Dealing With Headaches

From the “What’s Old is New Again” Department: More and more people are rediscovering the benefits of natural remedies. They are especially looking for remedies with few side effects. All medicinal herbs are medicines and need to be treated with the same ammount of respect you would any medicine. In fact, many modern medicines were derived from plant and herb remedies, including digitalis (from foxglove) and aspirin (from willow bark and spices like tumeric). For prevention of migraines with auras, patients and healers are looking at a modest little flower called feverfew.

There’s A Reason For The Name

Feverfew is the most common folk name for Tanecetum parthenium. It’s other folk names include bride’s button, featherfew, featherfoil, febrifuge, motherherb, wild quinine, nosebleed (!) and wild chamomile. It’s in the daisy family, so if you are allergic to ragweed (the black sheep of the daisy family), stay away from both feverfew and any kind of chamomile, wild or not-so-wild. Pregnant women should stay away from feverfew, too, as it has been known to stimulate the uterus.

From folk names, we can pretty much figure out what a plant was used for. Feverfew was used as a painkiller, a fever reducer, help for menstrual cramps and arthritis. Usually the flowers were used — fresh or dried. You can find feverfew in capsule form today.

In order to prevent migraines, you need to take a few capsules a day. It’s no good once a migraine or an aura starts. The ingredient thought to help prevent migraines is called “parthinolide”, thought to help regulate the blood vessels in the brain. Although causes of migraines is unknown, one of the theories is that dilation and constriction of the blood vessels may contribute to the pain. Another theory is that the brain’s serotonin levels is the main culprit. Yet another theory is that BOTH seronin and blood vessels in the head are responsible. It is thought 250 mg of parthinolide daily can help lessen the severity and frequency of migraines with auras.

Any Proof?

Two clinical trials were held in the UK in the 1980’s about feverfew (taken fresh or dried) one to six times a day as migraine prevention, where a large percentage of the volunteers reported significant relief from the frequency and severity of their migraines. Another two were done over the years, with similar results. An evaluation was made in 2003 that cited all of the clinical trials findings and recommended feverfew as one of many options in helping to prevent migraines. However, in all totlat, less than 400 people were tested, so the studies are not considered “scientific” enough to warrant be taken very seriously. You need to take feverfew for a month at least before you start getting any of the benefits.

In Canada, feverfew capsules are classified as drugs and not herbal supplements. You need to talk to your doctor before taking feverfew — or ANY herbal supplement in such large doses. If you start getting strange side effects like mouth sores, nausea or hives, call your doctor. These side effects are reversable.

It’s always good to know that there are options if conventional medicines don’t work for you. Hope this helps.

My American readers who are not foodies are probably wondering what a “curry” is, but the British readers certainly know. A curry is a wonderful dish of chopped up everything, usually with lots of spices developed in India (although there are such dishes as Thai curries, but we’ll just focus on Indian curries here). Although there are dishes in American Chinese take-out places called “curries”, and they are quite tasty, they in no way approach a even the meanest curry available in England.

I didn’t start eating curries until I lived in England, and they were a real treat. They are one of many things I miss about England, now that I’ve moved back to Philadelphia. Now, I preferred to eat the milder curries like korma or marsala, but I if I’d gone a bit more adventorous, perhaps I could’ve avoided some nasty headaches.

A 2006 report by the Rowett Research Instituteclaims that a really firey curry like vindaloo or phal can treat a headache better than aspirin. This might be why most Englishmen crave curries after a few pints — in order to help stave of hangovers? The hope is that a curry headache cure will not cause the nasty side effects like ulcers that long-term aspirin use can.

What’s In The Curry

It is the spices in the hottest of curries that seem to trigger the body’s natural pain-releivers. Most hot curries contain cumin, tumeric and paprika, which are the spices that do the job. The spices contain salicylic acid — which is the active ingredient in aspirin. One portion of vindaloo contains more salicylic acid than one perscribed dose of regular strength aspirin. Tumeric especially has the highest levels.

Not For Everybody

However, if you eat a vindaloo a day, you probably will think a bleeding ulcer is the less painful altenative. Curries are great — but not all of the time. No matter how healthy you are, your body will not be able to handle a vindaloo a day — and certainly not your plumbing. So, the study suggests a hot curry as an occassional alternative to aspirin for mild headaches. But if your doctor has told you to avoid very spicy food, try the aspirin instead.

When you have any type of headache, migraine or chronic pain, you wind up spending a lot of time waiting to see a doctor of one kind or another. This is just the nature of dealing with sick people — people rarely get sick on schedule, so the doctor is usually (but not always) late in seeing you. Keep that in mind whenever scheduling a doctor’s appointment (NEVER make it at lunch time on a workday!) and you’ll avoid some unnecessary stress.

Most doctor’s offices now have televisions, and a de rigueuer pile of old magazines like Excrutiatingly Boring Monthly, so you have to prepared to make your entertainment when waiting in the office. I often bring a book, but sometimes I can’t concentrate on it if I’m either recovering from a bad time or if I’m nervous about the examination. So, these are some games I’ve developed over the years while waiting in countless doctor’s offices. Hope they help.

Chair Bingo

This works best when you have a partner to play with, but if you are by yourself, compete with your myriad of personalities. The rules are simple — you pick a chair in the doctor’s office that the next person who enters the office will sit in. This is even more challenging (and interesting) if the chair you pick already has someone sitting in it.

Reality Show: Office Workers

It’s not eavesdropping, really — consider it live reality TV. You just keep silent and pay real close attention to all of the conversatitions and phone calls coming from behind the office worker’s desk or sliding glass cabinet they work in. The is can be endlessly amusing, especially if you hear them trying to explain directions on how to get to the office to someone who refuses to put their hearing aids in.

Another variation on this game is to pay real close attention to the whispered conversations of the other patients around you. Considering that most of them are in a bad mood, though, it’s just not as amusing as eavesdropping on the office workers.

As The Fishy Turns

This only works in offices that have fish tanks. You just stare at the fish and notice their interactions and make up a little soap opera about life in a doctor’s fishtank. Who’s cheating on who? Who is out for revenge? Who is going to be the next fish to float?

Patient Lottery

The rules for this are pretty simple, too, but can really only be played if you don’t have access to a patient schedule (Reading off of a computer screen or trying to interpet the upside-down schedules count as having acess). You pick you the next person is to be called. If you are the next person who is called, regardless of who you picked, you win the lottery.

For those with migraines that can’t be controlled with current medicines or alternative therapies, they’s been singing “I Want A New Drug” with Huey Lewis for quite a while. They might not have to wait much longer to try another drug (hey — it can’t hurt.) The FDA yesterday approved a new drug, although it still needs a final test.

This time the drug is called Stavzor (delayed release valporic acid) and is primarily targeted as a bipolar medication, with a side effect of preventing migraines as well as helping to prevent eplieptic seizures. If you happen to have the triple whammy of bipolar disorder, migraines and eplipsey, this is especially good news….at least, I hope so. Lord knows, you need something to look forward to.

What Is It?

Stavzor is made by Noven Pharmaecuticals, Inc of Miami, Florida. The FDA has approved three dosage sizes of 125mg, 250mg and 500mg. Yup — these sound like big capsules!

Stavzor will not — nor is expected to — help relieve migraine pain once the migraine has begun. This is a preventative only.

The earliest we can expect it on the market is August, 2008, after a final approval test by the FDA in July of 2008 “at the earliest”. One of the concerns about the anticonvulsant valproic acid is that it might cause liver damage if taken for a long time, especially in children 2 or under (however, Stavzor seems to be aimed at adults, so far.) Valproic acid can also screw up diabetes tests, so if you do go on it and have to take diabetes tests, let the testers know.

There are other brand names of valproic acid availble on the market (Depakene and Depakote), but they are not usually perscribed for just migraine prevention. You could ask your doctor what he or she thinks of the current line of valproic acid to see if it may benefit you. Always follow your doctor’s advice.

Hope this helps, and have a pain-free weekend.

Well, it was bound to happen, I guess, but it still gave me a feeling of sick disappointment when it did. After a week and a half without any kind of head pain, yesterday afternoon a migraine set in. I was able to feel it coming and could take medicine and have a lie-down, but I wasn’t ready for the feeling that my body let me down.

When you get migraines and/or headaches, you deal with emotional pain as well as physical pain that can’t entirely be taken away with visiting a doctor or taking a pill. These emotions can be hard for a person who doesn’t suffer from headaches to understand. Sometimes I wonder which is worse — the feeling that I’ve let somebody down because of my head or the pain of the actual migraine.

The Emotional Turmoil

I’d already mentioned in a previous post about the panic attacks that migraines can trigger. But migraines can also trigger feelings of worthlessness, disappointment and even guilt. For example, suppose you get a migraine around Christmas (or whatever major holiday your family celebrates). It’s the big family get together everyone looks forward to all year. But suddenly, you are a no-show because of your head. You can worry that you are letting everyone down, even though getting a migraine is usually not your fault.

Handling It

In times when you do have a migraine and worry about letting others down, the best thing you can do is put everything out of your mind and try to relax, letting the medicine, ice packs, aromatherapy or whatever you use do it’s job. This is a lot easier said than done, I know! But managing this stress may help you recover faster.

It takes practice learning how to manage stress, like racing thoughts and worries. Most people like meditaion, aromatherapy or listening to calming music to help relax. Drinking alcohol is not recommended to relax, as the alcohol can interfere with your medications and make you feel even more depressed (as it is technically a depressant). Ditto with recreational drugs.

I’ve also relaxed during a migraine by petting my dog, which is greatly soothing. Also, when I worry that I’m letting my folks down by having a migraine, I tell them of this feeling. This helps get it off of my chest. If it helps me, maybe it will help you, too.

Off to take another dose of Excedrin.

It takes ages for any new drug to be released to the public, partially because there must be a few clinical trials to run and analyise. Things are looking good for Tezampanel, the hoped for drug for acute migraines, though, as it has passed it’s second clinical trial. 78.2% of those given the new drug reported a significant reduction in pain within two hours of being given a dose. (Compared to 58% of those who took the placebo — hmm, just what’s in that placebo?) This trial was to see what the best dosage ammount was, and to see how quick the drug reacts. There were 306 volunteer human guinea pigs. Incidently, no reponse was given from the leaders of the actual guinea pig community as to thanking the human guinea pigs, beyond, “It’s about bloody time!”

A third clinical trial is to be held in 2008.

A Bit About Tezampenel

Tezampenel, sure to be the star of a whole slew of really annoying commercials in a few years time, is made by TorreyPines Therapeutics, Inc, as a treatment originally for chronic pain. Later on, Tezampenel seemed to work best on acute migraines (those lovely kinds with sensory amplification, vomiting and functional disability), so that’s what Tezampenel is being focused on.

Before you get too excited, so far the only way of administering Tezampenel is by a needle (subcutaneously). The ideal dosage seems to be 40mg per 24 hours. The goals for Tezampenel is to make it just as powerful (if not more so) than current migraine or painkilling medications, have less side effects and not get the patients addicted to it.

So far, the side effects seem to be pain at where the needle went in, dry mouth, dizziness and somnolence. TorreyPines announced that those were also, curiously enough, the side effects of those participating in the trial that were given a placebo.

Until then, I guess those with acute migraines are advised to ask for that placebo. (That was a joke! If you have migraines, PLEASE go to your doctor for a proper diagnosis). For more about staying healthy, check out Brick O’Neil’s Encouraging Health blog.

Keep on hoping.

Although it’s been a week and a half without a headache or migraine for me, I came mighty close to one these past two mornings. I am not a morning person, mostly because I feel so lousey. These past two mornings, I was faint and nauseated with a sensation of someone pressing on my forehead.

That pressure was most likely the mojo worked by my dog, Pony, who expects to be walked immediately after my first cup of tea. This takes a lot of energy and, this time of year, I have to be on the lookout for squirrels that Pony might try to chase. (Not that she would know what to do with them if she ever caught them, but I don’t want to take that chance). She’s far more energetic in the mornings than I am, so walking her is akin to a full body workout.

The Beggin’

I tried to get out of walking Pony because I felt a headache might come on, but Pony wasn’t having it. She fixes me with The Beggin’ Stare. I could be behind a wall of concrete and still feel it. I even picked up a tennis ball (her fave toy) and threw it, but she just kept right on staring.

I gave up and walked her. Such is the power of the Doggy Stare.

The Results

Although I haven’t exactly been conducting a scientific study, (for information on a migraine clinical study, click here) I have noticed that many mornings when Pony stares me out the door, I feel much better after the walk, even having headaches that I think are coming on ease.

Regular excercise is recommended for those who suffer from tension headaches, according to the Mayo Clinic. Not only does this help your body’s immune system and release pain-killing endorphins, but regular excercise also is a great stress reliever, which can help you relax, and thus fight tension headaches.

So, I guess that Beggin’ Stare is good for something, after all. If walking around helps me, then perhaps it might help you. But please don’t use this article as a substititue to going to the doctor.

Let’s get this point straight — I am a Peter Gabriel fan. Have been since I was 16 and now I’m….a lot older than 16. The man and his music plays an extremely important role in my life. Perhaps you have a favorite artist or idol that gets your neurons firing, too. So, when I learned that Peter Gabriel contributed original music and vocals to the “Swimming with Dinosaurs”-type movie, Sea Monsters, I was thrilled. Dinosaurs and Peter Gabriel — how can you go wrong? And, it was playing at The Franklin Institue, one of the best places to visit in Philadelphia.

And then I found out that Sea Monsters is only being shown in 3-D.

Ever open up a great present and then be told that it’s not for you and have it taken away?

The Problem With 3-D Movies

3-D movies can cause migraines, especially in those of us who have monocular vision. This means that I see out of one eye at a time, not both at once like “normal”. (I can’t even comprehend how you can see out of both eyes at once!) This not only means I can’t see ANYTHING 3-D about 3-D movies, but I see a series of strange blurs that really don’t make any sense. When the brain is confronted with visuals that do not make any sense, the brain does as best as it can to make sense of the senseless.

So, I get migraines (including vomiting, which would endear me to the other movie goers) in less than ten minutes of any 3-D film. Granted, 3-D technology has advanced considerably since my childhood, but not to the point where anyone with monocular vision is going to be able to see the movie.

Now, I haven’t had any kind of headache in about a week in a half — a record since the womb, I think — and I am really starting to like it. I really want to avoid purposefully inducing a migraine in Center City, Philadelphia, even if Peter Gabriel wrote some of the music (most of the music was written by his lead guitarist, David Rhodes.)

What Am I Going To Do?

My options are:

• Go to the movie loaded up on Excedrin and keep my eyes shut and my head down during the entire film.
• Not go and hope the film is released in good old 2-D
• Go see the film only if Peter Gabriel himself takes me out on a date to The Franklin Institute

Guess which option I’m taking? If you picked the third option, pat yourself on the back. And, if you can go see Sea Monsters, please don’t tell me about it.

Although the origins of why people get migraines is unknown, at least the history of the word migraine can be agreed upon. Today, we will shift our focus from the wacky world of medical science to the even wackier world of etymology (word stuff studies). The source for this article is the brilliant and entertaining etymology for the masses web site Take Our Word For It.

Now, the word “headache” is pretty easy to trace. There’s a head. There’s an ache. There’s a headache. No big whoop. But what about migraine? What part of your body is a “graine”, to make you moan “MY graine!”

The Source of Migraine

The root of “migraine” is from where a lot of head pains have come to us over the millenia — the Latin language. Latin is the Big Daddy language of the Romantic breed of lingos, which include French, Italian, Portugese and Spanish. The Latin term “hemicrania” (not meaning “fear of hems” but “half of the skull”) is in itself taken from Greek hemikrania. The Romans just had to spell it differently, for some reason. (In case you’re wondering, English is grouped in the Germantic breed of languages).

The Latin term “hermicrania” apparantly became too hard to pronounce by those in France suffering from migraines, which apprantly a lot of French did (insert your favorite French joke here). The pronunciation shifted to megrainia and then megraine (which is thought to have been pronounced “me-grin”).

The English version of the French word (which is intself a corruption of the Latin, which was spelled different if not pronuonced the same as the Greek hemikrania) was first recorded as megrim (which makes a much more senisble name thatn migraine, in my opinion) in the late 14th century (1300’s, for those of you slow on math — like me!) At that time, the French was still all over the place in England’s upper classes and had a profound effect on the lingo.

For some reason unknown — perhaps it fell into the bottom of the Marianas Trench, who knows — the word megrim disappeared from the mouths of English speakers in the17th century (1600’s) and was instead replaced with the French word, which we all know and love, migraine. The official word for those suffering from migraines is “migraineurs”, which I rarely use in this blog for two reasons. One, I don’t know how to pronounce it and two, I can’t be bothered to look up how to pronounce it since the word is used so little. I don’t get paid THAT much for writing this blog.

As a note about pronunciation, in America, it is pronounced “MY grain”. In England, Australia and often in Canada, it is pronounced “ME grain”. But getting into the reasons for that might trigger a migraine (or me-graine) in us all, so I’ll stop.

Hope this helps. Have a pain-free weekend.

Right. I know you will probably hate me for writing an articlke about this, but I consider it newsworthy — I haven’t had a migraine or headache in a week. (Cue Handel’s “Hallelujah Chorous”). This is especially significant as there have been two heavily cloudy days this week which usually triggers my barometric pressure headache AND I also went through an entire pre-menstral time without getting my usual pre-menstral headache.

I normally have a headache once every three days, and have a migraine once or twice a month.

If it can be done with me, there’s hope for everybody.

How’d I Do It?

Well, here we hit a bit of a snag in the good news. I’m not entirely sure how my head has managed this minor miracle. I have had a significant change in my life in the last week, which may or may not be the reason I’ve had a blessed week — I got five goldfish on Monday. I set the tank up October 1 and let it bubble and hopefull grow healthy bacteria for the new goldfish for two weeks.

They are gorgeous baby feeder fish, in my biased opionion. I’ve stopped watching television or keeping up with the Philadelphia Inquirer — now I go stare at the fish. It’s like Animal Planet but without any commercials. If I get a little tired of the fish, I just turn my head to look at my dog. The fish are (so far) helping me reduce stress levels.

Of course, I’ve also stuck to a regular excercise routine in the last few months (walking the dog daily, weather permitting), cut out Coke and Pepsi and put some money into a bank account. Think that might have something to do with the lack of headaches recently? Maybe. Of course, if it turns out that the headaches were due to lack of excercise and an improper diet all of this time, then I might get a headache realising that I’ve been putting myself through this misery!

But, for now, I beleive watching the fish are helping my headaches. Perhaps that’ll work as a placebo. Well, as Henry Ford said, “Whether you believe you can do a thing or not, you are right.” (Of course, he also said, “Excercise is bunk!”)

Roughly 50% of those with migraines also are prone to crippling motion sickness. Some medical experts think that, because of the high incidents of migraineurs also having motion sickness, there is a definate link between these two miseries. One of the theories is that low brain serotonin – also a suspect for a cause of clinical depression – is the culprit. So, if you have all three and then have kids, you can pretty much bet the bank that they will at least inherit the motion sickness from you. (”Gee, thanks Mom. Thanks, Dad.”)

Motion Sickness Sucks

Motion sickness and migraine pain are incredibly similar and in me, they are nearly identical. I get extreme pain in one or both eyes, incredible nausea, sometimes shake and sweat and have been told I turn white as a ghost. I also loose focus in my vision and often get extremely sensitive to light, sound and smell. Motion sickness hits people on various levels and severity. Fortunately, there are many inexpensive things you can do to prevent or lessen the severity of motion sickness.

Many animals get motion sickness, too, which is one reason why they scream bloody murder when in a moving vehicle. Cats, horses and dogs seem to be the most affected. There are some anti-motion sickness medications for these animals available from your veterinarian. I personally think some gunea pigs can get motion sick, but I don’t know of any medicines for them that are avialable. Fortuantely, they have enough sense to keep still throughout a car trip if they aren’t feeling their best. Never transport animals in the trunk of your car!!!

• If you know you are prone to motion sickness, take over the counter medicines such as Dramamine (in America) before you start moving. Check the package directions. There are patches as well. The motion sickness medicine I took in England had to be swallowed two hours before the trip. (!) It worked, though!
• Don’t eat a big meal before you travel. Please.
• Peppermints or candied ginger (or ginger nuts) can help ease nausea. For some people, they only need to smell essential oil of peppermint rather than stick a sweet in their mouths. Essential oil of lavender has also been reported to be effective at easing headache and nausea in some people (but not me, sadly).
• Don’t read or watch videos. Doing this will make things much worse.
• Don’t keep turning your head around to look at all the pretty scenery. Pick a point on the horizon straight ahead and keep your head still as much as possible.
• Breathe deeply and get fresh air whenever possible (not recommended on airplanes, though!)
• If somebody complains about you not looking around at the pretty scenery or not “being any fun”, puke on them. (Okay, that was just a joke…)
• If you know you are prone to motion sickness, try to plan your trip so you have time for a rest immediately after you get out of the vehicle. I usually have to lay down in a dark room. I take Excedrin only ater my stomach calms down, otherwise I’d just toss them back up.

One thing about motion sickness that I’ve discovered — gradually your body gets used to longer and longer periods of being mobile before symptoms start. So, if you ride the bus an hour a day and get motion sick, over time (if you ride regularly) your body gets used to moving about for an hour.

Hope this helps!

In reading all of these articles about what you should do when you have a migraine and how to avoid one and get treatment, you might be wondering what not to do. Fear not! Here’s a list compiled by my life’s misadventures. Hopefully, you can learn from my mistakes. They sure would make me feel better about them.

Drink Pink Champagne

On the one hand, it might seem like booze is a great idea (pink champagne is one of my favorite alcoholic beverages — which is why I haven’t touched booze in a couple of years now!)
Booze relaxes you, can sometimes numb pain and can knock you out so that you can sleep through a migraine.

Unfortunately, when you wake up, you will have the migraine.

Also, if you have a migraine, presumably you have taken some form of medication to try and ease the pain to that of a dull roar, at least. Alcohol and painkillers don’t play well together in the schoolyard of your body. There is even a potentially fatal reaction if alcohol is combined with opioid slow release painkillers.

Don’t Even Glance At One Of Those Magic Eye Puzzles

These 3-D visual puzzles, that takes “Where’s Waldo?” to the billionth dimension, were a big hit in my university days. People had posters of them all over the place. Some people even bought books of these torture devices and looked through them to relax, because apparantly a lava lamp was too tame.

My boyfriend at the time was one of these.

When you have a migraine, your eyes need to be as rested as possible. Granted, after a while you do get bored and just want to look at something to have something to do. But don’t look at anything you actually have to foucus on, not unless you are really into vomiting on a major basis.

Have Sex

Although there have been some people with severe headaches that find the release of an orgasm to help with their head pains, people with migraines can’t handle any sexual tension whatsoever. The act of sex is also just a little too gymnastic for those with a migraine. There’s also too many expectations to fufill.

That being said, some people do get strongly aroused when having a migraine, or just before a migraine. Quite frankly, you’re better off putting an ice pack on your head and on your genitals rather than engaging in sex. Seeing someone else have more fun that you are will also aggravate your migraine to no end.

Listen to Peter Gabriel

Now, for some people, they relax when they listen to Peter Gabriel, especially his instrumental work or some of the milder early Genesis stuff. I worship not only the ground the man walks on, but the ground he’s about to walk on. But, unfortunately, listening to Peter Gabriel tends to get me sexually aroused, which is not a good thing when you have a migraine (see previous point). If you need to listen to music, make it something like Chill With Bach.

Go Out To The Movies

Sitting in a mostly dark room is appealing to one who has a migraine. However, even if your date or companion drives you there, pays for the tickets and drives you home, don’t go. Not even if you’ve been planning it. Not even if the date or partner gives you a guilt trip. Not even if Peter Gabriel wrote the soundtrack….well…perhaps you could make an exception for that BUT if you get the migraines that make you extremely sensitive to light and sound, you are NOT in for a treat going to the movies, not even if you put your head between your knees and moan into the popcorn for two hours. It’s not worth it. Trust me.

And you’ll probably avoid a lot of future migraines by getting rid of a date or partner who urges you to drink, have sex or go to the movies when you have a migraine.

On October 8, 2007, 18 year old college student Erica Oritz died in New York from bacterial menigitiscaught in the greater Boston area. Although menigitis is considered a disease affecting small children, it can happen at nearly any age. This is different from viral meningitis, which is the kind of meningitis usually talked about and normally is not lethal. One of the first signs is a killer headache very akin to migrain pain, but it comes with other signs such as a stiff neck, high fever, nausea, vomiting, sensitivity to light and red or purple blotches on the skin, especially from the trunk of the body on down.

How Do You Get It?

You have to contract bacterial meningitis from someone else, say through contact with saliva through kissing or sharing food or drink from the same plate or cup.

Onset of symptoms develop very quickly. They can all come in a several hours or two days.

Another one of the symptoms is perhaps the most dangerous — disorientation. The victim probably will not think much of the condition. If you notice it in a loved one — 911 time! (999 in England). If not treated, the victim will eventually go into seizures which eventually kill them.

You don’t need to panic and check everybody’s bellies for splotches. (”But, I feel fine!” “Show the belly NOW!”) Bacterial meningitis is quite rare, but since there have been cases on the East Coast this month, it might spread. Since the symptoms minic a bad migraine, you need to know the difference between a “mere” migraine and the definately lethal onset of bacterial meningitis.

Forewarned is forearmed.

Is It Treatable?

The early stages of bacterial meningitis can be sucessfully treated with a round of antibiotics, no matter what your age when you get it. You also might have had a vaccination for it, for check your medical records. There are a couple of kinds of bacterial strains responsible for bacterial meningitis. For some more information about bacterial meningitis and about the vaccines, click here. Some colleges and universities require all of their students to have such vaccinations before they are allowed to attend. College and university students and health care workers are thought to be the groups at highest risk.

Hope this helps.

Have you ever had a really incredible dream where you realised you were dreaming, so then you were able to partially or totally take control of the dream? The ability to realise you are dreaming and help control the dream is called lucid dreaming. Although some very lucly people are born with this ability, most of us have had to learn this skill over time. There is a theory that lucid dreaming skills is what gives people the sense that they are astral travelling, or speaking to dream guides, or being visited by spirits.

However you view lucid dreaming, there is one thing that happens to some lucid dreamers like me — you wake up with happy memories, feeling high as a kite, but also with a bad headache. I also tremble as if exhausted and have balalnce problems for the first couple hours of the day. I have no scientific explanation for the headache and exhaustion I feel after lucid dreams. I call these kind of dreams “going travelling”, because how I feel is similar to arriving home at the end of an all-day trip or a few hours at an airport.

I Can’t Be The Only One This Happens To

If the only cure for these headaches, exhaustion and spacey feelings is to stiop lucid dreaming, well, I’d rather put up with the headaches than give up lucid dreaming. The headaches aren’t that bad in comparison to sleep deprivation headache or migraines and tend to go away after you manage breakfast somehow and start moving around.

After much research on and off the web for many years looking for inforamtion about how to better cope physically with the physical problems after a great lucid dream, I’ve discovered that there’s not much out there. This one blogger briefly mentions having a headache after a lucid dream. I do not know if having a personal history of other headache types puts me at more of a risk of getting hadaches and a trippy feeling after lucid dreaming.

Lucid Dreams Helped My Nightmares

One of the reasons that I won’t give up lucid dreaming is that since I started, my nightmares have lessened considerably. I’ve had nightmares since the womb. They are so vivid, so grotesque and so sudden that I wake up and can’t get back to sleep for hours, even days. This, of course, leads to sleep deprivation headaches, which are incredibly painful. So now if I’m being chased, I can turn to the chaser and tell him, her or it where to go and what to do while going there and they do. This gives a great feeling of self-esteem, which can help boost your body’s overall health.

Anybody out there in the Blogospehere have headaches, dizziness and other problems getting back to earth after a lucid dream? How do you cope? I just go about my day and eventually the headache goes away. I’d love to hear from you.

Have a great weekend, everybody.

“This is a huge market,” Dr.
Willenbring said. “We’re approaching a Prozac moment.”

Some of you reading this blog might be very familiar with the anticonvulsant drug brand Topamax (active ingredient topiramate), also used to treat bipolar disorder and Lennox-Gastaut Syndrome. But readers might know it best because it is most commonly perscribed to treat migraines. In September 2003, a London study showed that Topamax, as a side effect could help some people loose weight. Now, in a 2007 study out of Chicago, Topamax is being touted for another side effect — it makes you loose the desire to drink alcohol.

Apparantly, Topamax can help alcoholics loose the “feel good” factor they get from their chosen poison by inhibiting dopamine, the “feel good” chemical in the brain. The big news is that you can take Topamax while you are still drinking. All other medicines for alcoholics require that you go cold turkey.

Why Am I Banging On About This?

First off, it’s always good to know of a new and sucessfully proven drug for migraines. However, the cost of Topamax is over $350 per month and it must be perscribed. Secondly, although some people might know that red wine, saki or other alcoholic beverages can trigger a migraine, they drink anyway. Alcohol is a powerful, and legally available, drug. And thirdly, I was once the girlfriend of an alcoholic and boy, did I have a lot of migraines. Getting rid of him made a lot of pain go away, but not all women feel they can just kick out an abusive alcoholic relative or partner. (The reasons why are very complicated and require an entire book to go through).

However, take all factors into consideration before you go to your doctor and ask for Topamax, even if it is covered under your health insurance plan. Topamax’s side effects will not work for everybody, but does work for a lot of people tested. The anti-alcoholic side effect has currently only had one study, and so the FDA (which does approve Topamax for migraines) will not approve Topamax for going sober for many years yet, if at all.

And, if the alcohlic does not want to stop drinking, NO DRUG on earth will get him or her to stop.

Topamax does have side effects, mostly making you very drowsy and light headed, especially in the first weeks of taking it.

And one final thought — Topamax’s patent expires in 2008, making it available in generic form, which costs much less. Here’s something to think about now before the market rush.

Hope this helps.