Transcript 0:00 [upbeat music] Well, first of all, welcome. 0:40 I am very excited to have you here because I have migraines. [laughs] Yay, we get to talk about migraines. Good. Okay. Oh. Do you ever get tired of talking about migraines? Not yet. Maybe someday. They're terrible. 0:59 They're awful. Yeah. Yeah, they are. They're a much bigger, they have a much bigger impact on women's lives than people realize. On women as opposed to men? Do men get migraines? 1:11 They do, but women outnumber men about three to one, so it's a much bigger issue for us than it is for them. So that means that nobody cares that much. [laughs] Women's health, right? 1:26 [laughs] I've tried Botox for migraines. Yeah. For, for prophylactic reasons. Uh-huh. Um, I've, I've tried all the, you know, prevention medication. 1:42 I've tried all of the, you know, rescue medication, and only the, the only thing that works for me is sumatriptan- Okay... whi- which is not great to take all the time. 1:58 So whoop-de-do for me. Your situation is so common, I can't even tell you. Migraine is actually the leading cause of disability in women under 50 because it affects the brain. It's not just about the pain. 2:14 It's not just about the headache. It's because of the impact it has on the brain as a whole, and so many people go down the path of mainstream medicine. 2:24 They get this medication after that, which can work to suppress the pain for a while, but the problem is the brain. What's going on in the biology of the brain that's making this happen in the first place? 2:38 And I think that's where mainstream medicine doesn't get it right as much as some other parts of medicine and some newer science that's really helping us figure out what is that biology and what do we do about it. 2:52 Oh, so that makes me scared but excited. [laughs] Yeah. It's fixable. Don't think of it as, like, a permanent kind of brain thing. There are many different biological processes. 3:04 Some of us, for example, our brain chemicals work in a, a way such that our, our neurotransmitters are over-firing all the time, and there's a lot we can do to slow that down and reduce migraine that way. 3:17 The problem might be with inflammation. It might be with energy production in the cells inside the brain. It might be vascular or blood flow issues. 3:25 All of those things are going on under the surface, and they're all very modifiable. 3:31 I'm not saying you can change your genes or change your biology, but you can certainly support those biological systems and make them run better once you know what it is you need to do. 3:41 So why is that I, I, I feel like I got... No, I don't feel. I know I got imaging done once, like 10 years ago maybe. Which is good. 3:54 You absolutely want to know that you don't have a brain tumor, an aneurysm, or something awful going on in there causing the pain. 4:02 Absolutely, you wanna know that, and I also think mainstream medicine does a fantastic job of that. But for that huge category of people, which is actually 99% of the time the brain MRI is normal, what do you do then? 4:16 That's where this new science is really helping us. So there are more detailed labs that come from the world of functional medicine. 4:24 There is genetic testing you can get done these days to help you understand your biology and what kind of things are a fit for you in terms of your recovery and what kind of things are never gonna help you. 4:35 So that's where the new science, I think, is particularly valuable for people in your situation. Wow. That's incredible. I know. It's the coolest stuff. It really is. It is so, it is so exciting to be a part of this. 4:48 I realize that I didn't have you introduce yourself, which is, like, the most important thing. Okay. So would you please introduce yourself for our audience? Sure. Hello, everybody. I am Dr. Amelia Scott Barrett. 5:07 I am a neurologist, headache expert, a TEDx speaker, and the author of Decode Your Migraine. 5:14 And my mission really is to help women get past chronic migraine or other chronic headaches and get plugged back into their lives to do the beautiful things that women do, whether that's raising children, or breaking those glass ceilings at work, or supporting our communities. 5:32 I think that the things women tend to do are a fundamentally important part of our world, and I just wanna help women plug back into whatever it is they wanna do. That's incredible. Yeah. 5:48 Um, what, what made you want to be a neurologist? I, I think I was just meant to do this. So when I was a little kid, I used to make models of the human brain. 6:00 Like, literally at the age of eight, I was wandering around talking about different parts of the brain, which probably made my parents nervous. Yeah, which I actually did anyway. 6:09 So I've always been just fascinated by- How this brain inside our heads controls our life, our experiences, what we do, how we perceive reality, the choices that we make, and then of course the things that can go wrong with it. 6:23 I feel like I'm a healer by nature, so of course I was drawn to medicine and helping people who have problems with this organ that we call the brain. 6:33 Migraine is by far the most common neurological disorder, so lots and lots of people are affected by this in their daily lives. 6:42 And I think it's not nearly as dramatic as, or fatal as some of the other neurological disorders, so it doesn't really get the attention it needs. 6:49 But I think in terms of the impact that it has on people's lives and the number of years of life that are lost to migraine, it has more of an effect than any other neurological disorder, including things like Alzheimer's or Parkinson's, because people are impacted for fewer years of their lives by those conditions. 7:09 And there are many people who struggle with headaches two, three, four, five, six, seven days a week for decades, and that has a huge impact on a person's entire life. 7:22 So that is really why I wanted to do something that, to make a difference, to provide new solutions for these people. I come at this from the perspective of mainstream medicine. I'm a neurologist. I trained at Stanford. 7:34 I learned all of the mainstream medicine tools and strategies, and I think those are incredibly important. But for so many people, they're not enough to get them to the level of wellness that they really wanna be at. 7:45 So I got much more interested in some of these new solutions, and that's what really motivates me, trying to bring those to as many people as I can. So what can you tell, what can you tell us about these new solutions? 7:59 Sure. I mean, clearly, uh, uh, you, you have... We wanna read your book, but what can you tell us right now? Yeah. So most of this came from some very recent research about the genetics of migraine. 8:15 So in the early 2020s, research started being published about w- what is going on genetically for people with migraine or other chronic headaches compared to people who don't have that condition. 8:28 So there have been studies published looking at the DNA of 100,000 people with migraine, look at, looking at millions of pieces of information for every single one of these people. That's a lot of data. [laughs] Right. 8:41 Yeah. [laughs] Yeah. [laughs] And comparing it to people who don't have that, and there are almost 200 different genes that have been linked with migraine over the years. 8:50 And so when we put all of those together and say, "Huh, what do these genes have in common? What are they even regulating in the body?" Because it's not about do you have the gene for migraine. 9:01 Nobody needs a genetic test to tell them that. [laughs] You get pain, you go to the doctor, a diagnosis is made. But why? That's what everybody wants to know. Okay, fine, but why, and what can I do about it? 9:11 Of course, what's fixable here? So it turns out that those nearly 200 genes regulate four main biological systems in the body. Brain chemistry, so that's neurotransmitters and other chemicals in the brain. 9:24 Inflammation, that's related to gut health and how your body responds to things like gut damage or other chronic infections. Energy production inside cells. 9:37 All of our cells have little batteries in them called mitochondria, and sometimes they don't work too well for various reasons. Of course, the brain requires a ton of energy. 9:46 If there's a mismatch ma- there, then you get migraine. 9:49 And then also vascular issues, and this relates to slightly more abstract things like methylation, which is basically a recycling process in the body, but also things that everybody knows intuitively, like low blood sugar can trigger a migraine. 10:04 So all of those issues wrapped up together are what's going on under the surface. So that sounds very complicated and abstract, and how does that help me? But let's just bring it back home. Like, 10:18 let's, so many people have had their vitamin D level checked, right? 10:21 We know that people with chronic migraine have lower levels of vitamin D on average, and if we give them more vitamin D, they tend to do a little bit better. Is it the one 10:31 answer to every problem and it'll make your migraines go away forever? No, of course not. But it's one piece of the puzzle. It's one thing that needs to be fixed to get you better. 10:42 So for example, maybe you have genetic problems processing vitamin D. You take vitamin D, you go in your sun, your levels don't really come up that well. That's a genetic issue. You can't change the way you're wired. 10:55 But you can try harder to get your vitamin D up higher. You can take it twice a day. You can go out in the sun maybe every day instead of once a week, and just for short periods of time. 11:06 I'm not saying spend all day and go get skin cancer. Just a little bit to help your body along. So I'm, what I, the point I'm trying to make here is these problems aren't as abstract as they might sound. 11:16 A lot of these biological problems are very fixable, and when you figure out what, like, the 10 or 20 things are for you that you really need to optimize, that's when people start to get better. Yeah. 11:29 Because you're fixing the problems in the brain and in the body that are going on that are resulting in the migraine, and you're fixing it in a lasting way. 11:37 You now understand your body in a new way, and that opens up a very unique and individualized path to recovery for you. Oh my God. It's cool, isn't it? I love it. It's- This is science... it's fascinating. Yeah? 11:52 It's fascinating. Yeah. Because already, well, I mean, already you've mentioned, I mean, uh, I mean, I'm very pale, you know. Like, I stay out of the sun, [laughs] which does not help my vitamin D situation. 12:09 And when you mentioned the energy levels, I mean, I've kind of always dealt with, like, a low energy-... situation. 12:21 And then, if that's, and, uh, uh, actually my, my mother has Alzheimer's and my father has Parkinson's [laughs] Wow. That's a big impact- Sh-... on your life. You've seen it up close and personal, yeah. Yes. Yeah. 12:35 So there's some, of course, underlying fear in me that, that, you know- Of course... uh, yeah, yeah. Yeah. 12:47 That- Is there, a- a- and not only how do I fix my migraines now, but is there anything I can do to reduce the chances of that happening to me later? You know, obviously- Yes... there's gonna be some genetic component. 12:57 What is it? What can I do about it? Because it's all about prevention. We're still not that great at regrowing brain cells. It can sort of happen, but it's not that easy. 13:08 But it's pretty easy to protect your brain by just understanding your biology and adopting a few simple habits. 13:15 Maybe it's lifestyle changes, maybe it's certain supplements, maybe it's foods you should eat or not eat if your body can't process them, or maybe there are certain medications that are a really good fit for your biology. 13:27 But the sooner you know that information, the more time you have to not only get better in the here and now, but also reduce the chances of those things happening in the future. Which is huge. Isn't it? I know. 13:40 I feel the same. My aunt died of Parkinson's, so I know the fear. I get it. Really? Yeah. Yeah. It's, it's, mm. Yeah. It's hard. So what, so there are quizzes that 13:58 on your website. There are, if you didn't know, there are quizzes on your website. [laughs] What is the first step that someone can take? Yeah. 14:11 I think the most important place to start is to start understanding your own biology, and you can do that with the headache quiz. It's at theheadachequiz.com or on my website. 14:20 And it's just g- it's a super quick 10 question quiz that shows you what the biology might be for you, one of those four systems, brain chemistry, inflammation, energy production, or vascular. 14:32 And based on that, based on your quiz results, it'll connect you with menus that you can start right now that support your biology, 'cause it's different for all those four things. You have different goals there, right? 14:43 Supplements that can support your biology to try to give your brain and your body what it really needs to thrive. 14:50 And for the people who want a more, a more detailed answer, more useful, in-depth, personalized recommendations, there's a variety of ways to get tested, going all the way from click a link on a website, get some labs drawn, download the manual to see what those lab values should be and how you can get your body there. 15:12 Super simple stuff. All the way up to what we call functional genomics testing, and that is the genetics. 15:18 So I looked at those 200 genes that are linked with migraine, extracted the ones that are super useful and actionable, that tell you something about your biology that you can fix, put all of that into a panel, 15:32 and then made it available to people. Now I do this via telehealth, so it's only in some states. And I, there's no point in listing it 'cause it's constantly changing. 15:40 [laughs] You just have to go to the website or something if you wanna know. 15:43 But, but we do all of that work by telehealth, and once we know, we have a very precise recovery protocol that we can generate literally based on how you're wired to help optimize your biology. 15:57 Um, and that, that gets great results for people. We've had people who, um, have had headaches for decades who can now go do events with their families again. It's really incredible. 16:07 Our data shows that we see a 50 to 60% reduction in headache days, and I know to somebody who doesn't have headaches [laughs] that probably sounds like nothing, but for those of you who do, if you go from having headaches every single day for 10 years down to having headaches every just three days a week, that's a new life. 16:25 Yes. Literally a new life to, to have that, that level of wellness and functioning, and these are people who've been through all the meds. Meds aren't gonna be their fix. 16:34 And even the latest and greatest meds, we know that they typically only reduce headaches by about four days a week. 16:40 The, one of the newer monoclonal antibodies, actually all of them, the data they submitted to the FDA shows they'll take your headaches from, say, 30 days a week down to 25, 26. It's not as good as 15. 16:52 So when you really get at those underlying problems, it makes sense. 16:57 Of course your body's just gonna work better and it's not gonna malfunction in this migraine kind of way, which is really your brain trying to talk to you and say, "Please fix this. Something's wrong here. 17:07 I'm trying to communicate with you through the language of pain." So that's what it all looks like. But I wanna really emphasize, you can totally start for free. 17:14 You're already eating food, and you're already taking supplements most likely. You just wanna hone that in on what your body actually needs, and you can do that at theheadachequiz.com. 17:26 We should be this curious about- Yes... about what's happening with us. Yeah. Absolutely. With our, our genetics. I mean, 17:41 I h- I don't wanna put my mother on blast, but it took, it took me forever to get her to get a diagnosis because sh- sh- I think she knew because her mother- 17:59 Ah, yeah. Yeah. And I'm sure she was scared, just thinking- And she was scared... oh, there's nothing I can do, and- Yeah... nobody wants that diagnosis, yeah. Yeah. And then it's real, and then it's... 18:12 And of course it's easy for me, well, it's not easy, but it's easier for me to sit here and, and be like Why would she go to the doctor? 18:22 But, I mean, I, I, I, I have no idea what, what exactly specifically that was like for her, and I can't imagine. Yeah. But the, the, 18:40 the most that I can do for my brain, I'm, I wanna do it. That's for sure. Yeah, exactly, and I think that's a really important distinction. 18:50 We watch our parents, our relatives go through these things when they're older, and okay, we may not, with the current state of medicine, we may not have the capacity to reverse that, but how do we look at that and say, "Okay, but what can I do preventively to reduce the chances of that happening to me as much as humanly possible?" 19:10 Because there's an awful lot of good new science around that. And yes, our therapies for later, later stages of things are getting better, but it's not quite as, it's not as good as the prevention. Once a neuron dies, 19:24 it's not always possible to bring that back. It's actually more accurate to say you usually can't, so that's why diseases like Alzheimer's and Parkinson's happen. You lose brain cells. Right. So once it happens, that's 19:37 the reality, but there's a lot you can do to keep those neurons healthy so that it doesn't happen later on. And I think understanding your biology is absolutely the key to that as well. 19:49 Right, and if, and if you have children- Yep... uh, it's kind of like the, the greatest gift you can give them, right? Absolutely. Yeah. It really is. Yeah. 20:05 But it's als- the brain is so just endlessly fascinating. I mean, it like- I agree. Yeah. [laughs] I mean, neuroplasticity is like, it's 20:21 so ex- I mean, once a, like you said, once a neuron dies, you can't do much about that. Yeah. Yeah. But there's al- there's always sort of, 20:35 maybe I'm living in some, maybe I'm making this up, but there's always, like, work that can be done or, like, therapy. You, you should always be, like, attempting therapies of, of some kind. 20:53 Is that right? Absolutely. And I think, I think probably all of us want to do everything we can to keep our brain healthy as we age. I think the question is, what? You could spend [laughs] 21:05 20 or however, the 16 hours a day, you spend all your waking hours doing random things to try to get your brain better, but I'm not sure any of us really wants to go to that extreme. 21:16 If I'm gonna spend an hour a day investing in my health, essentially investing in my biological 401[k], so to speak, if I'm gonna do something to- I love that... 21:25 in- yeah, invest in my health bank, what is the highest yield thing for me to do? I don't want this low interest savings account, right? I want the, that, that stock tip that makes me a millionaire. 21:37 You want that health tip, right? And it's different for everybody. It's totally based on your biology. 21:42 There's no other way to get that information than to gather data about your body and figure out what your body needs you to do. Right. Yeah. And that's why you have to do that, so you can work smarter, not harder. 21:53 I love that phrase. [laughs] Yep. Well, thank you so much for- You're welcome... for doing this. 22:04 I mean, you're obviously brilliant, and, and oh, God, I, I remember I read this book years ago about women are not taken into account when, like, 22:22 people create, like, refrigerators or like, [laughs] you know? I mean, like, height-wise, if, if, if this makes any sen- if I'm making any sense. 22:36 Like, girl- The bathrooms at any public building, what, how come women did not design the bathrooms in public spaces? [laughs] There's always a line for us, right? I totally know what you mean. Yes. 22:50 And, like, why do you think in an office, you know, the women are always like, "Oh, let me get my sweater." Well, it's because- Yeah... like, people do- it, like, women are not taken into account in- Yeah... 23:05 like it's just- That's true... so many systems are not designed for us. Yeah. And- Yeah. It's true. Yeah. Yeah. So I love that, I love that this, I love what you're doing so much. Thank you. 23:22 Thank you. I want you to go to theheadachequiz.com too and get started. Yeah. [laughs] Let's try to get you some targeted recovery plans. Yeah. 23:31 Feel free to reach out, and for anybody listening, absolutely, I want you to do the same thing too. 23:37 Let's get you some super effective tools, and get everybody started on trying to reverse this statistic that migraine is the number one thing most likely to put you out on disability if you're a woman under 50. 23:50 Let, let's change that. That's not okay. It's not okay that's happening. So thank you so much for letting me be here today and explain to people how this new science is helping. Thank you so much. You're welcome. 24:05 It's, it's super fascinating. Yeah. Thanks. And I'll put everything in the show notes so that everyone can know where to go and how to reach you and- Perfect. Thank you. Yeah. I appreciate that. All right. 24:19 Enjoy your lunch. I will. [laughs] Bye.
