Dealing With Headaches

Recently, I had a client ask me if I was interested in doing a series of articles on vascular migraines. (Remember, I’m not a doctor –I just know too much.) I’d never heard of vascular migraines. I am familiar with the now mostly shelved theory that migraines are caused by blood vessels ( the vascular system) expanding and contracting. (It’s not thought that migraines are caused by chemical imbalances, but no one is 100% sure).

There are also a lot of health websites out there that claim that migraines are “vascular headaches”. Huh?

Migraines and Headaches

Migraines are different from headaches in that the pain is one side of the head, while in a headache, both halves of the head are unhappy. Migraines also can involve auras or other crippling symptoms like extreme senitivity to light, dizziness and writing blogs about migraines and headaches. (OK I made that last one up).

But many doctors and nuerologists do make a distinction between headaches and migraines.

In Conclusion

In my research on migraines over the years, I haven’t found anything to support the idea that vascular migraines exist. Vascular headaches could be a whole other story. There are two reasons why some doctors still think that blood vessels play a big part in migraines:

• Beta-blockers that lower blood pressure like verapamil taken daily can often reduce the number of migraines a migrainuer gets
• Migraineurs are more prone to getting stroke or “mini-strokes” than people who don’t get migraines.

However, many people with migraines also have either epilepsy or clinical depression. All three of these have one similarity (other than they all suck) — the chemical serotonin. Antidepressants like SSRIs can sometimes help migraineurs — even if they aren’t depressed.

It’s enough to give you a migraine, isn’t it?

It’s that time again, where we all scramble through our blog archives to see if we have anything to submit for the monthly migraine and headache blog carnival. You have until midnight Friday, October 10 (EST) to get a submission link in to Diana Lee over at Somebody Heal Me, or to use the blog carnival submission form. As always, you don’t get any money for it, but you do get great publicity for your blog and a score of good information from the great wide blogosphere.

It’s suprising how many places links for the September blog carnival you can find now. Remember — the more places that link to the blog carnival, the more links to your site and the more more traffic you get.

The blog carnival will be posted Monday, October 13 at Somebody Heal Me. Your blog does not have to be a headche oriented blog like this ‘un, just the post should be of general interest to those suffering from migraines or chronic headaches.

This Month’s Topic

October’s topic is “The Relationship Between Migraine Disease and Depression”. They seem to go together like bread and beadcrust, don’t they? Not all people with migraines or chronic headaches develop or already have clinical depression or another type of depression, but a lot do. Migraines and depression also can be often found in those suffering from epilepsy. So far, the prevailing theory is that serotonin is the culprit for migraines, depression and epilepsy.

My Other Blog

Oddly enough, I think the above paragraph is the most I’ve ever written on the relationship between migraines and depression, despite the fact that my other 451 Press blog is called Depression Talk. For some reason, the topic seems to baffle me. Perhaps it’s too personal a subject for me to tackle, since I suffer from migraines and major depression. It’s always easier to give advice to others than it is to give advice to yourself. At least, that’s my honest advice.

So, I’m really looking forward to seeing everyone else talk about the strong but unexplained link between migraines and depression. It doesn’t mean I will necessarily follow anyone’s advice, but I’m still looking forward to reading it, all the same.

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!

Well, isn’t that just like Murphy’s Law (or Sod’s law, for those who live in the UK)? You get migraines which can be too painful for breathing, let alone sex, and yet your sex drive may be more intense, according to the findings of a 2006 Wake Forest University study. This stonger sex drive happens in people with migraines, not tension headaches. The study found that men and women with migraines have a 20% stronger sex drive than those without migraines.

How did they come to this conclusion? The scientists gave out questionnares to 37 women and 31 men and asked them about their migraines and their sex drive. They had to answer whether they thought they had a bigger sex drive than the average person. So, if migraine sufferers don’t actually have a stronger sex drive, they either

• think they do
• or lie really well (no pun intended)

Granted, a mere 68 people is hardly an accurate representation of not only the human population, but of the population of migraine sufferes. Perhaps all of the other people given questionnares were too busy either having a migraine or doing the Wild Thing in order to reply.

As remarked on before in an earlier post on this blog, orgasms are considered good for relieving any kind of body tension. It’s not the sex that’s important here for treatment — it’s the orgasm (no pressure there, fellas).

It has been thought that a person’s serotonin imbalance, thought to affect not only headaches but depression, also triggers a stronger desire for sex. In yet another study (science is suddenly getting more interesting), Dr. James R. Couch, MD PhD (that’s his name — go figure) discovered that nearly 20% of migraine sufferes found relief from an orgasm.

I can tell you right now that neither of these studies ever got in contact with me. And I can tell you right now that I’m one of the 80% who does NOT find any relief from an orgasm…well, I can’t even get in the mood, let alone climax becuase of the pain. So I have no idea who these scientists are studying because they sure don’t seem to be from this side of the rainbow.

Now that this post is done, it’s time I lock myself in my bedroom with my Peter Gabriel album covers. Until next time!

We’ve all heard of the cliché’d wife who denied her husband some marital lovin’ because of a headache. Seems that this imaginary woman is both lying and telling the truth.

Research has shown that sexual activity can help ease migraine pain. This is because usually migraines are accompanied by lower levels of activity in serotonin nerves; during orgasm, serotonin is secreted in abundance.

Something should also be said for the relaxation effect a good session of lovemaking can give. Since destressing techniques such as yoga, meditation, gentle stretching and massage are commonly suggested for maintenance of tension and migraine headaches, could we not also assume that the peace that can come from a good workout between the sheets could aide as well?

Conversely, some men and women can be affected by benign coital headaches - a pain generally felt either immediately before or following orgasm. Quite severe and spanning minutes or hours, these headaches are generally assumed to be due to muscle contraction and/or blood vessel dilation in the head and neck.

More serious is the sudden new onset sex headache - one that can be described as the worst headache of the sufferer’s life. Until ruled otherwise, this unusual headache is a medical emergency, as they are usually due to a brain hemorrhage or other serious life-threatening situation. Medical attention is needed immediately.

Sources: Dr Dave and Dee, Newsnet5

sex headache, coital headache, hemorrhage, tension headache, serotonin, sex

Don’t forget to vote in this week’s poll!

If you’ve never had a migraine, it’s likely you’ll never truly appreciate just how painful and debilitating they can be. Headache patients often are asked to rate their pain on a scale of 1-10, with 1 being mild discomfort and 10 being the most intense pain you can imagine. For me at least, migraine is about a 12 — a couple orders of magnitude beyond anything you could imagine.

Here’s what it’s like:

Migraine is a primary neurological disorder involving the trigeminal nerve and muscles and blood vessels in the scalp. While the mechanism is not fully understood, experts believe serotonin levels in the brain play a key role. The most widely used medications for migraine prevention are intended to raise serotonin levels. Serotonin also has been linked to chronic depression and sleep disorders. Many chronic headache sufferers struggle with these conditions as well. I am one of them. I took a high dose of amitriptyline for several years that provided some relief from all of these conditions. The drug eventually quit working for me, which frequently happens.

Migraines vary in length, usually four to 72 hours, and frequency. Some people have one every few years. I have two to three a month. They usually last one to three days. Most people have “classic” symptoms. Nausea is common, as are hypersensitivity to sound or light. About 15 percent of migraine suffers experience aura, which includes a wide range of symptoms like seeing colored lights or numbness of the face that indicate a migraine is imminent.

There is no cure for migraine, but the majority of sufferers can be treated with varying degrees of success. About 10 percent of migraine sufferers do not respond to the most common treatments currently available.

migraine, serotonin, aura, amitriptyline