A new research has stated that estrogen levels fluctuate in females having migraine and the protein calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP) plays a key role in it.
The research involved three females with episodic migraine who had suffered from migraine in the month preceding the study.
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The groups include those with a regular menstrual cycle, some taking oral contraceptives and a few who had gone through menopause. Each group was compared to group of females of similar ages who did not have migraine.
During the study, blood and tear fluid was collected to determine CGRP levels.
The samples of the females with regular menstrual cycles were taken during periods when estrogen levels are low and around the time of ovulation, when levels are the highest.
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In those taking oral contraceptives, samples were taken during the hormone-free time and the hormone-intake time. The samples were taken once from postmenopausal females at a random time.
It has been found through the study that female participants with migraine and a regular menstrual cycle had higher CGRP concentrations during menstruation than those without migraine.
The females with migraine had blood levels of 5.95 picograms per milliliter (pg/ml) compared to 4.61 pg/ml for those without migraine while for the tear fluid, those with migraine had 1.20 nanograms per milliliter (ng/ml) compared to 0.4 ng/ml for those without migraine.
Moreover, the female participants taking oral contraceptives and in postmenopause had similar CGRP levels in the migraine and non-migraine groups.
The change in lifestyle, the polluted environment, and food habits gave rise to many new health conditions and diseases in recent years. One such health condition is a migraine is a headache that can cause throbbing pain or a pulsing sensation on one side of the head.
Migraine is often accompanied by nausea, vomiting, and extreme sensitivity to light and sound.
Migraine attacks can last for hours to days, and the pain can be so severe it can cause problems in our daily activities.
The calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP) present in our body regulates blood pressure, tissue repair and wound healing, and also contributes to inflammation.
When CGRP is released in the brain which affects the trigeminal nerve and is responsible for communicating pain and sensitivities to touch and temperature.
The people who are diagnosed with migraine have more CGRP in their blood.