Migraine Prevention Category

While it is easy to understand that during and just after a migraine attack sex would not be on the mind of most women, researchers from Italy found that over all sex drive and desire is reduced in women who suffer with chronic migraines.

The researchers examined 100 women, with an average age of 40. The women gave in depth histories about their sex lives. It was found that these women experienced greater stress in general and specifically when it came to sex.

Previous studies have reported an association with migraines and depression (which is also known to negatively affect sexual desire and activity).

Reducing the number of and intensity of migraines, as opposed to taking pain pills, helps to reduce stress and concerns about when the next attack may occur.

If you suffer from chronic migraines learn about how to prevent them and take back control of your life. www.migrelief.com

Curt Hendrix, M.S., C.C.N., C.N.S

Research from Florence Italy, published in the Journal of Headache Pain seems to contradict the long-standing belief that alcohol is a major trigger of migraine headaches.

But for those of  you who become Irish for the day and want to partake in the fun, even if you are a migraine sufferer, the research seems to indicate that a moderate amount of alcohol is probably not the cause of many migraine attacks.

Though many articles talk about alcohol as a migraine trigger, there is actually very little scientific data confirming this.

RED WINE TRIGGER?

For those of you who DO get migraines from red wine, it may have more to do with some of the other chemicals in red wine, than its alcohol content.

But, the bottom line is, if you know red wine gives you migraines, avoid consuming it and try white wine instead.

If you not sure about other alcoholic drinks, try a small amount and see how you respond.  You may find, that the alcohol has little or nothing to do with your migraine attacks.

AVOIDING HANGOVERS

If you do consume too much alcohol, some studies indicate that chemicals in asparagus may reduce the side effects of a hangover.  Other studies have found that taking a tablespoon of Evening Primrose Oil and a teaspoon of a probiotic powder may help to avoid hangover symptoms in many people.

Enjoy the holiday,

Curt Hendrix B.S. M.S. C.C.N. C.N.S.

I recently read that there was a big party after the Emmy awards at the Playboy mansion. The article said that Shawn “Ditty Combs,” the record and entertainment mogul, was in attendance. During the party Combs fell victim to an extremely painful migraine attack and had to be taken to a local hospital for treatment.

Also this month, comedian Russell Brand was reported to have to leave the stage in the middle of a performance because he had a migraine attack that was just too debilitating.

It is not known to us if either of these two celebrities is chronic migraine suffers or just experienced a single, random migraine. Usually, but not always, attacks this severe are associated more with chronic migraine sufferers.

For those who are chronic and suffer with the question “When” as opposed to “If” the next attack will occur, prevention is the clear choice. Eliminate the threat of not knowing when the next attack will occur and what it will suddenly disrupt or what plans will have to be cancelled.

We have helped hundreds of thousands and we can help you too. Please visit to www.migrelief.com for more information.

Curt Hendrix M.S. C.C.N. C.N.S.

In previous articles I mentioned that chronic migraine sufferers accumulate tiny lesions in their brains over time. Initially when this research came out, there was no wayof knowing if these lesions had any negative effects on brain function.

 The good news is that a second study done by researchers at the Harvard Medical School confirmed the results of the first study done in Paris, that in fact, over time the lesions did not lead to any increase in cognitive decline when comparing migraine sufferers to people without migraines.  THIS IS REALLY GOOD NEWS!

In fact, one of the several cognition tests that were used to measure cognitive decline, indicated that migraine sufferers had less cognitive decline than non-sufferers.

Curt Hendrix, M.S., C.C.N., C.N.S.

If you suffer from 1 or more migraines a week, you are a good candidate for pursuing options that prevent your migraines, instead of constantly taking pain medications after the migraine starts. To learn about a very successful option, please go to www.MigreLief.com

SOME OF THE MOST SEVERE MIGRAINES THAT HAVE EVER BEEN REPORTED TO US HAVE OCCURRED DURING SKIING TRIPS.

This is not surprising and in fact a condition called “High Attitude Headaches” (HAH) is described in the medical literature.  It is part of a more extensive syndrome called “Acute Mountain Sickness, which has additional symptoms like:  loss of appetite, nausea and sleeping problems.

HAH is common in mountain climbers and skiers and tends to occur more when the altitude is 7000 ft. or higher, and the risk increases as the altitude goes up.

Remember the altitude of a town is sometimes expressed as its base altitude, not the highest altitude when at the top of the mountain. So while a town with an altitude of 5500 ft is under the 7000 ft level, the altitude at the top of the mountain could easily be 7000 ft. or above. The lower the altitude, the less risk there is of developing HAH.

Headache relief may come from descending to lower altitudes and inhaling oxygen, though some migraines once started will not respond to this.  If non-responsive, sufferers can try whatever rescue medicines they think work for them. For non-migrainous headaches, analgesics like paracetamol or ibuprofen may help, less so with migraines.

Prevention

• Ascend to higher altitudes slowly
• Avoid over-exertion (which may be difficult if skiing), if you have experienced HAH previously, allow 2 days to acclimate before exertion
• Limit alcohol as much as possible
• Drink lots of water

So, if you are planning a skiing trip and headaches, especially migraines are an issue that you repeatedly deal with, if possible, you may want to choose a location where the base altitude is under 5000 ft. high.  Remember the actual altitude at the top of the mountain can be 2000 ft. higher than the base in some locations.

Below is the base altitude of some of the top ski resorts in both the Eastern and Western United States.

Base Altitude of Ski Resorts – Western United States*

1. Vail, Colorado  8150 ft.

2. Aspen, Colorado 7909 ft.

3. Alta, Utah  8950 f.

4. Jackson Hole, Wyoming  6500 ft.

5. Snowbird, Utah 8100 ft.

6. Breckenridge, Colorado 9600 ft.

7. Taos, New Mexico 6967 ft,

8. Telluride, Colorado 8750 ft.

9. Sun Valley, Idaho 5920 ft

10. Heavenly, California 6500 ft.

11. Squaw Valley, California 6200 ft.

12. Crested Butte, Colorado 8885 ft.

13. Big Bear, California 6750 ft.

14. Mammoth, California 7950 ft.

*This is the altitude at the base of the city; the heights at the top of the mountains in these cities can be over 10,000 ft for some locations.
Ski Resorts – Eastern United States

1. Stowe, Vermont  723 ft.

2. Lake Placid, New York 1800 ft.

3. Smugglers’ Notch, Vermont 1030 ft.

4. Mount Washington Resort, New Hampshire 3625 ft.

5. Burke Mountain, Vermont 1256 ft.

6. Killington, Vermont  1165 ft.

7. Jackson, New Hampshire  1026 ft.

8. Jay Peak, Vermont 2153 ft.

9. Sugarloaf, Maine  1417 ft.

10. Okemo, Vermont 1134 ft.

Some of the most severe migraines that have ever been reported to us have occurred during skiing trips.

For most chronic migraine sufferers, trying to control and/or eliminate their almost daily migraines seems like “Mission Impossible”.  But with MigreLief, it’s ‘mission accomplished’ for literally tens of thousands of chronic migraine sufferers.

Living a life of consistently taking pain relievers for you migraines, is tantamount to giving up on the idea of stopping your migraines before they start.  With MigreLief this is now possible, as user after user report both on our site (www.migrelief.com/testimonials) and on our Facebook page.

By correcting 3 of the major changes that occur in migraine sufferers and not in people without migraines, MigreLief maintains normal brain function that is necessary to avoid migraines from starting.

MigreLief corrects:

1-      Cellular energy deficiencies that occur in chronic migraine sufferers.

2-      Prevents excessive platelet clumping, which causes arteries to expand and trigger nerve pain.

3-      Keeps arteries from spasming.

Your mission, should you decide to accept it, is to try MigreLief for 90 days and learn that no matter what you have tried in the past MigreLief makes taking control over your migraines…MISSION POSSIBLE.

It seems to be clear from multiple studies that women are more vulnerable to the negative effects of alcohol consumption.

Because women have less water in their bodies than men, they accumulate higher levels of alcohol in their blood when drinking the same amount as men.  This happens even if the woman weighs the same amount.

Therefore, women are more susceptible and are at higher risk for liver, heart and brain damage, from alcohol consumption.

The long talked about effect of alcohol consumption on breast cancer risk, is not as clear as it was thought to be. Recent information indicates that up to a drink a day does not increase the risk of developing breast cancer.

Though a larger percentage of men drink consistently and are more likely to become alcohol dependent, drinking is most common for women in their 20’s and 30’s and increases with stress, divorce, separation and living with a partner who drinks.

What Exactly Is A Drink?

Any of the amounts below constitutes ONE drink:

A bottle of beer (12 ounces)

A wine cooler (12 ounces)

1.5 ounces of 80 proof alcohol

5 ounces of wine

Though most women realized the risk of drinking while pregnant, studies show that over 50% of pregnant women drink at least through the first trimester.

One study reported that 58% drank while pregnant, while 65% drank during the first trimester and 56% and 54% during the 2^nd and 3rd trimesters, respectively.

Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS) is the most common and preventable cause of mental impairment and birth defects in newborn babies. Simply put, pregnant women SHOULD NOT DRINK ALCOHOL!

The bottom line is that except when pregnant, a drink a day is OK for women and may even be beneficial.  Averaging more than a drink a day for women makes any benefits disappear and introduces increased health risks as discussed above.

Curt Hendrix, M.S., C.C.N., C.N.S.

Dr. Marc Siegel and Dr. David Samadi weighed in on Fox News Live this morning regarding a recent study that supports a connection between migraines and depression.  He stated, “90% of all headaches we have are migraines. It’s a very good study but we don’t know if it’s the fact that you have migraines that make you depressed… maybe your lifestyle changes, maybe it’s intractable, because you are so bothered by the headaches.  Or is there something that the migraine does to the brain that alters it and makes it more prone to depression?”

“It’s 80% more likely you’re going to get depressed if you have a migraine.  So the message for people out there is be on the lookout for depression if you get migraines,” Dr. Siegel concluded.

Dr. Samadi stated it was just an observational study, not cause and effect, nevertheless useful information.  “If you get migraines, talk to your physician because there could be signs and symptoms of hidden depression.”  The doctor can then discover the depression and treat both the depression and the migraines with medication at the same time he suggested.

Two things should be noted about this morning’s news cast commentary.

First of all 90% of all headaches are not migraines.  There are two types of headaches, primary and secondary.  90% of all headaches are known to be “Primary Headaches,” whose subcategories include tension-type headaches, cluster headaches and migraines, tension –type being the most common.

Primary headaches are merely headaches that are not caused by underlying medical conditions while secondary headaches are the end result of some other medical condition such as inflammatory headaches due to a brain tumor, infection, or trauma.

Secondly, I wanted to suggest that any migraine sufferers considering prescription drug treatment for both their migraines and depression should be aware of a possible danger known as “Seratonin Syndrome” which I’ll explain at the end of this article.

The study referred to by Fox News was a recent Canadian study that concluded that people who get painful migraine headaches may be at a higher risk for developing clinical depression.

According to Reuters Health, Dr. Peter Goadsby, professor of neurology and director of the Headache Center at the University of California, San Francisco, said research linking depression and migraine headaches goes back several decades. He called the study a “useful contribution” to existing research.

Geeta Modgill, lead author of the study and her group gathered data from the Canadian National Population Health Survey, which profiled over 15,000 people and followed up with them every two years between 1994 and 2007.

Overall, about 15 percent of the people in the study experienced depression and about 12 percent experienced migraines throughout the 12 years of the study.

Cases of depression were significantly more common among people who had migraines at the beginning of the study – 22 percent of migraine sufferers got depressed, versus 14.6 percent of those who didn’t have migraines.

That made participants with migraines 80 percent more likely than people without the headaches to develop depression, and the link held up after adjusting for other influences like age and sex.

People with depression were also 40 percent more likely to develop migraines than the non-depressed.  The association disappeared when the data were adjusted for stress and childhood trauma, however.

The study also cannot determine cause and effect for the link seen between depression and migraine.

The research, published in the journal Headache, also implies that the relationship may go both ways, and people with clinical depression could have a higher risk of developing migraines.  The researchers conclude that the finding could have been due to chance.

Despite no evident mechanism, Modgill said, “Something is going on here.”

Migraine and depression sufferers should know the signs of both ailments since each might be at a higher risk for the other condition.

WHAT IS A MIGRAINE?

The frequency and intensity of migraines can vary among sufferers but commonly is characterized by

• a throbbing headache often localized to one side of the head.
• intense head pain usually gradual in onset, then progressively more painful.
• sometimes accompanied by a pronounced sensitivity to light and sound or nausea and vomiting.
• a dull, deep and steady pain or throbbing and pulsating if severe
• can occur any time of the day, through it often starts in the morning.
• pain in the temples or behind one eye or ear, although any part of the head can be involved.
• may be accompanied by a variety of sensory warning signs or symptoms, such as flashes of light, blind spots, temporary loss of vision or tingling in your hand or face (MIGRAINE WITH AURA)
• pain lasting a few hours or up to one or two days,
• occurrence varies – once or twice a week, or only once or twice a year.

WHAT IS DEPRESSION?

According to the DSM-IV, a manual used to diagnose mental disorders, depression occurs when you have at least five of the following nine symptoms at the same time:

• a depressed mood during most of the day, particularly in the morning
• fatigue or loss of energy almost every day
• feelings of worthlessness or guilt almost every day
• impaired concentration, indecisiveness
• insomnia or hypersomnia (excessive sleeping) almost every day
• markedly diminished interest or pleasure in almost all activities nearly every day
• recurring thoughts of death or suicide (not just fearing death)
• a sense of restlessness — known as psychomotor agitation — or being slowed down – retardation
• significant weight-loss or gain (a change of more than 5% of body weight in a month)

Because of the migraine-depression connection, I wanted to bring up a topic I covered in an earlier MigreLief Blog Post – the danger migraineurs face when attempting to treat both depression and migraine headaches at the same time with prescription drugs.

WARNING:  ANTI-DEPRESSANTS AND MIGRAINE DRUGS -
POSSIBLY A LETHAL COMBINATION!

Migraine sufferers should be aware of the dangers of combining some anti-depressants with prescription migraine medications.  Unfortunately, the mechanism of action of many antidepressants is to increase serotonin (a feel good neurotransmitter) levels in the brain. Triptan drugs like Imitrex, which are used to reduce or end the pain of a migraine attack also work by stimulating serotonin receptors.

This combination of antidepressants and triptan migraine drugs, can lead to too much serotonin in the brain. This is not a good thing and can result in a potentially life-threatening condition known as “serotonin syndrome.”

In some people, just the use of triptans drugs such as Imitrex or Zomig alone can result in unhealthy levels of serotonin, leading to serotonin syndrome. This risk increases substantially if these people are also taking an antidepressant like Pristiq or any other of several antidepressants known either as SSRI (selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors) or SNRI (serotonin-noradrenaline reuptake inhibitors).

The symptoms of “Serotonin Syndrome” are:

Rapid heart rate and high blood pressure
Agitation or restlessness
Confusion
Dilated pupils
Loss of muscle control or twitching muscles
Heavy sweating
Diarrhea
Headache
Goose bumps
Shivering

In severe cases of serotonin syndrome life-threatening symptoms can occur:

High Fever
Seizures
Irregular heart beat
Unconsciousness

If you and your physician decide to use this combination of drugs, you must be monitored very closely for any of these signs and symptoms of serotonin syndrome.

If your migraines are bad enough, your physician may decide to stop the antidepressant so that you can use the triptan drugs with less risk (though as mentioned above, they alone, in some users can cause serotonin syndrome).

A win-win solution for many migraine sufferers who are also suffering with depression is to switch to the all-natural migraine prevention supplement, MigreLief.  There is no additional risk of Serotonin Syndrome when using MigreLief.

Prevention is clearly the best option to a lifetime of treating the pain.

Curt Hendrix, M.S., C.C.N., C.N.S.

When the number of migraine days per month is under 15, the patient is diagnosed with episodic migraine.  If 15 or more per month, the patient is considered to have chronic migraines.

The women in this study originally had episodic migraines that over a course of years converted to chronic migraines.  (This is called transformed migraine.  i.e. transformed from episodic to chronic).

It is believed that transformed migraines can come about due to multiple factors like: poor sleep habits and/or pain killing medication over-use.

86% of the women in the study reported non-restorative sleep.  In simple terms this means they still felt tired when they awoke in the morning. 80% of them watched TV or read in bed.  70% awakened between 1-6 times a night to urinate.

The women were instructed to:

• Move dinnertime to 4 hours before bed time
• Limit fluids taken 2 hours before bedtime
• Allow for 8 hours a night of sleep and not to vary their bedtimes more than 30 minutes
• Not to listen to music, read, or watch TV in bed
• Not to over-use migraine medications
• Stop taking naps (even though they were tired from poor sleep)

Improvements in migraine frequency happened rather quickly after implementing the “better” sleeping habits.  Within a month and a half, 35% of the group reported fewer migraines.

By the end of 3 months 58% of the women who implemented the recommended sleep changes went back to being only episodic sufferers.

The good news is that these recommendations work and that all except one of the women who implemented ALL of the recommendations reverted to being episodic from chronic.

The bad news is that women kept three or more of the bad sleep habits they didn’t improve.

So discipline is important.  Implement all of the recommended sleep changes, they are really not that hard.

What may also prove to be very exciting is to implement these sleep habit changes and combine them with doing 3-4 days a week of moderate exercise (i.e. brisk walking, moderate weight-resistance with dumb bells). Recent studies have shown that moderate exercise 3-4 days a week can prevent migraines as well as a prescription medication.

Do both of the above and don’t forget to take your MigreLief (www.migrelief.com ) and your migraines may very well be a thing of the past.

Curt Hendrix, M.S., C.C.N., C.N.S

We just wanted to remind you about some helpful hints that can reduce your chances of developing a migraine:

1. Stay well hydrated. An 8 ounce glass of water every couple of hours.
2. Scents and odors can trigger migraines. Don’t hang around people who smoke and ask your fellow employees to go easy on the cologne of perfume.
3. Bright or flickering lights can also trigger migraines.  If you work a lot on a computer use an anti-glare screen/filter.
4. Healthy snacks every hour or so can prevent drops in blood sugar than can also serve as triggers to migraines.
5. Pay attention to prodromal symptoms (symptoms like dizziness, visual or speech impairments) which occur prior to the pain of the migraine striking. Sometimes taking an ibuprofen during this period can prevent the full migraine from occurring.
6. Small amounts of caffeine may help with migraine pain, but large amounts will cause more migraines to occur.
7. If you suffer from several migraines a month, or have 15 or more headache days a month, you are a good candidate for preventive therapies. The best all-natural and proven one is MigreLief.   www.MigreLief.com