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STUDY CONFIRMS GOOD NEWS FOR CHRONIC MIGRAINE SUFFERERS
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 way of 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
FRIDAY THE 13th….Is there a reason to fear it!
Reading about superstitions and ancient beliefs can generate a range of emotions from hilarity, to disbelief, to utter shock.
Wikipedia reports that “The superstition surrounding Friday the 13th is referred to as friggatriskaidekaphobia (Frigga being the name of the Norse goddess for whom “Friday” is named and triskaidekaphobia meaning fear of the number thirteen).”
According to folklorists there is no written evidence for a “Friday the 13th” superstition before the 19th century. One theory states that it is a modern amalgamation of two older superstitions: that 13 is an unlucky number and that Friday is an unlucky day. Interestingly, any month that starts on a Sunday, will have its 13th day fall on Friday.
According to the Stress Management Center and Phobia Institute, “an estimated 17 to 21 million people in the U.S. are affected by a fear of this day”. I was surprised to learn that Delta and Continental airlines say that their airlines do not suffer from any noticeable drop in travel on those Fridays.
There is also no consistent agreement that accidents increase on Fridays that occur on the 13th day of a month. Nevertheless, the superstition surrounding Friday the 13th continues to survive.
Fortunately, other superstitions and ancient beliefs regarding migraine headaches have been forgotten and replaced with other less scary and less shocking options.
Hippocrates also attributed migraines to vapors making their way up to the head from the stomach and thought that the headache pain could be relieved by throwing up.
Ancient Egyptians would tie a strip of linen to tie a clay crocodile to the head of the migraine sufferer. On the linen were written the names of the Gods who they believed could cure their ailments.
Though their theory may have been questionable by modern medicine standards, the unintentional compressing of the scalp and blood vessels with the weight of the clay alligator may have helped and it was certainly better than their previous cure of rubbing a fried fish on the head of the migraine sufferer.
During medieval times a solution of opium and vinegar was applied to the skull. The thought being that the vinegar helped the opium to absorb better. This is not an unreasonable theory and one of the more scientifically based ancient concepts to treating migraines.
A much scarier ancient approach to migraines was called Trepanation. Holes were drilled into the skull to allow evil spirits or demons to escape. I wonder if that is where the expression “You must have a hole in your head” came from.
Here’s one that makes you shake your head. It has nothing to do with migraines, but was so strange I just had to mention it.
Ancient Egyptians also shared the early Greek belief that hysteria in women, now known as Conversion Disorder, was caused by a “wandering uterus,” and so they would fumigate the vagina to lure the organ back into proper position.
Finally, getting back to migraines, witchcraft associates migraines with the full moon and says these migraines can be totally prevented by placing a blindfold over the 3rd eye, the pineal gland at the base of the skull on the neck.
Well what have we learned?
1.) We may have very little reason to be afraid of Friday the 13th.
2.) Compared to ancient options, MigreLief is looking more and more like your best option to preventing your migraines.
3.) If you feel a bout of hysteria coming on, try to avoid treatment by any ancient Egyptian or Greek healthcare professional.
Curt Hendrix, M.S., C.C.N., C.N.S.
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Mountain Sickness! Altitude Increases Your Chance of Migraines!
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
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- 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.
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.
MISSION POSSIBLE – PREVENTING MIGRAINES
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.
Curt Hendrix, M.S., C.C.N., C.N.S.
Headaches and Migraines Impair Attention & Learning
HEADACHES/MIGRAINES IMPAIR ATTENTION IN CHILDREN AND ADOLESCENTS AND MAY NEGATIVELY IMPACT LEARNING
It is difficult enough for children to perform academically at acceptable levels in school. The last thing they need is the pain of headaches and migraines to decrease their ability to pay attention and learn.
However this is exactly what happens to them according to a study done in Milan, Italy and published in the journal “Headache”.
The researchers compared 14 children who had migraines with aura, 29 who had migraines without aura and 19 with tension type headaches versus 52 children without headache that were matched for age, sex and intelligence.
Upon analyzing the data the researchers found that regardless of the type of headache they had, the children in the headache group had problems paying attention when compared to the non-headache children. The researchers stated that this could lead to long term negative impact on learning and academic performance.
Loading these children up with pain fighting medications, many of which have undesirable side-effects, is not the answer to helping these children. Preventing the migraines from occurring at all or significantly reducing the number and intensity of migraines, is clearly the first choice for parents who are trying to figure out what to do.
The natural, safe and mild option of original MigreLief, for children 12 and above and Children’s MigreLief for children ages 2-11 is the answer. For more information, please go to www.MigreLief.com
Curt Hendrix, M.S., C.C.N., C.N.S.
[REPORT] MIGRAINE HEADACHES AND THE ARMED FORCES
Those of you who suffer with migraine headaches know how debilitating and incapacitating they are. Imagine going through the training that soldiers have to go through while suffering from a migraine. Imagine being in life-threatening situations and having to perform and make split-second decisions with the pain and possible visual and cognitive disturbances (aura) that accompany some migraines.
According to research done at Johns Hopkins Medical Center, headaches/migraines are among the top reasons for depletion of military personnel in Afghanistan and Iraq. Steven Cohen M.D. stated “War amplifies all stressors, which may be why headaches take such a great toll in Soldiers overseas.”
There has been a 27 percent increase in military diagnosed migraines between 2001-2007. In a report from the Armed Forces Health Surveillance Center, Christopher Martin wrote “The number of people in the military diagnosed with migraines for the first time increased 27 percent from 2001 to 2007, leading to more missed work time. Among male soldiers, incidence rates of migraine increased nearly 60 percent from 2002-2007, a period of continuous U.S. Army combat operations in Afghanistan and Iraq.”
This is reality for tens of thousands of our men and women in the armed forces. For some whom experience just occasional migraines, over the counter medicines may be of help. Once migraines start to occur on a chronic basis, the risk of over-using the meds to try to control the problem is also very real and can result in an increase in migraine/headaches. This is a condition known as medication-overuse- headaches.
In addition, the side-effects that many users of prescription migraine medications can experience are:
- Nausea
- Abnormal sensations, such as tingling, burning, or pricking (paresthesia)
- Dizziness
- Drowsiness
- Feelings of heaviness, pressure, or tightness in the throat, chest, or neck
More serious side effects with the class of drugs known as triptans are:
- Severe chest pain or tightness and shortness of breath
- Sudden severe abdominal pain (stomach pain)
- Bloody diarrhea
- Changes in vision, including loss of vision
- Dizziness, light headedness, or fainting
These side-effects would be of serious concern in combat situations and of course, need to be minimized or avoided completely.
Avoiding (preventing) these migraines as opposed to having to treat the pain with either OTC or prescription drugs is clearly the best option.
MigreLief, a multi-patented, natural medicine supplement for chronic migraine sufferers, which has virtually no serious side-effects and no risk of over-use headaches, is a real answer to this growing concern of the impact of migraines on the armed forces.
Curt Hendrix, M.S., C.C.N., C.N.S.
[Study] Risks of Taking Pain Killers For Migraines
Prescription pain killers such as Vicodin (hydrocodone) OxyContin (oxycodone), Opana (oxymorphone) and methadone can cause significant rebound headaches in chronic migraineurs who use these drugs.
The over-use of these drugs is alarming. There were enough prescriptions written for these drugs in 2010 to medicate every adult in America, around the clock for a month. The drug companies are laughing all the way to the bank.
In 1999, 4000 deaths due to these drugs were reported. Just 9 years later that number increased more than 350% to 15,000.
We are the most medicated country in the world, yet our life expectancy is not even in the top 40 countries of the world. Our medical insurance costs are the highest in the world, but we are nowhere near the healthiest people in the world.
Now additional studies are showing that triptan drugs like Imitrex, Zomig, Frova, Maxalt and Relpax, which are used to try to reduce the pain of migraines, are dangerous for people with heart disease. The drugs constrict arteries which is a dangerous mechanism for people with heart problems.
Yet the study reports that physicians are prescribing these drugs to people with heart problems who shouldn’t be taking them. In fact the study reported that 22% of people with heart conditions were prescribed a triptan during one year.
A well-known headache physician, Stewart Tepper of the Cleveland Clinic reporting for WebMD states, “That figure is very upsetting, I never would have thought it was that high.”
Add this concern to the fact that if over-used, these drugs cause additional migraines to occur as rebound headaches due to medication over-use, and it becomes clear that getting off of these drugs and preventing migraines from happening in the first place, should be the goal of all chronic migraine sufferers.
Go to ww.migrelief.com to start on your drug free pathway to finally controlling your migraines.
Curt Hendrix, M.S., C.C.N., C.N.S.
Study Supports Link Between Migraines and Depression
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 newscast 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.
- dull, deep, and steady pain or throbbing and pulsating if severe
- can occur any time of the day, though 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.
- maybe 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
- Goosebumps
- Shivering
In severe cases of serotonin syndrome life-threatening symptoms can occur:
- High Fever
- Seizures
- Irregular heartbeat
- 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).
Adding nutritional support to your daily dietary regiment with a supplement like MigreLief to help maintain cerebrovascular tone and function as well as cerebrovascular comfort is also very beneficial for migraine sufferers. There is no additional risk of Serotonin Syndrome when using MigreLief.
To the Best of Health
Curt Hendrix, M.S., C.C.N., C.N.S.
Pain Killing Medicines – An Update You Need to Know About
Whether for back pain, arthritis pain, headaches or general body aches, tens of millions of people use pain killing medications on a daily basis.
Recent FDA concerns about the safety of certain pain killing medications focuses on the drugs Percocet and Vicodin, both of which contain acetaminophen plus either hydrocodone or oxycodone.
Acetaminophen over-dose is currently the largest cause of liver failure in the United States.
The FDA is concerned that people without realizing it may be using drugs like Percocet or Vicodin in addition to taking products like Tylenol which also contain acetaminophen and exposing themselves to over-dose and potential liver damage.
Though not official yet, the FDA is thinking about reducing the highest daily dose recommended for acetaminophen down to 2600 mg/day down from 4000 mg/day.
For those of you who use acetaminophen containing products frequently, you may want to discuss with your physician if you need to modify your usage or consider switching to other pain killing alternatives like ibuprofen.
Also, recently the drug companies that marketed Darvon and Darvocet have removed those products from the market due to possible heart irregularities they can cause.
Best of Health,
Curt Hendrix, M.S., C.C.N., C.N.S.
Simple Hints on How to Reduce the Risk of Getting a Migraine
We just wanted to remind you about some helpful hints that can reduce your chances of developing a migraine:
- Stay well hydrated. An 8 ounce glass of water every couple of hours.
- 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.
- Bright or flickering lights can also trigger migraines. If you work a lot on a computer use an anti-glare screen/filter.
- Healthy snacks every hour or so can prevent drops in blood sugar than can also serve as triggers to migraines
- 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
- Small amounts of caffeine may help with migraine pain, but large amounts will cause more migraines to occur
- 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.
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