When you have a headache, it may sound like your brain is hurting, but that’s not the case. Namely; Headaches are not caused by the brain itself.
In other words, the brain itself is not a structure that feels pain. To give a hint at the very beginning, without being too intriguing, we can say that when you have a headache, the tissues surrounding the brain are the actual place where the pain is experienced. You can think of the headache as an illusion at this point. Well, if you ask how this happens, then let’s take a look at how it is together.
Nociceptors (a type of receptor) that allow pain to be felt are found in the skin, muscles, joints and some organs.
As we said at the beginning, these nerve fibers are not found in our brain. They simply transmit pain signals to the senses around the brain. The brain also perceives these signals as pain.
Maybe there are some of you who are wondering. “How do these neurosurgeons operate on patients’ brains?” You can think of them as an on-off switch that takes a signal from one cell and carries it to another cell.
Of course, nociceptors are needed for headaches. Which gives us a headache because the meninges called dura and pia between the brain and skull contain these nociceptors.
But let’s underline again, it’s not in the brain. Sometimes chemicals can be released from the blood vessels next to these two meninges. This activates nociceptors and headache attacks can occur. For example, the nerve tissues, blood vessels and neck muscles surrounding the head area can help you feel these pains. Since the nociceptors are also located in the sinuses in the head region, headaches may also occur due to an inflammation in the sinus cavities.
Intense blood flow is another factor that triggers headaches like migraines. In other words, headaches can occur for different reasons and their types can also vary. For example, in migraine, your head usually throbs as if it is going to crack. Light, sound, physical contact etc. nothing is sweet to you at that moment. When you are already experiencing a migraine attack, you may also feel hypersensitive to these factors.
Or you may experience a stress-induced headache when the muscles in the neck and scalp are tense. Since there are receptors in places such as the face, mouth and throat, any problems that may arise here can also trigger headaches.
However, the exact cause of migraine, a type of headache, is unknown.
Namely, even if nociceptors are activated in this type of headache, other factors that trigger them have not been scientifically determined. If you say why it could not be detected, the reason is that there is no suitable test animal for the experiments to be done to discover migraine. In the simplest terms, we can say that migraine is seen because it sensitizes the tissues in the brain that cause pain.
Some experts who work on this subject say that migraine is caused by nerves that secrete proteins called peptides or serotonin (the happiness hormone). They can even cause inflammation in the arteries and around the brain. It is thought that migraine may occur as a result of the activation of these neural networks. In fact, these are neural networks that cause the blood vessels to dilate. Therefore, as they can provide intense blood flow, as we mentioned above, they can be counted as one of the causes of migraine.
Some researchers also talk about the role of estrogen (female hormone) in migraine. Women can experience migraine attacks during their menstrual period, which is already an intense estrogen release at that time. Still, scientists believe that new discoveries can be made about the chemical factors that activate the nociceptors in the head region and that different drugs can be developed accordingly.
For example, currently migraine can be treated with triptans (medication). These drugs block the receptors that release serotonin and constrict blood vessels. In this way, these pains can be alleviated. To go back to the beginning, let’s add this: The brain itself does not feel pain, but we say why do we have a headache, because our brain defines the pain as if it comes from the middle of our head.
In other words, it is possible to say that an illusion in the way the brain perceives causes this situation. We have listed the regions where nociceptors are located above; The reason why the pain in one of these places is felt at first is related to the brain’s inability to fully understand where the pain comes from. When the pain in that area cannot be transmitted to the brain correctly, we sometimes feel like we have a headache and have to try to relieve this pain as soon as possible.
Sometimes, even when the nociceptors are not active, the brain can fake a ‘feeling of pain’. We can state that this is related to the complexity of brain activities. For example, in a psychosomatic disease, there is no damage to the body that will cause pain. But psychologically that pain is felt, this is just like him. Some scientists even mention that migraine may be a psychosomatic condition for exactly this reason.
In other words, according to this approach, if the neurons in the brain are hypersensitive, the brain may interpret the situation it is in differently and give rise to reactions such as headaches or migraine attacks. So, which experts’ approaches do you think make more sense? You can share your thoughts with us in the comments.
- Sources: Brain Facts, Science Focus, Neuro Science
- Image Sources: Psych Central, Everyday Health, Science Focus, The Guardian, Bezzy Migraine, She Knows, Dr. Shikha’s Nuriwel Health, Healthline
21379
