The Migraine Journal Club
Issue 1
- This blog is a migraine journal for those of us unfortunate enough to suffer from these headaches.
- Each issue, I will review a scientific paper on migraine headaches.
- I'll outline the methods, results and conclusions.
- I'll summarize what the paper discovered and how or if it's applicable to those of us with headaches.
Let's get started!
Are some of you light sensitive?
Photophobia in neurologic disorders
Wu and Hullett (2017) looked at the epidemiology, or how often, light sets off neurologic disorders. Wouldn't you guess? Headaches top their list. They remind us that photophobia is a Greek-derived term that means, fear of light and that this condition is common in several neurologic conditions.
Methods: Questionnaire. They asked people questions aimed at determining if they were Pho or Phi in light avoidance.
Pho= Photophobia (fear of light)
Phi= Photophilia (love of or to seek light)
Results: Tables. People answered yes or no to questions then the authors sorted the answers according to Pho or Phi defined questions.
Conclusions: Photophobia might be involved in headaches.
Additionally, there may be a photoreceptor gene involved (a gene expressed in the eye that captures light). They suggest this is elusive and needs more research.
Questions for us:
Are you light sensitive even when you are not having a headache?
Do you think those of us who are headache-prone should wear tinted spectacles (sunglasses) just in case we happen to have those overexpressed photoreceptor genes?
Let me know!
Post a comment below!
