a candid look at managing and living with headaches & migraines

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Archive for September, 2007

Sinus Headaches May Acutally Be Migraine

Throbbing and tenderness in your nose, cheeks and/or eyebrows seem to be clear indicators of a sinus headache. Most likely they aren’t. 90% of what patients think are sinus headaches are actually untreated migraines.
[Headache specialist Eric] Eross and colleagues advertised a free evaluation to people suffering
from “sinus headaches.” They signed up the first 100 people, [...]

National Headache Foundation Answers Frequently Asked Questions

In one comprehensive page, the National Headache Foundation responds to common questions about migraine as well as tension-type, cluster, sinus, rebound headaches. The short answers include links to comprehensive information. Questions include:

Does weather affect migraines?
What are the triptans?
What alternative therapies are used to treat migraine?
What is biofeedback?
Are headaches hereditary?
What type of doctor [...]

Lyrica, Sleep and Chronic Pain

In studies of Lyrica’s effectiveness for fibromyalgia and shingles pain, participants have reported sleeping better while taking Lyrica.
On his RevolutionHealth blog, sleep specialist Steve Poceta wrote:
Lyrica has been shown to improve sleep in certain patients who have pain, such as fibromyalgia and shingles pain. However, it is also important to assess the effect of [...]

Guilt Comorbid With Headaches

“Comorbidity refers to the greater than coincidental association of separate conditions in the same individuals. Historically, a number of conditions have been noted to be comorbid with migraine, notably psychiatric disorders (anxiety, depression, panic disorder), epilepsy, asthma, and some congenital heart defects.”
This quote is from an abstract of an article from the June 2005 issue [...]

Explaining What Chronic Daily Headache and Migraine Are Like

Explaining to my family, friends and employers that my migraines are debilitating has been challenging. There are many misconceptions about headache disorders and migraine, so people don’t understand the difference between an occasional headache and CDH or migraine.
The best way I’ve found to let those around me know the seriousness of this illness is to [...]

Children & Headaches

Nearly every child has a headache at some point. Like in adults, an occasional headache is normal. Although headaches are typically benign, they could signal something serious. If kids have headaches frequently or the headache seems different than usual, it’s time to see a doctor.
Contact a doctor if your child’s headaches:

Occur at least once a [...]

Must-Read Time Article on Headache

A 2002 Time cover article on headache describes current migraine research — and the heretofore lack of said research — and what it means for people with headache. As the article says, “What [the research] all adds up is a revolutionary view of extreme headaches that treats them as serious, biologically based disorders on a [...]

Do My Smells Make Me a Headache Trigger?

A man recently told me that I smelled good and asked me what scent I was wearing. I hadn’t showered, so I was stymied. Until he said I smelled like sage. He was talking about my deodorant.
I hadn’t before thought of myself as having a scent. Even though smells are big migraine triggers for me, [...]

Learn About Meds at DrugBank, a Massive Drug Database

Whatever you want to know about your medications, DrugBank can tell you. Seriously. Each of the nearly 4,100 drugs on the site has 80 data fields covering names and chemical structures to how and why the drug works to patient information and helpful websites.
The information on Topamax, ibuprofen and Imitrex, which are some common headache [...]

Could Being a Scatterbrain Trigger Your Headaches or Migraines?

When his migraines increased as his workload increased, Joe realized that a major trigger was being scatterbrained. At first I thought he meant the stress of being scatterbrained, but that’s not how his theory goes. Joe has become less scatterbrained and reduced his migraine frequency with a simple tool: Carefully managed to do lists.
Check out [...]