The Path to Migraines

9/14/2020

Over these past few days I have exponentially advanced my knowledge about Migraines as I largely focused on the path of genetic transmission of the condition across parental lineages and the types of Migraines that could be transmitted through genetic material. I found out about the two main types of migraines, those with and without aura(MA or MO). "Aura" refers to any neurological defects that present themselves before or during a migraine attack, this could include simply temporary numbness or weakness to motor or sensory disturbances, similar to a stroke. Familial Hemiplegic Migraines(FHM) has been one of the most studied MAs due to its large occurrence of transmission and debilitating factor within familial genetics. Due to this I began to wonder if OnabotulinumtoxinA could be be used as treatment for both MA and MO, or if it even worked for MA migraines due to the aura a patient might experience. I challenge I faced throughout this work was understanding and compartmentalizing the information I read in order to ask viable questions. This week I was greatly successful in expanding my information on genetic in generally and how new technologies are further the field of neurology as we speak such as new-generation sequencing or NGS that allows neurologists to track certain DNA segments across generations to determine if that sequence is responsible for causing migraines. Next week I will focus on improving my medical comprehension and vocabulary in order to create a more rounded understanding of my topic, this will allow to continue my journey into new fields of genetic advancement, not only with different types of migraines, but with other neurological disorders such as Parkinson.