Is there an article that explains the role serotonin plays in chronic migraine?
The kid was terribly difficult to medicate for anxiety. Anything that increased norepinephrine (like the tricyclics) caused an enormous uptick in his sensory hypersensitivity, and with it increased irritability. (He’s the kind of kid that found blue jeans hard to wear because they felt like sandpaper against his skin.) SSRIs reduced his anxiety, but caused a variety of difficulties, depending on which one we were trying. Abilify was helpful, but induced tardive dyskinesia. (I don’t know what neurochemicals Abilify works on.) He ended up on lamotrigine, which has been wonderful. I know lamotrigine reduces glutamate levels in the brain, and I know it’s sometimes used on its own for migraine prophylaxis. And glutamate is involved in migraine, isn’t it?
Anyway, if you can point me to something that is understandable by someone who is not a neuroscientist that explains what role serotonin plays in chronic migraine, I’d be grateful. And if it talked about glutamate, too, that would be interesting as well. When I’ve poked around online, I’ve mostly found stuff that I wasn’t sure was trustworthy, or else stuff published in research journals that I couldn’t understand as I don’t have an advanced degree in chemistry or mathematics.
Thanks!
Mamabear