A migraine is not just a bad headache. It is a much-dreaded part of a neurologic disorder that has an array of possible symptoms, including pulsating cranial pain, waves of queasiness, bouts of vomiting, and hypersensitivity to light and sound. They frequently materialize unannounced and at the most inopportune of moments.
Pubescent girls with a family history of migraine headaches are especially vulnerable — yet there remain many unknowns regarding the who, when and why of the disorder. Hadas Nahman-Averbuch, PhD, a scientist at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis with expertise in pediatric pain and migraine disorder, is trying to change that.
She is leading two observational studies: One will examine why some adolescent girls develop migraine headaches and others do not, and the other will explore how puberty plays a role in migraine headaches among boys and girls. The single-center studies at the School of Medicine are supported by two grants totaling $6 million from the National Institutes of Health (NIH). "During adolescence, we see a significant increase in the prevalence of migraine diagnoses in girls," said Nahman-Averbuch, who runs the Pain Across the Lifespan lab at the university and is an assistant professor of anesthesiology.
"We want to understand the changes that come before migraine headache onset and identify the girls who are at risk of developing them. The hope is that this knowledge leads to new therapies and interventions that, if giv.
