Posted by Dinah on August 21, 2008, at 13:24:24
In reply to OT rhinitis » Dinah, posted by Partlycloudy on August 21, 2008, at 12:49:49
I'm sure it has something to do with the autonomic nervous system. The thing I keep coming across in my google searches is acetylcholine. I think it's part of the adrenergic-cholinergic neurotransmitter axis. But I really don't know what any of it means, and I really don't know what can be done about it.
There also seems to be some hormonal connections.
What I do find rather sad is that all the health problems associated with this were once written off as psychosomatic, because practitioners couldn't find anything that looked wrong, and because they noticed that the patients tended to be anxious or depressed. Then they got the sophistication to do the tests and saw the physiological parts of the migraine, then discovered the neurochemical cascade that happens. And yet still they're slow at coming to the conclusion that the mental health portion might also have physiological underpinnings.
I know there are people who have mental health issues, perhaps because of childhood trauma, that can be resolved with therapy. I think for me it's important to accept I have a poorly regulated nervous system, and unless something changes at menopause, this is something that I'll have to work at controlling. I need to be careful about controlling stress, I need to do all those good healthy things that I don't always do, I need to continue therapy. And even then, who knows? If a migraine can be caused by a change in barometric pressure or flickering lights, who is to say what odd and apparently unconnected things can cause an upsurge in anxiety or depression?
It might make more sense than some more traditional cycle pattern. And as you've probably heard me say too often, I've thought all along that my proper diagnosis was "nervous system of an overly inbred cocker spaniel".
My therapist thinks I shouldn't think of it as exclusively negative. That there are advantages to it too. And while I do see the advantages, I see them a bit better when I'm not having one migraine after another.
However, I'm really not good with all this neurotransmitter stuff, so it's entirely possible that I'm misunderstanding everything.
poster:Dinah
thread:847432
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/psycho/20080810/msgs/847542.html