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Archive for May, 2007

Finding Menthol Sensory Receptor Could Lead to Better Pain Treatments

The protein in the peripheral nervous system that gives mice the ability to sense cold and menthol has been identified, according to three recent journal articles. Menthol receptor TRPM8, as this protein is known, is found in humans and researchers believe these findings extend to people.
“[The receptor] provides a target for studying acute and chronic [...]

Summer Seasonal Affective Disorder

A well-known winter phenomenon, seasonal affective disorder strikes some people in summer. As depression and headache disorders tend to occur together, it’s important to watch out for symptoms. Particularly in summer, when it’s easy to mistake depression symptoms with the sapping properties of heat.
In winter, people with SAD tend to sleep more, have less energy,
gain [...]

Newsweek on Chronic Pain Research & Treatment

Pain research and treatment are the topics of this week’s Newsweek cover story. The article centers on chronic pain caused by physical injuries in war, but it has gems for anyone with chronic pain. There’s a great illustration of how opioids and nerve blockers affect pain signals in the Pain and its Pathways graphic.
“‘The public [...]

Looking for Men With Headache Disorders

As a woman with migraine and chronic daily headache, I tend to write about women with migraine or chronic daily headache. But there still are men with these and other headache disorders. (For example, although three times as many women as men have migraine, more men have cluster headaches.)
Reader Andy asked me for resources for [...]

Marijuana a “Wonder Drug”

“If marijuana were a new discovery rather than a well-known substance
carrying cultural and political baggage, it would be hailed as a wonder
drug,” according to Harvard Medical School emeritus professor of psychiatry Lester Grinspoon. Marijuana as Wonder Drug, Grinspoon’s Boston Globe opinion piece, is an interesting take on the controversial topic.
You can learn more on Marijuana [...]

Free Book: Memoir About Living With Chronic Illness

Update, 9:37 p.m. The book is spoken for. Thanks for all the responses.
Blindsided: Lifting a Life Above Illness, by Richard M. Cohen
Here’s the publisher’s description:
“Richard Cohen, a veteran writer, producer and distinguished
journalist, has lived with multiple sclerosis for over 25 years.
Recently diagnosed again with colon cancer, Cohen describes his
lifelong struggle with multiple sclerosis, his first [...]

Working With Chronic Illness

Written by two working women with chronic illness, Keep Working, Girlfriend is a blog to help other women (and men) continue working and enjoying the benefits of work. The driving force behind the blog is that “it’s critical to your health — mental, physical, emotional and financial — to keep working.”
At first I didn’t agree. [...]

Hypnotism “Legitimate” Health Care Treatment

Hypnotism is becoming a more mainstream medical treatment, particularly for pain management, according to the Mayo Clinic Health Letter. It also has a track record of being an effective headache treatment. From the Mayo Clinic:
“A trance often can be induced most quickly in people who are in severe
pain. A therapist may suggest that the pain [...]

Gentle Yoga for Migraine (and Headache) Relief

Gentle yoga postures and breathing techniques may ease the intensity and frequency of migraines, according to a study in this month’s issue of the journal Headache. I didn’t need a study to tell me this, but supporting evidence is always good. While the study didn’t look at tension type headaches, I have no doubt that [...]

Headache Preventive Depakote Taken During Pregnancy Linked to Lower IQ in Children

Women who are pregnant or planning to become pregnant should avoid taking valproate (used in Depakote, Depakene and Depacon), according to researchers who found that the drug can reduce children’s IQs. Depakote is a widely used headache preventive.
“[Researchers] found that the intelligence quotient of 2-year-old children was an average of 12 points lower when expectant [...]