Migraines can feel like someone’s drilling a hole in your head.  But the problem might actually be a hole in your heart.

Many years ago, stomach ulcers were thought to be caused by stress, or poor coping with stress.  But we’ve since discovered that in more than 90% of those who suffer from this problem, it’s actually caused by bacteria.  Clear up the bacteria, and the stomach ulcers and pain go away!  A medical illness caused by a surprising culprit.

And here’s a similar story with migraines…

Before we’re born, we each have a hole between 2 sections of our heart.  In most people, it closes when we’re born, but for 25% of us, it remains open.  Such a defect is called a “patent foramen ovale.”

John Lasala, M.D. at Washington University (great undergraduate university, by the way) School of Medicine, found that when migraine patients had this hole closed, some had a 37% reduction in their pain.

We don’t know exactly why the improvement occurs, but Lasala believes there’s something in the blood that’s usually cleared out by the lungs, that instead goes right to the brain and triggers migraines.

A hole in the heart isn’t the cause of all migraines, and some patients who have the hole closed don’t have an improvement.  As well, having heart surgery is certainly different than simply taking some antibiotics for an ulcer.  So this isn’t a cure-all, unfortunately.

But for some, it’s an improvement in their suffering.  And that’s good for your heart and your head!

Thanks to Linda Causey for sharing her Migraine Fairy cartoon!

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