Dealing With Headaches

It’s amazing what you discover when you’re a freelance writer with a headache and migraine blog. Somedays, I find out more about headache treatments reasearching other sudjects than I do when pursuing items specifically for headaches and migraines.

Case In Point

I recently had a client who asked me to do a series of articles on Native Americans. I jumped at the chance, because I’m part Native American (only 1/16th or so, but there you go). Since no one in my family knows anything about the tribe we’re from (long story), the only way I get to find out anything about the most vital part of my heritage is to take assignments on Native American tribal customs and spirituality.

Anyway, in my library’s copy of the Time Life series The American Indian, I found some interesting information on how the Seminole Indian healers used to treat headaches. (Seminoles used to live in the Southern woodlands of America and then were shoved to Florida.)

How Did They Cure a Headache?

First off, just like today, you were better off finding a headache specialist than going to just any old medicine man or woman. Seminole headache specialists usually wear the feathers of the yellow flicker. This specialist then diagnoses what animal spirit you have offended to give you such a bad headache. (Hey — whatever works!)

Then, you may have to lay back and cut small incisions made on your head. The bad blood is then expelled from your body. (Oddly enough, this is still practiced, in a way.)

Or, if you’re lucky, healers may give you a tea made from a shrub such as prarie willow (Salix humilis, var. tristis. This tea also was said to help bring down a fever, too. The magic didn’t lay entirely in the plant, but in the loving way it was prepared by the healer for you, kind of like when you feel better after someone makes you homemade soup.

Another plant used for Seminole Indian headache treatment was white sage (also called western mugwort, cudweed or Artemisia ludoviciana). Instead of making a tea out of it, you used it like an incense or like aromatherapy. You crushed the leaves and breathed in the scent. We still do something like this today with sniff lavender oil or peppermint essential oils to help ease a headache.

The more things change, the more things stay the same.

For the past couple of months, I’ve been taking the blood pressure mdication verapamil as a migraine preventative. You need to take it every day. If you start a migraine, taking a verapamil won’t do you any good. It’s not a painkiller. During July, I only had two migraines, which is the least amount of migraines I’ve had since the womb.

But, this month, I’ve had five (or was it six?) And technically, the month’s not over yet.

What Happened?

I guess any number of things could have happened to make me go back to having my usual number of migraines per month (MPM?) Having the current financial crisis is certainly not doing my head or my blood pressure any good. My stress levels are pretty darn high. There is an overwheming sense of impending doom about the country and, in particular, my neighborhood. There’s so much of it that I’m actually thinking of getting a gun.

There is also the thought that, since I’ve been so distracted by stress, that I have actually forgot to take the verapamil.

For Better Or For Worse

At the moment, I have no intention of quitting the verapamil entirely, even though I’m back to haing the number of migraines I had before taking the stuff. The reason is that verapamil has given me a beneficial side effect I would have killed for years ago.

It makes my menstrual cramps practically non-existent. I normally get cramps so bad that I would loose one or two days from work or school because of them. Now, it’s not much of a problem. Still, I can’t wait for menopause. I had a hot flash the other day and I would have shrieked with joy if I hadn’t slumped to the floor in a near faint.

So, for better or for worse, I’m not divorcing verapamil just yet.

After the events of the last couple of weeks, what with hurricanes, financial crisis and the death of Paul Newman, I thought we could all use a little levity. This is the kind of YouTube clip that made YouTube famous — just some kid with a webcam, a huge coffee mug, a background soundtrack and some dry ice. I happen to have a sinus headache while I type this, so watching this clip is kind of cathartic. I gave it four stars.

It’s wondering about things like this that give me a headache. Although, it can also distract me from a headache, too.

Internet forums centering on one medical condition like migraines are a much less intense version of an internet support group. Support groups can get too personal too fast for some people (like me). Also, you might just have a couple of questions about migraines and don’t necessarily want to go through all of the rigamarole of joining a support group just for answers you can’t Google. How do you pick a migraine internet forum?

Check It Out

It only takes a few minutes to click around a migraine forum to see if it’s worth bothering with. These are the things you are looking out for:

• An active forum: If no one has posted in a couple of days, then you may not get any response to your posts. Move on, Grasshopper.
• That it’s free: There are way too many free migraine forums to bother with a paid forum.
• That conversation is civil: If you click on a couple of threads and only see flaming, screaming and swearing, this is quite possibly not the most supportive community on the net.
• That evil-doers are punished: If any threads ARE full of flaming, screaming and swearing, the admin should be jumping on their backs. If there isn’t any action from the admin, then the forum may degenerate into nothing but a free-for-all.

Some Forums to Check Out

Mayflies are Methuselas compared to the lifespan of many websites, so my apologies if these forums are no longer in existence when you click the link. As of the time of this blogging, they were merrily chugging along.

• Topix Migraine Forum
• MyMigraineConnection’s Migraine Community
• HealingWell.com’s Migraine and Headache forum
• Migrainepage Discussion Forum
• Revolution Health’s Migraine-Headache Community Forum

There are thousands more around the Internet, but these coaught my eye because they were moderated, active and seemed to keep on topic. However (and this is a big however) I have never participated in a migraine or headache internet forum. That’s mainly because I can’t tear myself away from work — it’s not a reflection on any forums in particular.

Remember, the nice thing about internet migraine forums is that you don’t marry any of them. If one starts to bug you, just leave and go somewhere else.

Hope this helps.

No one and nothing seems to be safe from America’s ecomnic tsuami. Now even Big Pharma is reporting losses — and not just through the deaths of people who can no longer afford to take their medications. Let’s have a pity party for Big Pharma — nah. Let’s just point at them and laugh instead. On the count of three, folks –

One

Two

Three

HA! HA!

Reports are coming in that less people are able to get their prescriptions filled, meaning the entire industry dropped 2%. This is the first time profits have dropped since The Bronze Age (well, actually, 1996). Also, less people are going to see their doctors, although that doesn’t necessarily translate into less precriptions geting filled.

If anyone is like me, they’re walking around with a perfectly good prescription for Imitrex and absolutely no way of paying for it. Not only do I not get any relief from a migraine, but Imitrex’s evil overlord, GlaxoSmithKline, certainly ain’t getting paid for that bottle of Imitrex I can’t buy. My prescription will expire before a generic form of Imitrex is planned to hit the market in December– unless GSK comes up with a way to apply for yet another patent extention.

About F***ing Time

It was inevitable that Big Pharma was going to take a hit in the pocket book. The big surprise is that it hadn’t happened sooner. Personally, I hope this is a sign that Big Pharma will implode and then birds will sing and flowers will bloom all around the world.

It’s just notlogical to proce somethingeverybody needs so high that sooner or later they willno longer be able to afford it. The entire American health care system is like this and not just Big Pharma. Sooner or sooner than that, the entire thing is going to come crumbling down. Meanwhile, as long as some schmuck somewhere forks out all of his or her health care payments, we all suffer. The top 1 percent get their drugs, but the other 99% of us are hurting.

What would happen if one day we all just showed up at the drug stores with just a dollar for our medications? All of us? Every day? Forever? No one anywhere paying more than one dollar for a bottle of pills. Big Pharma would then have to realize that getting $1 is better than getting $0.

Off to take an Excedrin.

Lyrica (pregapalin), originally an anti-seizure medication, seems to be the cure-all for modern times. I’m sure soon it will be used to cure the economy and win the war in Iraq. All kidding aside, it is an incredibly effective pain reliever for fibromyalgia. It’s also one of the few painkillers that works reliably for my Mom and I can’t help be grateful for that. But Lyrica is also prescribed for migraines as an off-label use. Should it?

As always, please don’t use this blog post in the place of your doctor’s or neurologist’s adivce.

Can You Get Addicted To It?

You can get addicted to Lyrica, but you can also get addicted to any strong painkiller. Although I’ve never taken it, Mom reports that Lyrica can make you feel really dopey and makes whatever chair you are sitting in a whole heck of a lot more comfortable. The FDA claims that taking Lyrica can produce the same effects as Valium (diazepam).

But there are many, many people who take Lyrica or who took Lyrica and didn’t become addicted to it. If you take Lyrica and don’t actually have any pain that needs killing, then you have a really big risk of getting addicted.

And Lyrica is expensive stuff. It’s cheaper to get crystal meth. (Sad, but true.)

Does It Work?

Just in researching this article, Lyrica seems to work on migraines or chronic headaches just like any other prescription medicine — for some people it helps, some people it hurts and some people it doesn’t do much at all. The only things for sure is that your appetite will increase, you’ll sleep better than you did when you were a baby and you will have to pay a lot of money. Not all health insurance companies will cover Lyrica.

Is There a Generic?

Sadly, no generic Lyrica is available and won’t be until October 2013. However, Lyrica’s makers Pfzier will most likely apply for a patent extension long before then, possibly for migraine prevention. Let me stress this — there is no such thing as generic Lyrica. Not legally, anyway. Taking any “generic Lyrica” you may find advertised on the Internet is the pharmacological equivilent of playing Russian Roulette.

As if we didn’t have enough trouble already, a new Italian study has come out warning migraineurs that they may be more suseptable to devloping blood clots in their veins than non-migraineurs. Blood clots are potentially lethal and only things you wish on your worst enemies — or even casual enemies. The study’s results have come out in the September 16 issue of Neurology.

Study Summary

In case you let your susbscription to Neurology lapse, don’t panic. Here’s what you need to know. The study had 574 human guinea pigs participating, all over the age of 55. Only 111 had been diagnosed with migraines. All of the human guinea pigs had their necks and thighs scanned with ultrasounds to see if they had hardening of the arteries. They also had their medical histories taken into account. 19% of the migraineur group had venus thrombosis, while only 8% of the non-migraineurs did.

Although the study shrugs its shoulders about why migraineurs would have more blood clots, they do say that they doubt that migraineurs get hardening (or narrowing)of the arteries more often than other people. That migraineurs are prone to hardening of the arteries is a theory that has never been proven, not even in this study.

I almost lost my Mom to a blood clot back in 2006. She began having migraines when she was 24. She shook on a warm day, she was having trouble figuring out what was going on and she complained of pain in her chest and spreading up her neck to her jaw. She had a blood clot in her leg which dislodged and got caught in her lung. I called an ambulance immediately and they arrived incredibly quickly.

No Big Surprise

This finding shouldn’t come as any major surprise to those with migraines or living with someone with migraines. There have recently been studies centering on women’s heart problems and migraines. Women with migraines are more prone to strokes and heart attacks.

It’s not clear yet why migraines would affect circulation. Of course, when you are in agony, your heart does pound. It is also unknown whether medications that migraineurs take may be affecting their cirulation system. There’s a lot of “if”s at the moment.

Ressurecting Old Theory

One of the theories about the causes of migraines is that blood vessels are dialating and constricting. However, this is considered an old, outdated theory, but not by everyone. There are still plenty of doctors who advocate it.

If you have chronic morning headache, you might want to check this out. Granted, this YouTube video is basically an advertisement from the dental industry, (it’s even put up by Yaletown Laser Centre) but if your moring headaches or jaw pain is a bit mysterious, then a quick check of your teeth could see whether bruxism is the culprit.

About Bruxism

Bruxism is the fancy name for grinding or clenching your teeth while you sleep. You can also clench or grind your teeth without being aware of it throughout your day. You might clench your jaw during the drive to work, at work or other stressful situations. As a child, I used to grind my teeth when I slept. I learned I did because, when my brother and I were forced to sleep in the same room, he would helpfully inform me of this with “STOP THAT!!!” bellowed into my ear.

If you sleep alone and don’t have a helpful informant and your teeth have the problems listed in this video, then perhaps you do grind your teeth in your sleep.

Yesterday, I got hammered by a migraine. I dreamt I was in a small concert hall waiting for a Peter Gabriel concert to begin. It was a special concert — just him and a grand piano. And then, I began feeling really sick. I had a throbbing migraine and — surprise, surprise — woke up with it. I realized I had to leave the arena.

Now, other aspects in the dream I wouldn’t have minded waking up with. It would have neen nice to wake up with Peter Gabriel or even the grand piano. I wouldn’t have minded so much if I woke with Peter Gabriel, the grand piano and the migraine. But no, out of all of the elements in the dream, the only thing I woke up with was the damn migraine.

No Refuge In Sleep

Sometimes, when I feel a headache or a migraine come on, I can lie down and take a little nap, wake up and the migraine has been thwarted. I can’t really do that in my dreams because I’m already in bed. I do have chronic morning headache where I always wake up with some kind of head pain, but it usually goes away halfway my first cup of tea.

When I woke up yesterday, the migraine made it known loud and clear that it wasn’t going anywhere. I lay in bed for another hour because it hurt too much to move — even though all I had to do was take some painkillers with milk and that would take the edge off. I did hope that I would fall asleep and go back to the same dream and get to see at least part of the concert. Peter Gabriel concerts are not as rare as the release of a Peter Gabriel album, but they are rare enough and so if a dream concert was all I could get, I was going to grab it.

Drink Up, Dreamers

I did manage to fall back asleep breifly and get back to the dream. Peter saw me about to leave the arena and grabbed my arm. Despite the pain, I decided to stay. The crowd was a bit hostile at having to wait and so Peter was using me as a shield to get to the stage and the piano. Then, there wasn’t any cushion on the piano bench, so I lay on it and he sat on me.

This all made sense at the time. Point was, the migraine still wasn’t going anywhere. I think Peter knew I needed to deal with the migraine, and not just because the crowd was very hostile. He eventually stood up, yanked me to my feet and said, “Come with me.” A spark of hope leaped in what is left of my bosom.

And suddenly I woke up in bed with the migraine. “Bastard!” I yelled. So much for Prince Charming. Although I have also had dreams where Peter has helped cure me of various aches and pains, he wasn’t going to do it this time. I had to crawl upstairs and get an ice pack, sunglasses and meds.

Such is the happy life of a migraineur.

So far, the only known treatments for cluster headache are injections of sumatriptan you have to give yourself and oxygen therapy, which insurnace companies won’t cover in America and requires running to a hospital with an oxygen chamber. Is there a more conveinent solution? Hopefully now, there is. Clinical studies have concluded that Zomig nasal spray(zolmitriptan) can help reduce the pain of cluster headaches a half hour after taking it.

Study Details

Zomig comes in tablet, injectable and nose spray form, but the European studies were done with just the nasal spray. 121 adluts were goven a double blind test where they may be snorting either Zomig or a placebo. Two doses of Zomig was used in the test — one at 5mg and the other at 10mg. Bother doses helped to cut the intensity of the pain.

There are two kinds of cluster headache victims. There is the usual episodic cluster headache (comes and goes) and chronic cluster headaches (never goes away). The studies included members from both groups, with more episodic than chronic cluster headache volunteers.

There were several studies performed. The results were pooled together and presented at the European Headache and Migraine Trust International Congress, held in London last week. I’m afraid I haven’t been able to find out who funded these studies. I’ve got a teensy-weensy little feeling it might have been Astra-Zeneca, the makers of Zomig. WebMD reports that Astra-Zeneca “supported this research”. Hmmm.

Zomig is only licensed for migraine treatment and not licensed for cluster headache treatment in the UK or the USA. It is in Germany, the Netherlands and Denmark.

Fellow triptan drug Imitrex has also been used as a cluster headache treatment, but results have been mixed. Verapamil can lead to heart problems and can’t stop an attack once it starts.

Cluster Headache FAQ

Cluster headaches is one of the most painful conditions a human being can have. Even as a long-time migraineur, I concede that cluster headaches are more painful than migraines or even concussions. Cluster headaches usually affects more men than women and sets in when you are about 28, 29 or 30. Attacks tends to come in cycles, usually starting a short time after the victim falls asleep and happening for many nights in a row before mysteriously vanishing into the choas from whence it came.

I haven’t had a migraine in a few days, but a little voice at the back of my mind keeps inisiting that I’m going to have one at any moment now. It’s been saying that for two days. It doesn’t say this in words, but in sensations throughout my body. Most of all, I feel a sense of impending doom and utter exhaustion. Does this happen to any other migraineur, or am I just lucky?

Possible Explanations

It is hurricane season as I write this. Ike has just made Texas feel small and before that was Hanna and Gustav. I live in the greater Philadelphia area, which rarely gets major hurricane action (the last one that hit bad was 1999’s Hurricane Floyd) so why should I worry about hurricanes? Perhaps my brain is being bothered by the rises and dips of barometric pressure. Changes in barometric pressure is often the cause of nasty headaches for many people (including me).

Another possiblilty is that my major depression has gotten a tighter hold of my body, causing it to release a feeling of impending doom and gloom. Depression will definately make you feel exhausted, no matter how healthy you are. Perhaps I’m having symapthy pains for the victims of this year’s hurricanes.

Another possiblity is the nightmare of McCain and Palin winning the November Presidential election. Although logically they don’t stand a chance, this is the American Presidential election we’re talking about. Just look at the last one and the one before that. (Rimshot). If they do win, I think I’m going to buy a gun to protect myself from the ensuing chaos.

What To Do?

Although I’m not sure what’s causing this feeling of imprending doom that migraines and armageddon are just around the corner, I am trying to work against it. First off, I’m trying to laugh at myself. Secondly, I know I have butterscrotch ripple ice cream in the freezer (I don’t know about you, but that’s a comforting thought to me). Thirdly, I’ve just looked at my bills and have suddenly found some energy to drag my sorry self to work.

And yes — I’m still taking the medication.

It’s next to impossible to save on perscription medicine costs, but even if you save only a couple of bucks, then you still have saved something. First off, don’t order medications online. You never know what you’re going to get. And any email you get promising discount drugs is just a phishing scam. Delete it and then delete your delete file and that way you’ll miss out on one kind of headache, at least.

Go Generic When You Can

Some states, like Pennsylvania, have laws that pharamacists MUST always use generics when filling a prescription, unless the patient requests otherwise. But there are many places that don’t have these laws. So, of course, your prescription will be filled with the most expensive version possible.

Unfortunately, not all medications for migraines or chronic headaches come in a generic format. For example, Imitrex is one of the most popular triptans for stopping a migraine just as it starts. However, it costs so much that I’d rather have the migraine. But plans are under weigh for it to go generic this December. Guess what’s on my Xmas list?

Comparison Shop Your Pharmacies

Chances are, you have a few pharmacies or chemists within walking or short driving distances. They can charge whatever they want for medicines, just as they can for most any other products sold in their stores. (Newspapers are probably the only exception).

Check Out PAPs

Not that test women get every year at the gynecologist, but Patient Assistance Programs (PAP). They are thought to be the wave of the future of medication insurance, since current health insurance screws so many people when it comes to their needed prescription drugs. Not everyone is going to be helped by a PAP, but there’s no harm checking out if you’re qualified. These are avilable only in America.

• Partnership for Prescription Assistance
• NeedyMeds
• Patient Assistance Program Center
• Medicare Rights Center

What’s the Active Ingredient?

As long as you know the active ingredient in your medication, you don’t have to use the perscription brnad name a doctor may give you. Some of the active ingredients may be in over the counter drugs and in store brands of over the counter drugs. Sure, still check with your doctor before going this route, but it may help.

Every now and then I talk about concussions on this blog, because they are a big source of headaches…and a big potential source of future headaches if not seen to immediately. You can get concussions or head injuries from sports, stupid stunts (like this fellow was doing) or working at Macy’s.

This is a very short clip by “Dramatic Health” that shows the average problems you can get if you don’t get your head injury checked out right away. This guy was lucky. He could have wound up a lot worse.

One thing that might sound completely unbelievable is that after being hurled to the pavement, this fellow claims that his head didn’t hurt. Oddly enough, he’s probably telling the truth. A blow to the head may make the pain nerves not fire. When I had my last concussion, I didn’t get the head pain until nearly an hour after the blow. Until then, I was more dazed than anything else. The security guard at Macy’s got a cold compress on me right away, which may have helped dull the pain.

On this happy note, try to have a pain free weekend.

How long is a piece of string? I find the answer to that and I still won’t find out the answer to how long one of my migraine attacks last.

Where Am I?

I was hit with a migraine Monday and I still haven’t gotten over it yet. I’m starting to think it’s the same migraine, but it comes and goes in waves. It’s as if I’ve been cast from the good ship Healthy and left to flounder in the Migraine Sea. Some hours the sea is calm and other times I’m bopping on wind-whipped waves. But I’m still stuck in the same sea.

The Phases of a Migraine

I think my migraine attacks come in phases, but they won’t necessarily be the same as yours.

• The Warning Phase: Can last from ten minutes to ten miliseconds. I used to get auras, but rarely get them anymore. Now, I just get a weird pressure in some region of my face and then sounds will suddenly become intolerably loud and light intolerably bright.
• The Migraine Quake Phase: It makes you laugh. It makes you cry. It definitely becomes a part of you. For me, this can last anywhere from a half hour to two and a half weeks.
• The Aftermath Phase: This lasts for a couple of days to a week, where I’m still shaking from the initial migraine quake. And I do physically feel shaky, as well as having a dodgy stomach.
• The After Shock Phase: This is when I get another migraine without recovering fromt he previous phase, but this pain isn;t as intense as in Phase Two.
• Nothing Finally Happens Phase: Otherwise known as “healthy”.

Does this also happen to you or do your migraines just hit and run?

In case you didn’t know it, this week is Invisible Illness Awareness. If it wasn’t for a mention on a few mingraine-related blogs, I never would have known. It’s certainly a very quiet little official week. I guess that’s only to be expected from a bunch of invisible illnesses.

Which, of course, leads me to the obvious question –

What the Hell is an Invisible Illness?

Well, I thought the quick answer to that would be found at the National Invisible Chronic Illness Awareness Week website. How wrong I was. After scrolling through jewlery advertisements for those stupid little ribbon-shaped pins and bracelets, badges for this product and that seminar and even a big thank you to Christian Sheep Magazine or whatever it’s called, in a tiny little corner of the bottom of the webpage did I actually find the information to what I was looking for.

An “invisible illness” is an illness that can’t be seen on your face or body instantaneously, unlike such illnesses as leprosy.

Huh?

Most illnesses look pretty damn visible once you get to know somebody for two minutes. They’re clutching their heads, projectile vomiting or screaming at you bloody murder for getting into their aura. For example, it’s very apparent when someone is having an attack of cluster headaches or a are in the mainc phase of bipolar disorder. So, I’m still not entirely sure what they’re talking about.

Those Ribbons Are So Over

After clicking through the National Chronic Invisible Man Syndome Whatever website, I also have no idea what the point of the chairty is, except to sell pins and bracelets. Can we stop it with the ribbons already? They’re everywhere now and have lost their uniqueness. They just blend in with the landscape like air molecules.

Now, as regular readers of this blog know, I’m not the brightest spark in the blogosphere. I also have three “invisible illnesses” (major depression, migraines and chronic headaches) and yet I can’t muster up anything but skepticism for this “awareness week”. It looks like a front for the jewelry industry. And if I’m skeptical of it, then others will, too.

Sponsor some legislation or a clinical trial and then I’ll change my mind.