A recent study may have found a biomarker for migraines!  What does this mean to the migrainuer?  Well, let's just start with the physiology behind this biomarker (CGRP)...

During a migraine, trigeminal (the largest cranial nerve) activation leads to a release of a nueropeptide called CGRP.  The release of this nueropeptide leads to peripheral inflammatory and vasodilatory responses that trigger nuerons involved in pain transmission. These events cause the stereotypical throbbing pain experienced during a migraine.  I don't know if you read my post about estrogen and migraine.  In it I mention the nueropeptide, CGRP which is released with a drop in serotonin causing vasodilation.  A new study showed levels of CGRP are elevated in the peripheral blood of women with chronic migraine.  These elevated levels were found in the absence of both migraine attacks and medication.

For this study they were able to round up 103 chronic migraine sufferers (women with 15 or more headache days a month for at least 3 months).  The control groups were 43 matched women with episodic migraine,  and 31 matched healthy women without a headache history, along with a series of patients with 14 episodic cluster headache matched for age in a pain-free period.  They drew blood on migraine-free days where no symptomatic medication was taken the day before the blood draw.  Patients were allowed to take daily preventive medication.

The study authors concluded that elevated levels of CGRP in the absence of a migraine could be a biomarker for patients with Chronic Migraine.

So what does that mean to the chronic migrainuer?  Maybe your illness will no longer be invisible.  There will be scientific proof that your throbbing pain does exist and it is real.  CGRP levels could be drawn to confirm the diagnosis of chronic migraine.  It also makes me wonder if treatment research will be aimed at decreasing CGRP as therapy for the migrainuer.

If you like shrimp, asparagus, and pasta...you will love this pasta dish!

Ingredients:
1/2 cup of Olive Oil
4 cloves of garlic peeled and diced
2 shallots finely chopped (shallots replace onions for most of my migraine-friendly recipes.  Onions are too high in tyramine for this migrainuer)
1 tsp. salt
Freshly ground black pepper
1 Tbsp. dried tarragon
1 pound large peeled and deveined shrimp
A package of almost any pasta will work with this dish

Start by buying shrimp that has no preservatives (see previous post related to migraine induced by sodium tripolyphosphate). See example below of shrimp without preservatives or antibiotics.  The only ingredients should be shrimp as far as I'm concerned.

 

Once you have purchased you migraine-friendly shrimp, you can start peeling and deveining them.

Next I start boiling water for the pasta of choice (I usually prefer a gluten-free angel hair).  Any pasta will work for this dish. I just prepare per the package instructions and then set aside.

For ease and because I was feeling lazy, I dumped the shallots and garlic into my food processor and pulsed them together.

In my pan I heated the oil at a medium heat and tossed in the shallots and garlic

While those are cooking I prep the asparagus, and then toss them in with the shallots and garlic.  I add in both the tarragon and the black pepper.

And at last, I toss the prepared shrimp in with the asparagus and cook until the shrimp are completely pink.  When the shrimp are completely cooked I toss in the cooked pasta to soak up the oil and flavors.  Then I serve it into a bowl straight from the pan.  The tarragon and black pepper give this dish a really nice flavor.  ENJOY without a migraine!

I just wanted to take time to share a "favorite" with fellow migrainuers today.  We all know how difficult it is to find migraine friendly foods and granola can be especially difficult due to nuts, preserved dried fruits, and coconut.  I have found a product that is delicious and migraine friendly and so I feel obligated to share this treasure.  The brand is "Kind" and they make multiple flavors of granola (some of which contain coconut and nuts so beware of those flavors).  The flavor is "Maple Quinoa and Chia Seeds".

The brand "Kind" highlights that their products contain ingredients that you can see and pronounce, which is vital to the migrainuer.  This product is also gluten-free.  Gluten can be a migraine trigger for some people and more and more people are switching to a gluten-free lifestyle.  They also state this is a non GMO product.  I can rest assured I am not eating franken oats:).

Here is what Kind says about their products and I happen to agree with them:

Not all of their products are migraine-friendly (they contain nuts, coconut, chocolate, etc.).  Maple Quinoa Clusters with Chia Seeds is a granola that is delicious when eaten as a cereal with milk.  I add some fresh blueberries to mine in the morning.  I have also been known to munch on it dry for a afternoon snack.  I must disclose that I am not receiving any incentive for plugging this product.  I just happen to be overly excited about a store-bought product that is migraine-friendly and yummy too!

Here is a link to Kind's website if you want to check them out.  In my research of their site I also learned you can't purchase this product directly from them, but you can get it from Swansonvitamins.com.  I am not sure why it is unavailable from the manufacturer, but my local grocer is carrying it.  It appears the manufacturer's site does offer another flavor of migraine-friendly granola: "Cinnamon Oat Clusters with Flax Seeds".  I haven't sampled this flavor, but would give it a try if my favorite becomes unavailable at my local store.