3 et 4 octobre 1833. - Un violent mal
de tête m'oblige à garder le lit
pendant deux jours. Une bonne vieille femme qui
me soigne me presse d'essayer une
quantité de singuliers remèdes. La
plupart du temps, on fixe à chaque tempe
du malade une feuille d'oranger ou un morceau de
taffetas noir ; il est encore plus usuel de
couper une fève en deux, d'humecter ces
moitiés et d'en placer une sur chaque
tempe, où elles adhèrent
facilement. On ne croit pas qu'il soit
convenable d'enlever les fèves ou le
taffetas ; on les laisse jusqu'à ce
qu'ils tombent naturellement. Quelquefois, si on
demande à un homme qui a des morceaux de
taffetas sur la tête ce qu'il a bien pu se
faire, il vous répond : "J'avais la
migraine avant-hier."
Charles Darwin Voyage d'un naturaliste
autour du Monde à bord du Beagle de 1831
à 1836
October 3rd and 4th 1833. - I was
confined for these two days to my bed by a
headache. A good natured old woman, who attended
me, wished me to try many odd remedies. A common
practice is, to bind an orange-half or a bit of
black plaster to each temple: and a still more
general plan is, to split a bean into halves,
moisten them, and place one on each temple,
where they will easily adhere. It is not thought
proper, ever to remove the beans or plaster, but
to allow them to drop off, and sometimes, if a
man, with patches on his head, is asked, what is
the matter? he will answer: "I had a headache
the day before yesterday."
Charles Darwin A naturalist voyage round
the World (on the Beagle 1831 - 1836)
Charles Darwin was beset throughout
his adult life by recurrent, disabling
headaches, and would today almost certainly be
diagnosed as suffering from migraine. Yet there
is no record that he ever speculated on what
might be, as described by his theory of natural
selection, the evolutionary advantage of
migraine. [...] With him originated the
now commonly accepted (but then radical) idea of
'heritable variability' in living creatures,
with its implications of an unbroken chain of
life extending back to a common ancestor for man
and every other creature that ever lived.
Along with this Darwin developed what is
often referred to as the doctrine of 'selection
of the fittest': the idea that the forces of
natural selection will favour traits that confer
on their possessor the most 'fitness' for the
environment. Creatures possessing different
traits that adapt thern more or less well to
their environment will in consequence have
different reproductive and survival rates. Even
a trait that offers only a slight advantage
will, over millions of years of evolution, be
strongly selected for, while traits which reduce
reproductive fitness even slightly will
ultimately be eliminated. Several lines of
evidence make clear that susceptibility to
migraine is to a large extent genetic, and
therefore a trait upon which evolutionary forces
must act.
Susceptibility to migraine is determined by
genetic factors and is therefore subject to the
forces of natural selection. Migraine is a
common and ancient disorder whose prevalence may
be increasing, suggesting that a migraine-prone
nervous system may be associated with
reproductive or survival advantages. Five
evolutionary explanations are reviewed that
might account for the persistence of migraine:
(1) migraine as a defence mechanism; (2)
migraine as a result of conflict with other
organisms; (3) migraine as result of novel
environmental factors; (4) migraine as a
trade-off between genetic harms and benefits;
and (5) migraine as a design constraint. An
evolutionary perspective on migraine allows the
generation of important hypotheses about the
disorder and suggests rewarding possibilities
for further research.
Charles Darwin, célèbre
migraineux, ne semble pas s'être
posé la question découlant de
l'application de la théorie qu'il
proposait, originale pour l'époque, et
maintenant largement acceptée: quel
est l'avantage procurée par la migraine
en terme d'évolution ? Connue depuis
que les hommes laissent des écrits
relatant leurs souffrances, la migraine n'a pas
disparue et semble même augmentée
de fréquence dans les populations
caucasiennes. Ceci suggère un ou des
avantages reproductifs et de survie des porteurs
de ce trouble. A Loder propose, dans son
article, 5 perspectives évolutionnistes
concernant la migraine:
la migraine participe aux défenses de
l'organisme; la connaissance de la douleur
améliore la survie en prévenant
les risques de blessures et autres dommages par
crainte de la douleur qu'ils engendrent. La
susceptibilité sensorielle
(luminosité, odeurs) optimise la
perception des situations à risques.
la migraine est, par ses successions
vasomotrices opposées, le résultat
d'une adpatation favorable face à une
éventuelle cause infectieuse.
la migraine est le un trait
génétique récemment apparu
que l'évolution n'a pas encore ou n'a pas
de bénéfice à voir
disparaître.
la migraine est le revers des
bénéfices
génétiquement induits par les
avantages que d'autres gènes
associés procurent au porteur.
la migraine témoigne d'un conflit
entre structures cérébrales de
phylogénèse évolutive
différente : diencéphale - aires
corticales.
Conclusion
An evolutionary view of headache and its
biological and behavioural correlates suggests
the right questions to ask about migraine and
its persistence over millions of years of
evolution. The process of natural selection,
acting upon the countless CNS variations offered
up at random by nature, has settled on genes
which promote easy activation of the
trigeminovascular system. While some of the
hypotheses examined in this paper may seem
fanciful or far-fetched, they help to illustrate
the way in which we should be thinking about
migraine in the context of evolution. Many of
the clinical manifestations of the
migraine-prone nervous system might then be
recognized as adaptive, even in the face of the
costs associated with an increased
susceptibility to headache.
It is noteworthy that the theory of
evolution, which provides the fundamental
explanation for the existence of migraine, may
in part owe its origin to Darwin's own
headaches. For although lie was never moved to
speculate on the broader evolutionary advantages
of headache, it is clear that headaches provided
Darwin with a socially acceptable reason te,
avoid many unwanted social and academic
obligations. The consequent lack of distraction
provided time for the lengthy reflection,
reading and synthesis of ideas necessary to
discern the fundamental organizing principle of
all life.
'It was the life of an invalid and what
freedom it brought! Charles Darwin never sat on
committees, never went to official dinners, saw
only the people he wanted to see, read only the
books he wanted to read. Philosophy and religion
he found brought on a headache at once. As the
great man lay on the sofa he was not idle. His
mind was at work, and it was in those long hours
of silence and solitude, lying on his sofa,
meditating, that Darwin reached his bold
conclusions. He himself expressdl his most
valuable quality as "unbounded patience in long
reflecting over any subject". For his long
reflecting he needed his sofa.'
Bès A et
al Hypersensibilité dopaminergique
dans la migraine: un test diagnostique ?
La Nouvelle Presse
Médicale1982; 11; 19
Heinrichs
L Linking olfaction with nausea and
vomiting of pregnancy, recurrent abortion,
hyperemesis gravidarum, and migraine headache
Headache 2003; 43; 3;
304-5
Jacome D
Compulsive yawning as migraine premonitory
symptom Cephalalgia 2001 Jun;
21; 5; 623-5
James
MF,Smith J M et al Cortical spreading
depression and migraine: new insights from
imaging? Trends in Neurosciences
May 2001; vol 24; n 5; p 266-271
Loder
A What
is the evolutionary advantage of migraine ?
Cephalalgia 2002; 22;
624-632
Peres
MF et al Hypothalamic involvement in chronic
migraine J Neurol Neurosurg
Psychiatry 2001; 71; 747-751
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et al Migraine attacks induced by
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H et al Sensitization and Tolerance to
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