Dealing With Headaches

Many migraineurs are prescribed beta-blockers taken daily in order to prevent migraines. This is an off-label use, but many migraineurs have benefited. Now, a Dutch study has come out suggesting that beta-blockers may have another potential off-label use — blocking bad memories in the brain.

Study Specs

The study was on 60 people with a laboratory-induced phobia. 30 of them were given propranolol (stuff I was on for a month, but my body hated it) and the other a placebo. They tested how startled a person was by flashing a picture up of the thing they had been conditioned to hate.

Conditioned to hate? These 60 were given “mild electric shocks” whenever pictures of spiders were flashed before them, in the hopes of creating bad memories with spiders (or pictures of spiders). I thought getting mild electric shocks would condition you to hate medical researchers and not spiders, but that’s why I don’t volunteer for these things.

Anyway, the propranolol group were far less started by pictures of spiders than the placebo group. The theory is that the beta blocker has somehow blocked the way the brain processes attaching emotionas to memories, particularly bad ones. The participants claimed that they still could remember being shocked when shown pictures of spiders, it just didn’t seem all that frightening to them.

Also, the researchers say that more work needs to be done before anyone with a severe phobia or post traumatic stress could be helped by this.

More Harm Than Good?

Although I’m not a doctor, I think I can safely claim that it’s never a good idea to take medications you really don’t need to take. There’s also concerns over whether taking a pill to block out bad memories may also block out good memories. There is also a concern that this may predispose someone to Alzheimer’s.

If you are concerned about long term side effects with beta blockers for your migraine prevention, then talk to your doctor. Don’t just stop them, because then you will get a migraine, and that will definately leave a bad memory.

I’ve been thinking about medical marijuana, partially because I’ve had to write some web articles about the subject this year. Since there is such a strong fear of universal health care in America (and fears about the crumbling NHS in Great Britain), what alternatives are there for the average person? Not much — but for some instances, medical marijuana would certainly help.

Although this clip focuses on Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD), medical marijuana is also known for being a very effective pain killer withut side effects (although you will get hungry and then really sleepy.) There are people with killer migraines, cluster headaches or other incredibly painful headaches that can’t afford medical care, so they have no choice but to get some relief from street weed. If our governments won’t put price caps on medicines, health insurance or Big Pharma greed, then perhaps they should just let us grow our own stuff. It would certainly keep us quieter.

I should also mention that you don’t have to smoke marijuana to get the pain-killing benefits. For example, when I lived homeless in England (and posession was legal), I would make a chai (Indian spice tea) with it when I had incredible pain. At least I could then get some sleep.

Like any other drug or herb, marijuana won’t help everyone. Some people react badly to it — even the small amounts used in medical marijuana cookies or tea.

I only started watching Countdown with Keith Olbermann this year, so I do not know what year this clip was filmed. I’m guessing 2003, but I’m probably wrong. Hmmm — 2003 I was still living homeless in England.

Although sticking needles in your body doesn’t seem like the best remedy for chronic headache, it’s better for you than aspirin. That’s the findings of a new study done by Duke University. Comparing accupuncture to regular aspirin, acupuncture gave the most releif to those suffering from chronic headaches.

Study Details

About 4,000 human guinea pigs volunteered for this one, and God/dess bless you all. You’ve probably saved the lives of 4,000 real guinea pigs. Anyway, the study was blind in that paitents were wither given aspirin, acupuncture or “sham acupuncture”, where acupuncture needles were insterted in other areas of the body not used to help treat chronic headaches. In the study, chronic headaches also included migraineurs and chronic tension-type headaches.

Acupuncture’ s benefits to your body are not apparent on the first visit. According to the study, you need five or six visits to get long-term relief. Many acupuncturists or Traditional Chinese Medicine practitioners also prescribe Chinese herbs along with acupunture treatments, but I could not find if any herbs were added in the study.

65% of the acupuncture group found releif in the severity and duration of their attacks while only 45% of the aspirin group did. Comparing sham acupuncture to real acupunture, sham acupuncture didn’t do too shabby at 45% while real acupuncture gave 53% relief. (That’s due to the placebo affect.)

Doesn’t It Hurt?

Acupuncture needles are incredibly thin — even thinner than innoculation needles. Usually, you don’t feel anything, but sometimes you do. Then, the needles feel like a mosquito bite or, at the worst, a bee sting. However, dogs, cats and horses tend to fall asleep during their acupuncture sessions and you will probably feel sleepy, too. Animals tend to go for acupuncture treatments for back problems, arthritis or chronic allergies that aren’t responding to conventional therapy.

Acupuncture is one of the few alternative therapies that some health insurance companies will cover (all or in part). You have to check with your health insurance to see about payment. You may need a referral from your primary doctor.

Don’t Toss Your Meds

In case you do get acupunture for chronic headaches or migraines, don’t expect to go completely off of the painkillers. It is nice to be able to lower your dose when you can, since long term use of painkillers can bring on health problems like ulcers.

And, as always, please don’t use this blog post in the place of your doctor’s advice.

Hope this helps.

The latest theory in migraine treatment is to have a drug targeted to peptides, a chemical that the brain apparently releases when under migraine attack. The shady suspect’s full name is target calcitonin gene-related peptide (or CGRP). The hope is to make something just as effective as triptan drugs, but without the side effects. No word as to how much more expensive the new class of drugs will be in relation to triptans (which already have price tags in the stratosphere.)

Go Philly

Philadephia may be proud of finally getting their Phillies to the World Series after 15 years, but Philly is also home to Thomas Jefferson University, one of the nation’s leading medical think-tanks. It’s also home to Dr. Stephen D. Silberstein, who wrote an extensive report about the current new drugs in development for The Lancet, perhaps England’s most prestigious medical journal.

Gap Blockers

If all of this seems familiar, it’s because reports of these new kinds of drugs have been coming out for some time now. There still isn’t a rock-solid reason as to why we get migraines, but Dr. Silberman’s report claims that blood flow and constricting blood vessles don’t have anything to do with it.

Instead, the blame is laid on “corticol spreading depression”. Once an attack starts, chemicals fire, which sets off a chemical chain reaction. New drugs in development such as the gap blocker Tonaberast are hoped to stop this chain reaction. It’s also hoped that the new drugs can stop the making of the peptides we talked about earlier. Gap blockers are available in very limited means and in clincial trials in the UK.

I’ll be honest with you — I’m having a very difficult time trying to find out if gab blockers are any different from this new drug, known as a CGRP antagonist. The latter apparently works by chemically telling peptides what to go do with themselves.

Would Not Be A Magic Pill

The study notes that even if gap blockers and peptide antagonists are proven to stop a migraine, it probably won’t bring 100% relief to 100% of migraineurs. There will still be a need for regular exercise, keeping a headache journal, getting regular sleep and learning all you can about headaches and migraines in order to avoid them.

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.

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.

I’m currently reading a book entitled Touching Peace: Practicing the Art of Mindful Living by Vietnamese Buddhist monk Thich Nhat Hanh. Although not a book devoted to pain management, he does give an original approach as to how you could deal with your pain.

Greet your pain and treat it with affection as you would a guest in your house. “If you embrace a minor pain with mindfullness, it will be transformed in a few minutes.” (p 30). In my case, the minor pain would be transformed into screaming agony, but I do see his point.

Anticipation and Panic

One of the things Buddhists talk about is mindfulness, which means living in the present moment instead of dwelling on the past or fearing the future. (I know there is a lot more to the concept of mindfullness than that, so to any Buddhists out there, please forgive me). It has long been known that meditation or at least being calm and relaxed can help your pain be less intense.

When you have chronic headaches or migraines, it’s not just the attacks that are fearsome. It’s the time between the attacks, when you are afraid when the next one is going to hit and how severe it’s going to be and how long will you be out of comission and will be able to pay the bills and OHMYGAWD! The fear starts small and then rolls on very quickly to a huge problem.

Being afraid of when the next attack hits puts you in a constant state of stress, which is not goog for healing or to maintain good health. So, your fear can make you more prone to having the very attack you fear. Not being in a constant state of dread can help you in managing your chronic headaches and migraines. It also makes life a lot more comfortable in between attacks.

What To Do

Thich Nhat Hanh gives some suggestions on how to greet your pain with mindfulness. He does not claim to be a doctor and still says you should see a doctor for pain. When you realize a headache or migraine is coming, still take your meds, but also welcome the visit of your pain and even the guest it brings along, Fear.

Say to it, “Hey, how are you? Take a load off. Some weather, huh?” or whatever you would say to a houseguest. Thich Nhat Hanh suggested, “Fear, my old friend, I recognize you.” He also says you should smile at your fear and pain, greeting them as clamly as you can. In this way, they won’t be such bullies.

I’m going to try this approach. It certainly won’t give me any bad side effects.

Many posts ago, I talked a bit about biofeedback for tension-type headaches. It was difficult to find accurate information for that blog post. (Come to think of it, it was also hard to find innaccurate information on biofeedback for migraines, but I digress). This news story done by Washington, DC ABC affiliate WJLA gives a bit more information for those who could be interested in neurofeedback for migraines.

You do have to get past the stutters and stumbles at the very start of the clip, but once you’re past that, it’s all systems go. They show PacMan as helping you learn how to control your brainwave activity, but there are also other games available. However, you probably won’t get to choose what game you play when you go to a certified specialist.

The clip does go on to claim that “doctors report patients having as much as 90% improvement with neruofeedback”, but they didn’t name their sources. However, if you’ve ever been able to will yourself not to sneeze, cough or vomit, than you already know how powerful the mind can be in controlling some bodily functions once assumed to be involuntary.

If you are interested in neurofeedback or biofeedback for migraines or tension-type headaches, then you could ask your doctor for a recommendation or try checking the virtual Yellow Pages.

It’s nearly been a month since I started taking verapamil as a daily preventative for migraines. So fat in July I have had a grand total of one migraine (knock on wood). I have had sinus headaches and barometric pressure headaches, but they are far more manageable with over the counter painkillers for me than a migraine, which basically knocks me right into a fetal position.

The Good News

I had an appointment with Dr. Fountain-of-Youth-Face this morning, and so far all is going about halfway according to plan. I don’t have to see him again for another six months, unless things get worse. I can also check back in a couple of weeks or so to see if he received any more free triptan nasal spray samples.

I also received a prescription for the dreaded Imitrex. However, it looks like my insurance will cover most of it and I will only have to pay the co-pay, so I might as well give it a go. I had tried the Zomig nasal spray samples and wanted to continue with that, but we’re not sure if Zomig would be covered by my health insurance. Since Imitrex (which is covered) is an inbred cousin to Zomig, I’ll be using that.

Isn’t health care in America fun, boys and girls?

The Not-So-Bad News

My Mom has noted that sometimes I get a little trippy after I began verapamil. I guess sobbing after last week’s Greatest American Dog was a tip off. (But I loved Elvis the Jack Russel from New York!) Also, on my first day on verapamil, I complained to Mom about the evil church cathedral organ music being played — somewhere in the world. I couldn’t hear it — but I knew it was being played, and that annoyed me.

The next day, the music that I couldn’t hear was gone. This week I’ve been upped to two mini-pills with the hope that I can take three pills.

This is goign to be fun.

A recent study in The Cohrane Library published in the Land of Oz (Australia, of course) concludes that oxygen therapy may significantly help those suffering from cluster headaches or migraines. 210 human guinea pigs volunteered to participate in nine small studies around Oz in order to compare treatments. Cluster headeadche patients, in partuicular, did much better than placebos after 15 minutes of breathing in an oxygen chamber.

Normobaric and Hyperbaric Therapy

There are two kinds of oxygen therapies. Sadly, just breathing in and out like usual doesn’t count. Anyway, normobaric oxygen therapy refers to breathing pure oxygen from an oxygen tank. Buy hyperbaric oxygen therapy (the one considered so promising) involves going in a chamber and breathing pure oxygen. Why the chamber? The chamber is put under pressure.

No, I have no idea what this means, either.

Which Leads Us To The Problem

Finding an oxygen chamber is just about as hard as trying to comprehend oxygen therapy. Critics of the Oz study point out that the migraine or cluster headache might even be over before the patient can begin snorting the pure oxygen. Also, oxygen tanks are highly flammable (not that this hasn’t stopped us from driving cars). However, this could be a first step in finding a far more practical solution.

Meanwhile, keep on taking your usual medicine.

I first heard about ear candling through James’ Headache & Migraine News Blog. I thought he was joking. You know , in the same way the some people consider NASCAR a sport and Paris Hilton a celebrity. Sooner or later, someone is going to pop out and say, “Decades-long-April Fool! Ha!” Then, my life would make that much more sense.

Welcome to the Real World

Unfortunately, James wasn’t kidding and my own Dad became a NASCAR fan. Although I have had to bitterly accept the latter, part of me still holds out hope that ear-candling is the world’s biggest online hoax. However, I had a client ask me if I was intersted in writing a series of How To articles on ear candling to treat vertigo and sinus headaches. I had to say no, but was astounded that the request was serious.

I’m Not Against CAM Therapies, But

I do happen to be proponent of complimentary and alternative therapies, especailly those I have tried myself. However, I can’t get behind ear candling. Now, how do you tell if a CAM therapy is probably a bunch of crap and better left alone?

• You stick something inside of your body and then SET IT ON FIRE
• You are given a scare tactic that you have poisons inside of your body that need to come out. Unless you just chugged cobra venom, you really don’t have much to worry about. These poisions are usually just called “toxins” and are rarely, if ever, given specific names.
• You’re told it’s a Native American tradition and all the Native Americans you know are asked about ear candling, reply with, “Say WHAT?”
• You stick something inside of your body and then SET IT ON FIRE. I realized I’ve repeated myself there, but it can’t be stressed enough — fire and your body do not mix.

Hope this helps.

It’s a beautiful day in the Pain-er-hood
A beautiful day for a neighbor… Howdy, neighbor! Hope you are having a great day. No? You say your life sucks because of acute migraines, which really aren’t so cute? Well, follow me to the Land of Make Believe, otherwise known as the wacky world of Phase I Clinical Test trials for new drugs, where anything can happen and usually does.

Can You Say ‘Transdermal’? Sure You Can!

One of the suppossed breakthroughs in modern medicine is the creation of the transdermal patch. That’s one of those white bandage doo-hickeys you tape to your body and then absorb the medicine bit by bit through your skin. This really isn’t much different than the medicinal poltices or herbal compresses native healers have used for thousands of years. However, it wasn’t hip until the success (read=lots of money made) on the nicotene patch.

Why am I not keen on transdermal patches? Because I have realtives who can’t have them because for some strange reason their bodies soak up all of the goodies in the patch IMMEDIATELY. This has lead to some very sick relatives. However, those that used the nictoene patch when they tried to quit smoking were pretty happy until they found out why they were so happy.

The Latest Future Star

NP101 is the trail name of the transdermal patch for acute migraines that has done well so far. It is put out by NuPathe, Inc, a very small pharmaceutical company reported to be “privately held” (sounds painful.) The patch is a combination of sumatriptan (the active medicine in Imitrex) and “NuPathe’s SmartRelief™ proprietary iontophoretic transdermal technology”. (No, I don’t know what that means, either, but it sure sounds impressive, doesn’t it?)

The Nitty Gritty

NP101 was tested against Imitrex nose spray, tablet and injections. There were 23 human guinea pigs descibed as “healthy”. I assume that means the subjects were not prone to migraines if they were “healthy” and that the migraines were chemically induced. I could not find details of that fact on the Internet or in NuPathe’s press release.

The big hope is that the patch can give you the same relief as with triptans, but without the wacky side effects. It didn’t give any serious side-effects to the 23 volunteers except swelling of the skin at the patch site. Although some reports say this patch will be availbale in a year, odds are with the way Phase II and Phase III Trials have gone for other drugs recently, that it will be at least two years.

Whoops. That’s all the time we have for this episode, boys and girls. Time to go back to real world where all your dreams are clouded by a haze of blinding migraine pain and splintering dry heaves. Bye for now!

There’s a bit of a buzz throughout the British press about a class of migraine drugs called “gap blockers” that are available in the UK on a limited basis. Unfortunately, these drugs don’t remove Gap stores from the face of the planet. That’s another type of headache altogether. No, these gap blockers are to help prevent migraines by directly affecting brain chemistry to keep certain nuerons from firing. Many of these drugs are still in the clinical trial stage.

Don’t We Already Have Those?

There are a lot of drugs available to prevent migraines, including Imitrex (which yours truly might be moved onto soon if her current medication doesn’t pan out). However, these drugs tend to have some really heavy-duty side efffects, including asthma, hair loss and sudden wieght gain. There’s also the usual “risk of harming foetal development”, but that tends not to apply to most migraineurs because we’re too busy having migraines to have sex.

The big buzz about the gap junction blockers for migraines is that they work just as well as a drug like Imitrex, but without the side effects.

As a point of interest, an article in the Daily Telegraph went on to explain how migraines are treated:

Once attacks happen they can be treated with powerful painkillers such as codeine and anti sickness medication.

Day -YAM! When I lived in England, I was NEVER offered codeine for my multitide of migraines. Where’s my codeine? I think I’m due some codeine!

Tonabersat

Get used to that name if you have migraines. That’s suppossed to be THE migraine drug of the future, although it is still in development. It’ll probably cost an arm and both legs when it comes out. The good news (financially speaking) is that dosage seems to be less than for other drugs.

The thing that really, really bothers me about gap blockers is that I can’t remember if I ever wrote about them before on this blog along with other migraine drugs in development. Obviously, this is proof that all of my neurons definately aren’t firing.

Well, the good news is that there doesn’t seem to be any proof that magnet therapy causes migraines. Otherwise…

There are certainly a lot of complimentary and alternative medicines for headaches and migraines in the world. They’ve been here long before contemporty medicine and will most likely still be here after modern civilization crumbles due to catastrophic environmental upheaval that happens so quickly that society cannot adapt…

..oh, sorry. I also write science fiction stories and work for a New Zealand environmental blog and I just get carried away at the slightest provocation sometimes. Like this incredible heat wave that is currently choking the area where I live.

Back to Magnets

Magnet therapy has been used to cure everything from gout to grumpiness. It does seem to have positive some positive effects for tired backs of dogs and horses. However, if you’re looking for a headache or migraine cure (and if you’ve come to this blog, the chances are good that you are) you’re better off with an ice pack and a dark room.

However, magnetic therapy is a lot cheaper than going to the doctor and has not been proven to have any bad phsysical side effects, so many people have tried it and (until health care costs come down) many people will continue to try it.

Back in January of this year, a study from the University of Virginia came out backing magnet therapy for many medical misadventures, including migraines and headaches. Apparently, maganets that are ten times the strength of good ol’ refrigerator magnets can penetrate the first skin layers to have an actual effect on your circulation.

All clinical trials until then had shown that magnet therapy couldn’t do much except for a placebo effect.

Why Am I Banging On About This?

I’ve noticed the magnet question being raised on a number of blogs and social bookmarking services, even though there has not been any recent study of magnet therapy that I can find. But magnet therapy products can sell over $300 million annually, so somebody is certainly doing a private study or his or her own.

Either that, or perhaps that someone is a mad scioentist hoping to plant microscopic metal filings in out blood so he can control our every movement through the use of magnetic manipulation…

…oh, I’ve done it again, haven’t I?

Off to splash cold water on my face.

There is a popular theory that one of the reasons we get migraine is due to a magnesium deficiency. There’s also some thought that the body also may be going through deficiencies in calicium and/or ribolfavin (one of the B vitamins). Apparently, most people don’t get the daily requirements of magnesium (let alone that of calicium or ribolflavin).

Part of this theory about migraines being due to magnesium deficiency is based on thinking that migraines are caused by constricting blood vessels. This theory is on the outs, being replaced by serotonin levels being the culprit. But the sad fact is that no one knows what is the actual physical action that produces migraine pain.

Any Proof?

Part of the basis for this lack of magnesium theory is that some migraineurs, given enough magnesium to choke a horse, would report that they got less migraines. There was a 1992 French study that showed some promise, but that was only on 55 controls and 79 miraineurs. Another 1996 study, this time from Germany, and the migraineurs were all women suffering from menstrual migraine (so at least you had a pretty good idea of when the migraines would hit). In 12 weeks, the migraine reduction was 41% for those recieving whopping amounts of magnesium.

What’s the Catch?

I haven’t found any long-term studies done about magnesuim therapy for migraines. I wonder if, a year or two later, those same women with menstrual migraines were getting their migraines with the sme intensity and frequency as before? Any kind of new therapy can trigger the placebo effect int he body. The placebo effect is an amazing thing — but the problem is that you have to keep switching your placebos once or twice a year.

Also, taking such large doses of magnesium can get you very sick, especially if you already have kidney troubles. You also will get diarrhea. You can usually get all of the magnesium you need just by certain foods you eat, such as bananas, whole grains, beans, soy products, seafood, dark leafy green vegetables and milk.

For Pete’s sake, don’t start experimenting with a bottle of magnesium tablets. Talk to your doctor first!