神經學家解讀:什麼是偏頭痛大綱
There's nothing quite like the misery of a migraine. If you're among the nearly 20 percent of women who suffer from these headaches, you know how painful they can be. But there's new reason for hope: Researchers are finally shedding light on what was once a mostly misunderstood medical phenomenon.
沒有什麼比偏頭痛更令人痛苦。20%的女性都患有偏頭痛，如果你也是其中一員，那你便會對偏頭痛深有體會！現在，希望來了：研究員終於揭示了這個一度被誤解的醫學現象。"Even just 10 years ago, doctors thought migraines were a blood vessel problem," explains Geoffrey Eubank, MD, the medical chief of general neurology at OhioHealth in Columbus. "Now we know they are neurological, meaning they're caused by a burst of cellular activity in the brain. And that has contributed to innovations in treatment."
"即便是10年前，醫生都認爲偏頭痛是一種血管疾病，"哥倫布市俄亥俄醫療機構（OhioHealth）普通神經病學的首席醫師傑弗裏·尤班克博士說道。"現在我們都知道，偏頭痛是神經系統疾病，也就是說偏頭痛是由大腦中細胞活動的爆發引起的。這種認知也促進了治療手段的創新。"
This is especially good news for women, since we're three times as likely as men to get a migraine. You could blame estrogen, though the link between the hormone and brain pain isn't entirely clear. "Fluctuations in estrogen appear to trigger migraines," says Dr. Eubank, which is why some women are more likely to get a migraine right before their period, during or after pregnancy, or during menopause.
對女性而言，這無疑是一個好消息，因爲女性偏頭痛的概率是男性的3倍。你可能覺得'罪魁禍首'是雌激素，但人們尚不清楚激素和大腦疼痛之間的關聯。"雌激素的波動似乎會引發偏頭痛，"尤班克博士說道，所以有些女性在大姨媽來臨前、孕中或孕後、或絕經期間更容易偏頭痛。
But other common migraine triggers aren't gender-specific. Think alcohol, artificial sweeteners, cured meats (like hot dogs and salami), foods that contain the compound tyramine (including aged cheese, some soy products, and red wine), dairy, chocolate, gluten, nuts, and the additive monosodium glutamate, a.k.a. MSG.
但偏頭痛的其它常見誘因並非只針對女性。比如酒精、人造甜味劑、醃製肉類（比如熱狗和薩拉米香腸），含複合酪胺的食品（包括陳年奶酪，一些豆製品和紅酒），乳製品，巧克力，麩質食品，堅果和穀氨酸添加劑（又名味精）。Then there's the weather. Some migraine sufferers are especially sensitive to changes in barometric pressure-such as the drop that occurs right before a thunderstorm or when you're ascending in a plane.
天氣也是誘因之一。有些偏頭痛患者對氣壓的變化特別敏感--比如雷暴天氣前或飛機上升時的氣壓降低。Warmer temperatures may be another trigger: A 2009 Harvard study found that every 9-degree increase in temperature led to a 7.5 percent increase of severe headaches, including migraine. (With global warming on the rise, some experts think that could mean more pain for some women.)
溫度升高可能是另一誘因。2009年，哈佛大學的一項研究發現：溫度每升高9度，頭痛嚴重（包括偏頭痛）的機率就會增加7.5%。（隨着全球氣候日益變暖，有些專家認爲部分女性的頭痛情況會加重。）Your day-to-day habits can play a role too. Skimping on sleep or an irregular sleep schedule (waking up and dozing off at different times most days) can prompt a migraine. So can stress; though plummeting cortisol levels after a tense period are sometimes even more likely to trigger an attack than tension itself-hence the dreaded "weekend migraine."
個人的日常習慣也是因素之一。睡眠不足或不規律（醒來或入睡的時間不定）也會導致偏頭痛。壓力也會誘發偏頭痛，雖然壓力過後，個人的皮質醇水平下降有時候甚至比壓力本身更容易誘發偏頭痛--因此纔有可怕的"週末偏頭痛"一說啊！
