Migraine Through the Ages: A Surprisingly Fascinating Story
When you're stuck in the fog of a migraine attack, history is probably the last thing on your mind. (Fair enough!)
But migraine isn’t just a modern-day problem caused by smartphones and stress. It’s been part of the human experience for thousands of years — and the journey of how we’ve understood and treated migraine is honestly fascinating.
Let's travel back in time...
The First Records of Migraine: 3000 BCE
The very first descriptions of migraine-like symptoms go all the way back to ancient Mesopotamia, around 3000 BCE.
Even back then, people were documenting episodes of intense head pain, visual disturbances, nausea, and vomiting — symptoms that still sound very familiar today.
The word migraine itself has ancient roots too. It comes from the Greek word “hemikrania,” meaning “half the skull.” The Roman physician Galen (around 200 AD) helped popularise this term, describing the one-sided nature of many migraine attacks — a feature many of us still recognise today.
Middle Ages: Migraines and Mysticism
By the Middle Ages, migraine had taken on a more mystical meaning.
Some believed migraine attacks were punishments for sin; others thought they were signs of divine communication. Treatments back then were... creative, to say the least. Herbal remedies were common, but so were extreme practices like bloodletting and trepanning — literally drilling a hole into the skull to try to "release" the pain. 😳
(Thankfully, migraine treatment has come a long way since then.)
The Scientific Turn: 17th Century Onwards
The 1600s marked a shift toward more scientific thinking.
Physicians like Thomas Willis proposed that migraines were connected to changes in blood flow and disturbances in the nervous system — groundbreaking ideas that paved the way for the neurological understanding we have today.
A Landmark Case: A Nurse, a Hole in Her Skull, and Modern Migraine Science
Fast forward to the early 20th century.
In 1936, a remarkable case helped push migraine research even further.
A 26-year-old nurse, who had suffered from migraines since childhood, was treated by Dr. Alfred Goltman. Her symptoms included a heavy, languid feeling before attacks, pain starting over her right eye, and intense vomiting. Interestingly, she had noticed that eating wheat triggered her migraines — an early clue into the role diet could play in migraine management.
When Dr. Goltman examined her, he discovered a depression in her skull.
It turned out she had previously undergone a “craniocerebral exploration” — a surgery where doctors made a burr hole in her skull to relieve intracranial pressure. Although no tumour was found, this case symbolised the evolving medical interest in how brain structure, pressure, and blood vessels relate to migraine symptoms.
It also highlighted something migraine sufferers have always known intuitively: migraine isn’t “just a headache.” It’s a complex, systemic condition involving the brain, blood flow, nerves, and more.
Today: A Holistic Understanding of Migraine
Today, we know migraine is a complex neurological condition.
Factors like genetics, hormonal shifts, nervous system sensitivity, inflammation, gut health, and environmental triggers all weave into the migraine story.
And the good news?
There’s now a far deeper toolkit for supporting migraine naturally — focusing on nervous system regulation, balancing hormones, calming inflammation, and finding personal triggers (including foods like wheat for some people).
What This History Reminds Us
Learning about migraine through the ages is more than just trivia.
It reminds us that:
✨ Migraine is real — it’s a complex neurological condition.
✨ You're not alone — people have lived with this experience for thousands of years.
✨ There’s hope — today, we have better tools, better insights, and better support options than ever before.
If you’re ready to start writing a new chapter in your migraine story — with fewer and less intense attacks — I'd love to support you.