On Demand
Please Explain: Migraine
Friday, May 29, 2009
More than 300 million people are plagued with migraines. They can be difficult to treat and understand, and they often go undiagnosed. Joining us to to explain what migraines are, what causes them, and how they can be treated are Dr. David Dodick, neurologist at the Mayo Clinic and president-elect of the American Headache Society, and Andrew Levy, author of A Brain Wider Than the Sky: A Migraine Diary.
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What's the difference between a migraine and a transient ischemic attack? Thank you.
I suffer almost daily from migraines and cannot get relief. Unfortunately I am allergic to the triptan medications. Any suggestions? Thank you!
Would you agree that the word 'migraine' is being thrown around too much these days? I have bad headaches, and then I have MIGRAINES. With a migraine, I throw up, even a little light is blinding pain, the sound of whispers hurt, I pray some other part of my body could get cut off so I could focus my mind on a different pain. I know people who will be walking around, working, saying they have a migraine and to me there is NO WAY! Is there a gradient of pain?
What is the difference between a headache and migraine? Americans are very prone to take pain relief medication for the slightest inconvenience.
To the person who is allergic to triptans. I had migraines for ten years, usually 5 or 6 days a week and I had a neurologist put me on topamax and my life changed. The Dr. is in NYC. He has written a book "What your Doctor May Not Tell You about Migraines."
Can massage therapy be palliative or is it contraindicated in the case of migraines?
Please explain the Optical Migraine, and available treatments... I previously encountered this, which totally blew my mind. Half of my visual field would start to fizzle out, this would get worst for around 1 hour, and then stop. Followed by an excruciating trobbing pain migraine headache.
My previous experiences where childhood but these did not include the optical fizzing out...
Could you explain vestibular migraine? My daughter was diagnosed with this condition after being dizzy without a headache
Thank you
Are cluster headaches also neurological in their origins, rather than vascular? Caims have been made for the use of hallucinagenic drugs to prevent clusters. Has any research confirmed these claims?
I had my first migraine when I was in the the 6th grade, I thought I was going blind. I could not see half of everything, it was very odd, then came crescents of lights, then the head ache.
I turned out my mother suffered from them and my grandmother.
The seemed to go away in my 20's, but have returned in my 30's.
Why?
hola, can environment trigger a migrane? i only had migranes when in college living in a basement apartment. i thought perhaps it was the mold / dampness?
Spelling errors:
It turned out my...
They seemed...
I tend to get migraines after working out - I get extremely light sensitive and then the black cloud overtakes my peripheral vision on one side. Sometimes I see tiny pinprick sized flashes in my line of vision - which don't necessarily lead to a migraine. Is this symptomatic of migraines in general?
Can you go through life with just the auras and not have the headaches?
Aren't most migraine sufferers women?
I've heard of a nasal surgery that eliminates contact between two points in the sinuses / nasal area.....can the speakers comment on how common that surgery is, any risks, and how effective it is?
I was diagnosed with cluster headaches a few years ago by a neurologist. My primary care had thought they were migraines and the Rx's for migraines only worked for the first few episodes then they worked less and less effectively. The neurologist gave me a Rx for oxygen and it worked much better with no side effects.
So little seems to be known about cluster headaches. Are they related to migraines?
I suffered migraines for years. In my 60's I had acupuncture treatments, 6 or 8, and have never had a migraine since.
BLUE CHEESE, CAFFEINE, FRIED EGGS
all these help to get RID of the lingering headache pain, after i've slept it off. can 'triggers' work both ways? thanks.
What are some ways to relieve migraines. Does acupuncture or other alternative ways work?
thanks.
s
To what extent can migraine's causes and symptoms be exgtended to Cluster Headaches? These seems much more intense and tend to occur more often in men.
From childhood well into adulthood I suffered from migraines often two or so a week.
These painful episodes all but vanished when I got married eleven years ago. My life now is more stable in nearly every way. Is this a cure born of happiness?
Brian
Additional information regarding misdiagnosis:
The last occular migraine I had wound me up in the hospital, during which I was diagnosed with a severe occular migraine, but received no follow-up appointments from the hospital regarding this serious matter.
That happen almost ten years ago, and I can happily say that I have had no migraines since that point. I live with that silent fear that someday, it will come back.
One thing that I can say about that episode was that I was in a very stressful job, and had earlier experienced the death of three family members which included two suicides. So in my mind I view the episode as my nervous breakdown and am thankful that it has not repeated again... hopefully...
Roy
I had my first aura while still in the hospital after giving birth. I didn't realize what it was. First I thought I was looking at the lightbulb behind people, then I thought it was exhaustion. When I started getting them occasionally, I went to the optometrist who said they seemed like a precursor to a migraine. Only after several more times did the headaches (and nausea) start to develop. Now I take atenelol, a beta blocker, which seems to keep my migraines to one or two a year. As soon as the aura starts, I use an Imitrex injection and by the time my light show has finished, there is no headache.
I used to get migraines when I was an adolescent, but they have gone away. They began around the time I started to menstruate and continued (at a rate of about 3-4/year) for only a few years.
I am now 27 and haven't gotten one for 15 years or so. Am I safe? Is this typical?
Symptoms: Severe bilateral head pain, light, olfactory, and auditory sensitivity. After about 4-6 hours, vomitting would take place. That seemed to mark the end of the migraine.
I'm a licensed acupuncturist who sees an enormous population of migraine sufferers. They have varying degrees of success with acupuncture, but I'd say that at least 80% have changes of either reduction of frequency & intensity, or complete eradication of migraines. I myself had migraines in my late 20s, which have never returned after treatment. This is a good option for people who are not interested in taking medications.
Thank you for a very informative dialogue! I used to get migraines fairly frequently; however, in recent years, I very rarely suffer the blinding headaches. However, the same events that used to be triggers still seem to trigger some of the same somatosensory effects that used to precede migraines, such as numbness and visual effects. Why has the pain disappeared while these effects haven't? Will the pain at some point return?
Given the condition is associated mostly with women, is this a case of not doing research, and not caring to possibly take care of, or "taking seriously" these conditions because of "gender profiling"?
Hi. My daughter started menstruating 2 years ago when she'd just turned 9. Over the last couple of years, she frequently complains of intense--but usually very brief--headaches in the area of her right temple. She experiences no other migraine-related symptoms, but last week had a series of these headaches so strong and frequent that she stayed home from school for two days. The headaches continued to be very brief (sometimes seconds long) but sometimes were accompanied with momentary blindness, sometimes dizziness, and sometimes came on with the feeling, she says, of "a wave crashing over her head." Could these be migraines? Their briefness (when they go, she is absolutely fine until the next one) puzzle me as well as her pediatrician...
Thanks for your thoughts.
I'm not sure how long I've suffered from migraines, because at first my doc simply prescribed sinus medication after I described the headache (and before that, I popped ibuprofen like candy during grad school). After that doc left, my new doc immediately said, "That's not a sinus headache, that's a migraine."
My symptoms are unusual: the pain is bilateral, focused over the eyebrow, b/w the eyes, & at the temples. I may have some light sensitivity, and it comes on suddenly. But no nausea. And it is not at the severity of the "usual" migraine. I see that example regularly in my sister. And yes, I think it does run in my family. And I wasn't aware of that until I started asking about it, like your guest mentioned.
My eyes cross and I was told I have vestibular migraines and that the eye crossing is a symptom. I've been checked and don't have a vestibular problem. Could it really be a m9igrain symptom?
Why does the aura end before the pain? Can the aura and the pain not be concurrent?
What is the connection between migraine and epilepsy?
My eyes cross and I was told it was a symptom of a vestibular migraine. Is this possible?
I heard migraines are connected to epilepsy. is that true?
As a sufferer of lots of migraine with aura, I'm concerned about recent research of the stroke connection.
Can you speak to this?
Thanks!
My mother suffers from Migraines and had epilepsy as a teen. I do not have either, but I do have Narcolepsy. Is there a possible connection between these neurological disorders? Thank you.
Eating regular meals is essential for me. Even slight hunger can act like a trigger to a migraine.
I read some yrs ago that Excedrin was equivalent to Imitrex (sumatryptin), so I tried it and it worked as well. Then I was thinking that the caffeine may be the key; nowadays I find that caffeine is effective 90% of the time. If it is not effective I add aspirin and that usually works.
Problem was that the Imitrex would work 95% of the time or more - but I would be more apt to get another headache about 48 hrs later. (I generally would not use the Imitrex until I actually had the HA, but it was still effective within an hr.
I have had migraines since I was 17 -- and today is my 55th birthday! My headaches have 'shape shifted' over the years and I miss diagnosed my last series of migraines as sinus headaches. My migraines became chronic (frequent & more intense & up to 3 days per episode) 1.5 yrs ago -- until I took charge last Sept. in 2008 I went to 4 doctors (2 of them neurologists) plus acupuncture -- none of which was helpful. Then I read: "Heal Your Headache: The 1-2-3 Program for Taking Charge of Your Pain" by David Buchholz, MD. I removed caffeine from my diet, treat with 2 Aleve at first sign of onset, and regulated my sleep patterns (changing my teenage ways) and drink much more water than before. And guess what -- I am nearly migraine free! When I get one I almost always nip it in the bud and if it does linger into late afternoon -- I am still full functional. There is hope! Don't waster your time feeling like a victim or looking for that magic pill. You have a part to play in this -- you can find your way out of this pattern.
I began to have migraines at age 37 and they accompanied my menstural periods, lasting an average of 3 days, longer if I was under increased stress. When I lived in Japan, I found that acupuncture helped tremendously, both to make symptoms subside and to make future attacks less severe. The sumatriptan dose needed to be increased in order to be effective when I tried it years ago, now it it more helpful. Can you say something about the use of acupuncture as an intervention? Thanks.
Reynauds syndrome has been recently one diagnosis for what appears to be a numbing then overly blood filled finger.
My reading up on this has reference to occurring in people who take migraine medicine. Taking this further I'm wondering if i have an overall vascular situation going on here that other began with my migraines or is causing them.
Any thoughts?
Joanne
Have your guests ever explored energy therapies? No pills and no negative side effects. I've had great success stopping my migranes using Qigong. You don't have to be a master of Qigong to receive beneficial results. The reason for the success is blood circulation is allowed to move by opening the energy meridians doing simple Qigong movements which stimulates blood circulation to move properly. When the blood moves, the blood doesn't stay trapped in the head. No migraine, no headache.
Lillian
Thank you Erin from Miami Beach..I will check out the book and the neurologist.
This topic certainly has a lot of posts.
Perhaps a follow-up program would be a good thing.
First poster mentioned "transient ischemic attack". Would like to hear more about that.
Also the whiskey therapy mentioned on the air sounds good.
I don't have migraines, but I do suffer from chronic headaches. The pain NEVER goes away--seriously. I've had a headache EVERYday for over 25 years. It gets very frustating going to different neurologists and other specialists, undergoing various tests and MRI scans, and taking medicine, all to no avail.
I would love to be headache free someday. Until then, I just deal with the pain.
Thank you, Leonard, for this show. I've had migraines since I was in my mid-20s; it's been about 10 years. I was always a heavy coffee drinker and if I didn't have coffee one day I could be sure to feel a migraine coming on at about 3 in the afternoon. I suspected there might be a further connection between the caffeine and the migraines because I would get the "weekend migraine" that was talked about, and on weekends I didn't have as much caffeine as during the week. I quit caffeine completely and also started taking the herb feverfew, and I get about half, maybe fewer, of the migraines that I used to. The ones I do get usually respond to prescription meds.
I was happy to hear the doctor mention sensitivity to odor. I've had migraines with nausea triggered by too-strong perfume and car air fresheners scents. I have an incredible sense of smell when I have a migraine, which only makes things worse.
I tried to call yesterday but you did not get to my call. My question was what were your thoughts on the theory that many medical problems including migraines, alzheimer's, glaucoma, sleep apnea, stroke and sudden infant death syndrome are, at least in part, caused by brain edema from lying flat and are alleviated by elevating the head and shoulders 30 (not less) degrees.
Can my question be still forwarded on to your guests??
Years ago my mother was diagnosed with ocular migraines, only to later discover her symptoms were actually the result of a malignant brain tumor. Anyone diagnosed with this "harmless" type of migraine should insist on getting an MRI.
Biweekly my masseuse works on only my upper body emphasizing the right side of my face which was damaged by a Med School Cancer Clinic gamma knife in 2004 - Dr. too easily accepted a 1999 diagnosis of "Atypical Trigeminal Neuralgia." 2009 diagnosis was chronic migraine. The preventive Topomax has helped me reduce my opiates in the last three months and since these 24/7 right-side facial monsters are 10 years old I will ask my neurologist for abortive meds for already existing pain, I hope.
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