Have you ever had a migraine? Do you know someone who has? Chances are, whether it is you or someone you know, the first thing you want to do if you have a migraine is to get out of the light and into a dark room.<\/p>\n
![\"sunglasses\"](\"http:\/\/images1.blisstree.com\/files\/2010\/01\/sunglasses.jpg\")
Light, any type of light, is a migraineurs enemy once the pain has begun. With all the research that is going in to trying to find causes and cures for migraines, one angle has been to look at how light affects migraines as opposed to “regular” headaches, no matter how severe the headaches are.<\/p>\n
Researchers from Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center<\/a> have published study findings in the advance online issue of Nature Neuroscience <\/em>that indicate they have <\/span>identified a new visual pathway that underlies sensitivity to light during migraine in both blind people and in those with normal eyesight.<\/p>\n By studying both groups, those with sight and those without, the researchers were able to determine that photophobia<\/em> (avoiding light because of the pain it causes) somehow is affected by the optic nerve.<\/span><\/p>\n Blindness may be caused by many problems and it also varies on the type of blindness. For example, there are people with no vision who can detect light and, therefore, have somewhat of a day\/night cycle that their body is accustomed to. Others who are blind have no perception of light whatsoever, meaning they have no idea if there is any sun or light around them at any time.<\/p>\n By examining people who fall into either group of blindness, the researchers found that patients who were blind with no sense of light but who were experiencing a migraine were unaffected when they were exposed to light. However, those who were blind but who could perceive light did experience intensified pain when exposed to light.<\/p>\n The researchers then took these findings into the labs where they looked at animal eyes and the path between the eyes and the brain, through the optic nerve.<\/p>\n The researchers discovered a group of neurons that become electrically active during migraine.<\/p>\n “When small electrodes were inserted into these ‘migraine neurons,’ we discovered that light was triggering a flow of electrical signals that was converging on these very cells,” says [Rami] Burstein [PhD, Professor of Anesthesia and Critical Care Medicine at BIDMC and Harvard Medical School]. “This increased their activity within seconds.”<\/p>\n And even when the light was removed, he notes, these neurons remained activated. “This helps explain why patients say that their headache intensifies within seconds after exposure to light, and improves 20 to 30 minutes after being in the dark.”<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n The take-away message for this is that sunglasses, even at night, may be helpful for people who are experiencing a migraine. Even the more subtle lighting can intensify the migraine pain.<\/p>\n ~~~<\/p>\n Image: PhotoXpress.com<\/p>\n Post from: Blisstree<\/a><\/p>\n\n