine is indeed a progressive brain disease. It is also of significance that Migraine is repeatedly referred to as a disease by these authors.

If reducing how often we're in pain or incapacitated by Migraines isn't enough to encourage us to keep pursuing an effective preventive regimen, the results of this study certainly should be! The brain damage found may be said to be "silent" at this time, but it is not safe to assume that it is indeed silent. It will take many years of longer studies following Migraineurs with this type of damage to know if it will eventually cause symptoms, perhaps severe symptoms.