“A suffering for patients”: 10 million French people suffer from migraines, sometimes severe ones

Very common, migraine manifests itself by recurrent attacks of characteristic headaches, with a normal clinical examination. This is a debilitating pathology, especially for people who suffer from severe migraine.

This neurological disease is common and affects on average 15% of the world population, including 20% ​​of women, 10% of men and 5% of children.

“A migraine sufferer has a hyperexcitable brain”

There is no migraine gene, but rather a genetic susceptibility. “A migraine sufferer has a hyperexcitable brain that is sensitive to pluses and minuses: more sleep, too little sleep, more stress, less stress, a fatty meal, hypoglycemia, hormonal variations in women,” explains Dr. Christian Lucas.

This neurologist in Lille was interviewed by the Voix des migraineurs association, which launched, with the pharmaceutical group Lundbeck, the Combat Migraine campaign. An initiative launched on the occasion of World Migraine Solidarity Day, which was held last Friday June 21.

How to recognize a migraine?

Migraine is characterized by a recurrence of attacks (at least 5) moderate to severewhich last between 4 and 72 hours, without treatment or with ineffective treatment, explains Inserm.

The clinical examination is normal, as is the medical imaging. “During these attacks, the headache is often unilateral, pulsating in tone, of moderate to severe intensity and which worsens with routine physical activities or leads to the avoidance of the latter”, details the French Federation of Neurology .

This pain can be accompanied by sensory hyperesthesia – discomfort with noise (phonophobia), light (photophobia), smells (osmophobia) – and digestive disorders such as nausea and/vomiting.

An invisible neurological disease

Migraine is a neurological disease that affects the trigeminal nerve. “This nerve is made up of three branches. One branch innervates the forehead and also the meninges. This so-called trigeminovascular system is activated during migraine attacks. (…) The hypothalamus also seems to play a major role in triggering migraines,” explains Dr. Demarquay, a neurologist in Lyon, who responded to the Voice of Migraine Sufferers.

Migraine is invisible. It is not caused by a brain lesion which would be visible on medical imaging, but by an electrical and inflammatory disturbance that standard imaging does not “see”. “Apart from certain specific examinations, a CT or MRI is normal. Some patients tell me that they would like us to find something because they would like us to believe them. (…) This invisible side is very often painful for patients.”

What is severe migraine?

Among the 10 million French people with migraines, many patients suffer from severe migraine. This is diagnosed in patients suffering from 8 or more days of migraine over a month and in any patient having clearly disabling attacks or obtaining a score of 60 or more on the HIT-6. This test, in six questions, measures the impact of migraine on patients’ quality of life. From a score of 60, the impact is considered severe.

In 1 to 2% of the general population, migraine is chronic. “We talk about chronic migraine from 15 days per month, but we know that between eight and twelve days per month, there can already be an extremely significant handicap in daily life,” explains Dr. Geneviève Demarquay.

With significant consequences on quality of life. “Patients report a strong impact on professional life with 51% of them having missed one or more days of work at least once in the last 3 months because of an attack,” notes the association in a press release. 13% of them even give up working because of migraine.

Other figures put forward by the association, this time concerning the private and family sphere: 83% of migraine sufferers report suffering from sleep disorders while only 7% of them claim to have been able to take care of their children without difficulty. “More than 48% of patients suffer from anxiety and more than 73% from depression.”

What follow-up for patients?

Feeling of illegitimacy among these severe migraine sufferers, poor knowledge on the part of caregivers, many patients are not regularly monitored for their migraine.

According to a survey by the Voice of Migraineurs, It takes an average of 7 years to be diagnosed. Then you have to find a doctor who knows the disease and then a treatment that suits the patient. Severe migraine sufferers need to be monitored by a specialist, pain doctor or neurologist. But the first caregiver involved in the care pathway is the attending physician.

Several medications, including triptans, are indicated to calm migraine attacks. A basic treatment is also prescribed, in order to reduce the frequency of attacks and their intensity.

Follow all the news from your favorite cities and media by subscribing to Mon -.