Avoid Back to School Migraines | Guide for Parents & Students

Back to school time can literally mean headaches for kids as they adjust from a relaxing summer vacation schedule to a more stringent daily routine. Everybody knows that going back to school can be stressful – different teachers, new friends, and a whole new set of responsibilities can overwhelm even the most confident of kids or teenagers. Parents should be aware that their children are at higher risk for developing headaches and migraines at the beginning of a new school year. As high as 35% of kids can suffer from some type of reoccurring headache, and up to a quarter of those headaches can be migraines. Emotional issues, stress, and sleep issues can cause migraines in these children. As the number of attacks increase, depression and sleep disorders can escalate.

Head pain can range from minor nuisances to extremely uncomfortable, and when they become chronic (constantly recurring), they can take a serious toll on a child’s ability to go about daily life. There are several types of headaches: cluster headaches, tension headaches, sinus headaches, and many more. However, one of the most common (and intense) types of head pain is the neurological disorder migraine.

Migraine in Children is Often Overlooked
While adults typically have one-sided head pain with migraine attacks, children often experience pain on both sjides of the head and the headaches are commonly accompanied by sensitivity to light and sound. Pediatric migraines are usually much shorter in duration than adult migraines making them hard to treat. Sometimes a child will develop a severe headache, stomach pain or nausea, and then vomit and the episode is over. For this reason, parents and doctors alike may misdiagnose migraine as something else.

Migraines don’t just affect adults; some children start suffering from them as early as the age of two, and it is estimated that around 10% of all school-aged kids and teenagers get migraines periodically. Children’s migraines may be more bilateral such as pain across the forehead as opposed to unilateral, one side of the head. The pain may be of shorter duration than an adult’s migraine and less frequent.

Children may also experience abdominal migraines, severe stomach pain without a headache which may or may not be accompanied by vomiting. If you child experiences cyclic vomiting or stomach pain, ask your pediatrician about abdominal migraine. Unfortunately, doctors and researchers are not completely sure of what causes migraine. Migraines are thought to be hereditary. A child with one parent who suffers with migraines has a 50% risk of developing them. If both parents suffer with migraines, the risk increases to 75%.

What Are Migraine Triggers?
While on the surface migraines seem to come out of nowhere, most people can identify at least some of the factors that set off an attack. These factors are called triggers, and they vary from person to person. For some, triggers can be as specific as particular sounds or smells, while for others, their triggers can be extremely common daily events like stress or hormonal changes, and therefore are much harder to avoid.

Learning to identify triggers can significantly reduce both the amount and the severity of migraines as the new school year starts. According to the National Headache Foundation, the amount of migraine and headache-related visits to the emergency room by children between the ages of 5 and 18 increases every year around fall.

As you may have already guessed, stress is one of the main culprits of back to school migraines; children as young as five can feel anxious and overwhelmed about schedule changes, new extracurricular activities, and everything else that comes with the beginning of a new academic year. But stress is not the only factor that can set off migraines on school-aged children and young adults. Other common triggers include:

Sleep deprivation
The National Sleep Foundation recommends that children between the ages of four and 13 get 10 to 12 hours of sleep every night. A good night’s sleep is not only essential for growth and development; it also has been shown that sleep deprivation is one of the most common migraine triggers for both children and adults.

However, more than 90% of high-schoolers and nearly 80% of middle-schoolers start school before 8:30 am. It is also common that teens don’t fall asleep before 11:00 pm, making it harder to get the recommended amount of sleep each night. As if that wasn’t enough, during the first weeks of school, thanks to all the stress and excitement of the new academic year, kids and teens find it even harder to get enough sleep.

Skipping meals
Skipping or waiting too long between meals is also a big migraine trigger for school-aged children and young adults. During the first few weeks of school, as kids settle into their new schedules, it can be easy to skip breakfast or grab a quick snack for lunch, but this could mean bad news for migraine sufferers.

Skipping meals or waiting too long to ear, can cause blood sugar levels to drop too low. This is called hypoglycemia and it usually causes headaches even for people who don’t suffer from migraines. Migraine attacks and headaches caused by low blood sugar levels are usually more painful and can last longer than other attacks. They also tend to be accompanied by blurred vision, nausea, excessive yawning, sweating, and mood swings.

Screen time
It is important to monitor your children’s screen time to avoid migraines and headaches. Most of us have suffered the consequences of spending too much time on the computer or staring at our phones; our eyes hurt, our neck becomes stiff, and almost inevitably a headache creeps in. Migraine attacks triggered by the computer or phone screen are becoming increasingly common now that we spend a good portion of our days on our electronic devices.

Prolonged screen time has been shown to trigger migraines for several reasons: first, fixating your eyes on a monitor for a long time requires effort from both your brain and your ocular muscles, both of which have to work quite hard to keep focused on the screen for an extended period of time.

Also, extremely bright screens can trigger migraines in people who are photosensitive (sensitive to bright lights). Aside from these factors, hunching over the computer, tablet or phone can lead to neck and back pain which can worsen migraines.

Dehydration
Did you know that healthcare professionals estimate that 75% of Americans are chronically dehydrated? There is a lot of controversy regarding how much water a person should drink; some sources recommend 8 glasses, others have said that the appropriate amount is between 11 and 15 cups, and others assure that drinking 2 to 3 cups of water every hour should be enough to keep you hydrated.

Remind your kids to stay well hydrated. Ultimately, the amount of water people need is based on a variety of factors like their weight, activity level, whether it is hot or cold outside, etc. The best way to avoid dehydration is to keep a water bottle with you at all times and don’t wait until you are thirsty to drink – according to healthcare professionals, once thirst hits you are already dehydrated!

Other common migraine triggers for school-aged children and teens include:

Caffeine
Loud noises
Strong odors
Lunch meats
Chocolate
Salty foods
Alcohol and smoke
Stress
Some types of cheese
Food additives and chemicals (like MSG)
Teeth grinding
Weather changes

Managing Migraines at School
As you may have realized, some of the most common school-related migraine triggers can be hard to avoid. Since there is nothing you can do to control triggers like the temperature outside, puberty and hormonal changes, bright lights in the classroom, and loud noises, managing migraines can become a frustrating task.

The good news is that other triggers like lack of sleep, stress, skipping meals, and dehydration can be prevented by making healthier choices. Here are five tips to keep migraines at bay during the school year.

1. Improve Sleep Hygiene
Even though according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), kids and teenagers could benefit from starting school later in the day both health and academic-wise, most children still have to wake up before 7:00 am to get to school on time. This means that getting enough sleep can be an extremely difficult – if not impossible task for some kids.

But if you suffer from migraines, maintaining good sleeping habits should be just as important as eating healthy or exercising. We recommend getting ready to sleep and practicing good sleep hygiene habits hours before you even go to bed to get the best quality sleep possible.

By limiting daytime naps as much as possible, making sure you don’t consume caffeine or foods that can disrupt sleep (particularly fatty, sugary or rich foods) too close to bedtime, and not bringing your cellphone or tablet to bed, you will be able fall asleep earlier and keep insomnia from triggering a migraine. For the first few weeks of school, try going to bed earlier than usual as that will help you get more sleep in and reduce the stress and anxiety that comes with the new school year.

2. Keep a Trigger Tracker
One of the worst things about migraines is not knowing when they are going to happen. Getting a headache before a midterm, right in the middle of class or during an extracurricular activity can be extremely frustrating. That’s why learning to recognize the factors that set them off is extremely important, and the best way of doing so is with a trigger tracker.

Keeping a trigger tracker is easy; you can use a notebook, a diary or your phone to list anything that was consumed or that happened right before a migraine started. Have your child note, for example, if they were about to take a test when the headache began, or were in the middle of PE; these are all things worth noting. Other important things to include on a trigger tracker or migraine diary are any symptoms that your child felt (auras) leading up to the attack, where the pain was located, the weather that day, etc.

Over time, you will be able to connect the dots and identify some of the factors that may cause or worsen your child’s migraines. Learning to recognize these factors can help prevent future migraines or at least be prepared when it happens. (Downloadable Migraine Diary & Trigger Tracker)

3. Consider Targeted Nutritional Supplement
Targeted nutritional supplements are a safe and healthy option for kids. Different plant extracts, vitamins, and minerals have been clinically proven to be beneficial for adults and children over the age of two with migraines. The following three have scientific evidence supporting their effectiveness:

Magnesium – Several studies have shown that migraines may be partly caused by low magnesium levels in the brain, which is why taking a daily magnesium supplement is so important for kids with migraine. Magnesium has numerous effects that support cerebrovascular tone and function (blood vessels in the brain). 180 mg per day for children and 360 mg per day for adults and teens is recommended.

Feverfew – The herb feverfew is a plant that belongs to the daisy family and has also been shown to be extremely beneficial for adults and children suffering migraines. Feverfew has been known to help maintain normal platelet aggregation (avoid excessive clumping together of blood platelets) and reduce or eliminate vasospasms in the brain’s blood vessels. 50 mg per day for children and 100 mg per day for adults is recommended.

Vitamin B-2 (Riboflavin) – Many migraine sufferers are known to have mitochondrial energy deficiencies before a migraine attack. The mitochondria are the powerhouses of cells. Riboflavin at the correct dose helps maintain healthy mitochondrial energy reserves, also crucial for migraine sufferers. 200 mg per day for children age 2-12 and 400 mg per day for teens and adults is recommended.

Remember, when it comes to taking dietary supplements, consistency is key for migraine sufferers. There is a build-up period of up to 3 months where supplements must be taken every day to experience maximum benefits.

MigreLief – Comprehensive Supplements Created Just for Migraine Sufferers

If your child suffers migraines chronically, consider starting a MigreLief daily (taken 1 caplet in the morning and one at night, everyday)

MigreLief Original Formula (teen-adult) or
Children’s MigreLief (age 2-12)

MigreLief is a dietary supplement that makes a difference through nutritional support by maintaining normal cerebrovascular tone and function, maintaining healthy mitochondrial energy reserves (powerhouses of brain cells) and promoting a healthy inflammatory response. These processes are key to a migraine sufferer’s health and well-being.

Although many people have experienced positive benefits with MigreLief or Children’s MigreLief in under one month, the triple therapy ingredients (magnesium, riboflavin and Puracol™ feverfew) can take up to 3 months for maximum benefits. You should notice it growing in effectiveness over that time period. We suggest keeping the fast-acting formula MigreLief-NOW on hand during the build-up period and taking as-needed for on-the-spot neurological comfort.

June or July is a good time to start the MigreLief nutritional regimen before school starts however it is never too late to start down the right path and give your child a better start in life.

MigreLief dietary supplements are recommended by many pediatric neurologists and headache specialists. It is available in a daily formula and an as-needed formula (MigreLief-NOW) for children age 2-adult.

4. Make a Plan
Once you’ve been able to identify migraine triggers using a tracker or a diary, plan ahead to avoid a ‘surprise’ attack when possible. During the first few weeks of school, help your child to remove any unnecessary stressors from his or her day to day activities; for example, have your child pack his or her backpack the night before so he or she is not running around in the morning looking for supplies – stressing out early in the morning, or as we mentioned earlier, skipping breakfast, are big migraine triggers.

Also, your child should keep emergency snacks in a bag or backpack in case of hunger during the day but remember that fatty or sugary foods sometimes trigger headaches. Some quick snacks that are considered “migraine safe” foods include:

Plain pretzels
Saltines
Bread (white, wheat, rye, bagels, etc.)
Cereal (except sugary cereals or cereals with nuts or dried fruits)
Carrot sticks or other vegetables

5. Reach Out
Suffering from migraines at school can make children feel isolated and different from peers. Sometimes they may choose to avoid hanging out with friends or skip social events because they are concerned about getting a migraine. Many people who suffer from migraines feel lonely and misunderstood because of their chronic pain. To fight those feelings of loneliness and frustration, it is important to encourage your child talk about what they are feeling and to reach out to friends and family members who want to be supportive.

Parents should also talk to the teacher or guidance counselor – more often than not schools offer resources like testing accommodations, screen reading technologies to help with eye strain, photo-sensitivity, and more.

Remember that there are things you can do to keep migraines from controlling your child’s life, like having your child stick to a good migraine prevention regimen including sticking to a healthy sleep schedule.

To the Best of Health,

The MigreLief Team at Akeso Health Sciences

For more health tips, help for migraine headaches, coupons and more, visit MigreLief.com and subscribe to our newsletter!

Migraine Headaches in Children – MigreLief Turning Frowns Upside Down

Parents Choose Children’s MigreLief

Children’s MigreLief is a gentle, and effective nutritional option for pediatric migraine sufferers ages 2-12. It is a the same effective “daily formula” as Original MigreLief (age 13-adult) with ingredient dosages adjusted to meet the needs of children.

MigreLief has been recommended by neurologists, pediatric neurologists, headache specialists and other healthcare professionals for over 2 decades.

One of the hardest things for a parent to do is to see their child in pain. Yet every day millions of parents must watch helplessly as their children suffer from debilitating migraine attacks often accompanied by symptoms of nausea, abdominal pain and vomiting. About one out of every 10 kids, or nearly 8 million children in the United States alone are plagued by what has become the most common acute and recurrent headache pattern experienced by children today.

MIGRAINES BEGET MIGRAINES…
So don’t wait. Give your children the nutritional support they need to make a positive difference in their lives today.

The under-use of migraine prevention was discussed in a recent NPR.org (Nat’l Public Radio) article stating “Researchers are finding that “migraines beget migraines,” therefore the mandate for all patients is clear: Reduce the number of migraines.” Andrew Charles, director of UCLA’s Headache Research and Treatment Program, states “The more migraines a patient gets, the more susceptible they become to having more,” adding that “There seems to be this sort of tipping point where patients go from having episodic headaches to having them really continuously and being in a state of constant sensory sensitivity.” Charles and other researchers are investigating exactly why and how that “tipping point” occurs.Safe, gentle, nutritional option for pediatric migraine sufferers without disruptive side-effects.

Children’s MigreLief Triple Therapy with Puracol™

– Same effective formula as Original MigreLief with ingredient doses adjust to meet the needs of children age 2 through 12.
– Specifically formulated to help maintain normal cerebrovascular tone and function in children who persistent migraine (many migraine days each month).
– Contains three ingredients (a vitamin, a mineral and a plant)- Magnesium, Riboflavin (B-2) and Feverfew
– All three ingredients have been shown in clinical studies to benefit migraine sufferers including children age 2+.

MAINTAINING CEREBROVASCULAR TONE AND FUNCTION
MigreLief’s Triple Therapy with Puracol™ provide 3 mechanisms of action working at the cellular level to address dysfunctional brain processes that can lead to migraines when triggered. These dysfunctional brain processes include:

– Excessive platelet aggregation (clumping together of blood platelets in the brains blood vessels)
– Vasospasms (changing sizes of blood vessels/dilating & constricting)
– Depletion of cellular energy reserves (dysfunctional mitochondria, the powerhouses of cells)

THE MERRY-GO-ROUND OF RECURRING HEADACHES
Many recurring migraine sufferers resort to taking prescription medicines such as triptans when a migraine gets out of control. These medicines are abortive drugs used “acutely.” This means you take them when you already have a migraine you hope to stop. These drugs do not prevent migraines from occurring in the first place.

In fact, not only do they not prevent migraines, the general consensus among researchers and clinicians is that on-going regular use of triptan drugs increase the total number of migraines. OTC drugs containing caffeine such as Excedrin Migraine (acetaminophen, aspirin, and caffeine) are also notorious for causing rebound headaches if taken too often.

PREVENTION IS KEY
It is far better to nip migraines in the bud as opposed to treating the pain and other symptoms of migraine forever. Knowing your child’s migraine triggers (lack of sleep, certain foods such as aged cheese, caffeine etc.) and avoiding those triggers can go a long way toward migraine prevention.

CHILDREN’S MIGRELIEF INGREDIENTS:

Magnesium (oxide & citrate) – 180 mg/day
Riboflavin (B-2) – 200 mg/day
Puracol™ Feverfew* – 50 mg/day

*Puracol™ is Akeso’s proprietary blend of the plant feverfew, both whole leaf and extract processed to maximize all beneficial phytochemicals

Contains no yeast, milk, corn, wheat, gluten, soy, sodium, salt, sugar, flavorings, preservatives, or artificial colors). Contains NO Butterbur.

NOTE: There are no specific side-effects associated with the ingredients in Children’s MigreLief and childhood use. Dietary supplements of any kind can cause gastrointestinal upset in susceptible users. Riboflavin is a water soluble vitamin and may turn your child’s urine bright yellow. This is normal. MigreLief does not interfere with prescription or OTC medications a child might be taking.

HOW DOES MIGRELIEF WORK?

Magnesium
Magnesium is a nutritional supplement with numerous effects that support cerebrovascular tone.

These include:

1) Inhibition of platelet aggregation
2) Interference with synthesis, release, and action of inflammatory mediators
3) Direct alterations of cerebrovascular tone
4) Inhibition of vasospasm
5) Stabilization of cell membranes

Some migraine sufferers with poor cerebrovascular tone have been found to have low brain levels of magnesium. Recommended daily dosages of magnesium typically range from 200 to 600 mg to compensate for this deficiency, far above what’s found in most multi-vitamins. Several double blind placebo controlled studies have demonstrated that oral magnesium is very beneficial to migraine sufferers.

Riboflavin
Riboflavin (vitamin B-2) is a precursor of flavin adenine dinucleotide (FAD). This coenzyme is an important component of the electron-transport chain. A deficiency of mitrochondrial energy reserves has been observed in some persons exhibiting poor cerebrovascular tone. This defect may theoretically be corrected by a compound such as riboflavin that improves the activity of the electron-transport chain.

MigreLief provides 400mg of Riboflavin, which is significantly higher than most multi-vitamins or B-complex products. Multiple studies have demonstrated that high dose riboflavin is very beneficial to adults and children suffering migraines.

Puracol Feverfew
Commonly recommended for its ability to support cerebrovascular tone, feverfew (Tanacetum Parthenium) is rich in compounds known as sesquiterpene lactones. One of the more important of these compounds may be parthenolide, which represents 85% of the sesquiterpene lactone content in feverfew. Some scientific studies indicate that while parthenolide may be important there may very well be other phytochemicals in feverfew that are as of yet unidentified and play a role in its effectiveness.

TRYING MIGRELIEF FOR THE FIRST TIME? – Don’t give up!

While many people experience benefits as early as 3 weeks, if you are trying Children’s MigreLief (age 2-12) or MigreLief Original (age 13-adult) for the first time, we suggest giving it 3 months which is sufficient time for the ingredients to build up, kick in and do their job. You should notice MigreLief growing in effectiveness over this time period.

MigreLief-NOW: FAST-ACTING MIGRELIEF FORMULA to keep on hand at all times.
While you are waiting form MigreLief (daily formula) to kick in, keep MigreLief-NOW “as-needed” formula on hand at all times and take when needed for neurological comfort. MigreLief-NOW is fast-acting nutritional support for adults and children age 2+ who need help on-the-spot. See back of label for usage by age.

FOR MORE INFORMATION about MigreLief supplements or other Akeso products, visit MigreLief.com

Questions about MigreLief: Email HealthAdvisor@MigreLief.com

MONEY BACK GUARANTEE

We are so confident MigreLief or Children’s MigreLief will make a huge difference in your child’s life, we offer a 100% money back guarantee of your purchase price if you are not satisfied for any reason after trying MigreLief for the recommended 90 days.

ABOUT CURT HENDRIX, M.S., C.C.N., C.N.S. – THE SCIENTIST BEHIND MIGRELIEF

All of Akeso’s condition-specific dietary supplements are formulated by migraine supplement pioneer scientist Curt Hendrix, the Chief Scientific Officer of Akeso Health Sciences. The unique and synergistic MigreLief formulation received two U.S. patents with a third patent pending. Curt has dedicated his life to the research and development of safer medicines based on herbal and natural compounds. He was the principal scientific investigator for multiple NIH studies examining natural supplements for Alzheimer’s disease.

Official Website Children’s MigreLief

QUESTIONS? ASK HOUR HEALTH ADIVSOR

Cool Down Migraines With Ice Therapy | DIY Ice Packs

Cold therapy is one of the simplest and most accessible natural remedies to alleviate pain and discomfort. Different cooling agents have been used as complimentary migraine therapies for more than 150 years. So much so that cold therapy is, nowadays, the most common self-administered treatment for people experiencing migraine without aura and the second most common for migraineurs with aura.

What is Cold Therapy?

Ever since humans discovered how to manipulate temperature – the measure of the average kinetic energy of a substance – we have been looking for ways to use it to our advantage. One of the most obvious applications of this knowledge today is cooking, where we use various degrees of temperature to heat or cool down different foods. Another inventive way of using temperature is as a therapeutic agent by applying heat or cold to different areas of the body to reduce inflammation, ease pain, and even loosen up stiff muscles.

Treating different types of injuries or ailments calls for using different ranges of temperature. Heat therapy – which improves circulation and blood flow – is better for treating muscle pain and stiffness, but it shouldn’t be used in swollen areas or open wounds. Cold therapy, also known as ice therapy or cryotherapy in some settings, is an affordable and easy way of reducing inflammation and alleviating sharp pain.

Cold Therapy for Migraines

The first time cold was used as a treatment for migraine headaches was in 1849 when James Arnott, an English physician and cryotherapy pioneer, documented the benefits of using a mixture of ice and salt crystals to ease headache pain. Since then, numerous clinical trials have explored the effects of this technique and tested different ways of applying cold for relieving migraines.

For instance, in a 2006 pilot study, 28 female migraine patients were asked to wear a frozen gel cap for 25 minutes during migraine attacks and record the details of their headaches in a diary. Their results showed that cold therapy alone was able to mitigate 50 percent of attacks. But the mechanisms by which cold therapy reduces migraine pain remain unclear, according to the authors of the same study.

One of the most popular theories of how this mechanism may work suggests that the cold sensations induce an anesthetic reaction by slowing the transmission of pain signals from nerves to the cerebral cortex. Cold therapy has also been shown to promote vasoconstriction, i.e., to contract blood vessels, which may lower pain sensations by limiting blood flow in the targeted areas.

Cold therapy, of course, is not a miracle treatment, and some migraineurs don’t see any improvements in their pain with this method. But if you’ve only tried applying ice packs to your head during migraine attacks, you may want to try them on your neck the next time you are in pain.

A clinical trial looking at the effects of neck cooling for the treatment of migraines, 64 participants were randomly assigned into two groups. One group received a frozen neck wrap to wear during migraine attacks, and the other wore the same neck wrap at room temperature. Their findings indicated that applying a cooling agent in the neck, near the carotid artery (a major blood vessel that supplies blood to the brain), significantly reduced self-reported pain in participants with migraine headaches.

Home Made Ice Packs – Flexible and Squishy – Do It Yourself

Reusable cold therapy caps, such as MigreLief’s new Migraine and Headache Relief Gel Cap can be easily purchased online. However, if you want to create your own ice packs for pain or injuries, here are various ways to do it.

1. Alcohol & Water Ice Pack:

This is a simple recipe that consists of 1 part alcohol to 3 parts water as a rule of thumb. Adding alcohol to water will keep it from freezing completely. To make this method in a quart size Ziploc bag, combine 1½ cups of water with a ½ cup of rubbing alcohol. Seal and put in the freezer for several hours or overnight. Sometimes you can also find a Green Colored Wintergreen Rubbing Alcohol which gives the ice pack a little bit of color. You can adjust the recipe for use in smaller snack size zip-lock bags or larger ones by keeping the 1:3 ratio of alcohol to water.

2. Sponge and Water:

You can make an ice pack simply with just a clean sponge and water. The sponge will be hard and firm with no flexibility when first taken out of the freezer. Do not force it to bend too much at first, or it will snap. As it warms up it becomes moist and soft again, but not drippy. You can put it in a baggie if you want, but it isn’t absolutely necessary.

3. Dish Soap or Glycerine and Water Ice Pack:

The best part of a gel ice pack is its squishy, flexible nature. The time frame for this method is more important, depending on what type of ice pack you want. It can be soft and squishy if you freeze it for a couple of hours. The longer you leave it in the freezer, the more icy and firm it will become. Either way, it’s a simple method that can be made in any size Ziploc bag You can hold it against your head or mold it to the body part in question (or in pain). It holds its coldness well. Just fill a plastic zip-lock bag with corn syrup or dish soap (no need to measure) and freeze. The corn syrup or dish soap will not freeze solid making it a perfect cooling therapy.

4. Salt and Water Ice Pack:

Salt changes the freezing temperature of water so that your DIY ice pack is more slushy-like. Simply combine two tablespoons of salt for every two cups of water in a Ziplock bag and freeze for a few hours. A quart Ziploc bag is the perfect size for combining 2 cups of water and 2 tablespoons of salt. Regular table salt is fine to use.

A final word…

Whether you suffer from chronic or episodic migraines, finding a combination of treatments that work for you can take some trial and error. Using an ice pack is an affordable and effortless way of improving migraine pain at home, but you may also want to try other approaches like keeping a migraine diary, avoiding triggers, and adding targeted nutritional support by taking daily supplements to complement your natural regimen.

Hemiplegic Migraine or Stroke? How To Tell the Difference

Although nearly 40 million people in the United States struggle with migraines on a regular basis, only 1% of migraineurs get hemiplegic migraines. About 25% of migraine patients experience aura.¹ But only about 0.01% of the population suffers from hemiplegic migraine.²

What is a hemiplegic migraine?

The word hemiplegic derives from hemiplegia, which means paralysis on one side of the body. During a hemiplegic migraine attack, a person might have the same symptoms as a regular migraine – severe head pain, light sensitivity, nausea, vomiting – but will also experience temporary unilateral weakness or even full-blown paralysis. Hemiplegic migraines are one of the rarest and most severe types of migraine. It is a subtype of “migraine with aura.” Aura are neurological symptoms people with migraine may experience before or during a migraine attack. For many, this manifests as visual disturbances such as flashing lights, zigzag lines, or blind spots.

What causes hemiplegic migraines?

Hemiplegic migraine is thought to be due to genetic mutations in three genes that affect the release of neurotransmitters. These mutations hinder communication between nerve cells. This may lead to symptoms of hemiplegic migraine.

There are two distinct types of hemiplegic migraine:

Familial hemiplegic migraine (FHM) is due to abnormal variations on either the CACNA1A gene, ATP1A2 gene, or SCN1A gene. These genes produce proteins needed for the normal functioning of nerve cells. Children of hemiplegic migraine have a 50% chance of developing it themselves.⁴
Sporadic hemiplegic migraine (SHM) is when someone without a family history develops hemiplegic migraine.

Current theories are that specific mutations or disruptions in these genes may make a person more likely to develop this type of migraine. This is because as many as half of the people who are diagnosed with hemiplegic migraines inherited one of these genes from a parent. However, there’s also evidence that people without these genetic mutations can get them, too.

As with other forms of migraine, hemiplegic migraine attacks can be triggered by:

Stress
Lack of sleep
Dehydration
Weather changes
Skipping meals
Certain ingredients, additives, foods, and drinks
Physical exertion
Female hormones
Smoke and alcohol
Caffeine
Certain medications
Lights and sound

Hemiplegic migraine also has some connections to head trauma. In fact, in one study 24% of patients reported a head injury preceded their first migraine attack.⁵

Symptoms may last anywhere between a few hours or days, or in rare cases weeks! On average, the onset of symptoms begins between ages 12 to 17.² Although in some cases, symptoms may show up much earlier. Symptoms typically fade in intensity with age, especially after age 50.

What are the symptoms of hemiplegic migraines?

Hemiplegic migraines share many symptoms with ‘regular’ migraines and may or may not include:

Intense, throbbing head pain, typically restricted to one side
Sensitivity to light, sound, and/or smell
Nausea and vomiting
Tunnel vision, double vision, seeing flashes of light, or blind spots
Heavy or tingling sensation in the arms and legs (pins and needles feeling)
Slurred speech or difficulty speaking
Dizziness

Additionally, hemiplegic migraines can cause distinctive symptoms ranging from mild to severe, such as:

Numbness on one side of the body
Weakness or paralysis on one side of the body, which can include one half of the face, arm, and/or leg
Loss of coordination
Fever
Confusion and lethargy
Memory loss
Coma

The symptoms of hemiplegic migraines can last anywhere from a few hours to several days (or even weeks, on rare occasions). In many cases, symptoms can get bad enough that the person experiencing them may believe that they are suffering from a stroke.

Since it’s nearly impossible to tell the difference between a hemiplegic migraine and a stroke without a proper examination, it’s important to seek immediate medical attention or call 911 if you are experiencing any of the following symptoms during a migraine attack:

Trouble speaking or understanding what people are saying
Slurred speech
Loss of consciousness
Sudden numbness or muscle weakness
Seeing double in one or both eyes
Fainting or seizure

Occasionally, attacks may cause severe symptoms including:

Confusion
Loss of consciousness
Paralysis on one side of the body

Call 911 if you experience any severe symptoms. Hemiplegic migraine patients are at an increased risk of stroke and symptoms often mimic one another.³ In some rare cases, severe attacks led to cerebral atrophy, permanent brain injury, and even coma.² So getting immediate medical attention is critical.

Migraine vs. Stroke

While symptoms may be similar, during a stroke, blood flow to part of your brain is cut off. The cells in the brain that don’t get enough oxygen begin to die. There can be two causes of stroke. Either a blood vessel is blocked such as with a blood clot, or a blood vessel tears or bursts and causes bleeding in or around the brain. The kind of stroke that tends to be mistaken for a migraine is called a transient ischemic attack, or TIA. It’s also known as a “mini stroke” because blood flow to your brain is cut off only for a short time. Symptoms are less severe than with a regular stroke and may last less than an hour.

Can a hemiplegic migraine lead to a stroke?

Hemiplegic migraines have not been shown to cause strokes. However, it is important to point out that getting any kind of migraine with aura can double your risk of suffering from a stroke or heart attack, according to a large-scale longitudinal study.

How to get diagnosed

Getting diagnosed with hemiplegic migraine can be tricky. Diagnosis is based on symptoms, along with a detailed health history. Since hemiplegic migraine has a strong genetic component, a thorough family history is needed as well. Diagnosis criteria include having episodic, reversible weakness on one side of the body, along with at least one other kind of aura.

CT scans and MRIs are often done to rule out other health conditions. Typically, people with hemiplegic migraine have normal brain imaging. However, a small portion of patients may show atrophy of the cerebellum.⁶

Hemiplegic Migraine Treatment: What Are Your Options?

Living with hemiplegic migraine can be scary. Migraine attacks can strike anytime. And while migraine attacks are never fun, hemiplegic migraine attacks are especially intense.

So let’s dive into some treatment options that may help you manage or even prevent future migraine attacks. Remember – always work with your doctor to find a treatment plan that’s ideal for your own body and lifestyle.

Medications

Your doctor may prescribe over-the-counter meds such as NSAIDS to manage the pain. Anti-nausea medications may be prescribed for related symptoms. Triptans and ergotomines are often prescribed for other forms of migraine. But they’re NOT recommended for hemiplegic migraine, as they can increase the risk of stroke.²

Many medications interact and symptoms of hemiplegic migraine are intense. So preventative treatments using lifestyle and supplements can be invaluable.

Lifestyle Habits

Prevention is the best medicine when it comes to hemiplegic migraine. Practicing healthy lifestyle habits helps limit your triggers, lessening the frequency of attacks. Here are some lifestyle habits that may help prevent future migraine attacks:

Avoid trigger foods such as alcohol, caffeine, chocolate, nitrates, and MSG. Staying away from processed foods is a good place to start.
Exercise regularly but don’t overdo it. Remember, too much physical exertion may trigger an attack. Start with walking, yoga, or stretching, and work your way up from there.
Manage stress with calming activities such as meditation, mindfulness, breathing exercises, or journaling.
Don’t skip meals and always have snacks on hand. Low blood sugar can trigger migraine attacks. Fasting may be trendy, but it’s NOT for everyone!
Get enough sleep, but not too much. If you struggle with sleep, consider a natural sleep aid.

Supplements

Research shows certain vitamins, minerals, and herbs can reduce the number of migraine attacks in patients. Here are the top defenders:

Magnesium is a mineral involved in over 300 enzymatic reactions in your body! Unfortunately, magnesium deficiency is extremely common in people with migraine. Over time, low magnesium can lead to depression, anxiety, and insomnia. Stress also depletes the body of magnesium and living with migraine is certainly stressful! Supplementation can help you replenish your stores.
Riboflavin (aka vitamin B2) plays a key role in helping your mitochondria produce cellular energy. Research has shown that a mitochondrial defect may reduce an individual’s threshold to migraine triggers and lead to migraines. A deficiency of mitrochondrial energy reserves has been observed in many people exhibiting poor cerebrovascular tone.
Feverfew has been recorded as a medicinal remedy for millennia. Its anti-migraine effects are believed to be due to its potent anti-inflammatory properties and its ability to reduce blood platelet aggregation.

Takeaway

A hemiplegic migraine is a rare form of migraine headache that causes temporary weakness or paralysis to one side of the body. Sometimes hemiplegic migraines can resemble a stroke, so if you experience muscle weakness or paralysis, trouble speaking, and vision changes, it’s important to seek immediate medical attention to rule out other conditions.

If you have recurrent migraines, talk to a doctor to ensure you have an action plan for when an attack hits. It may also be a good idea to discuss your diet and lifestyle habits to see if there’s anything you could do to reduce the frequency or severity of migraine episodes in the future. For more information on migraine treatment options, download the Migraine White Paper.

References:

¹ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK554611/
² https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK513302/
³ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5346116/
⁴ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK1388/
⁵ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6803542/
⁶ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5944084/
⁷ https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22426836/
⁸ https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/15257686/
⁹ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8105190/

Food Cravings? A Migraine May Be On The Way

If you are one of the 39 million Americans living with chronic migraines, you’re probably pretty familiar with the concept of migraine triggers. A trigger, sometimes called a precipitating factor, is anything that contributes to the development of a migraine attack. Things like high stress, lack of sleep, bright lights, loud sounds, intense smells, changes in weather, and certain foods and drinks, are known migraine triggers.

Since no two migraineurs experience the same triggers, keeping track of yours is a great way to identify the elements in your lifestyle and environment that could be causing your migraine attacks. Plus, it can help you recognize some of the earliest symptoms of a migraine (known as the prodrome stage), so you can be better prepared when the actual attack strikes.

There is a laundry list of foods and drinks that seem to increase the risk for migraines in susceptible individuals. The most commonly reported triggering foods are alcohol and chocolate, but foods that are high in sugar and refined carbohydrates, as well as fatty and processed meals, are also high up on the list.

Interestingly, a large number of migraineurs also report intense cravings for sugary, salty, fatty, or processed foods in the days or hours leading up to a migraine attack. So this contradiction has left many experts wondering whether there could be a sort of “chicken and egg” dilemma when it comes to migraine and carb-y, comforting foods: if you eat a bag of chips and a couple of hours later you get a migraine, was the attack triggered by the chips, or was the craving for chips a warning sign that a migraine was on the way?

A 2021 study published in the Journal of Brain Research says that it may be the latter, and that the explanation for this phenomenon could lie in a small but important area at the center of the brain called the hypothalamus.

The Hypothalamus Connection

The hypothalamus is the main area of the brain controlling appetite. It does so by producing two proteins called neuropeptide Y (NPY) and agouti-related peptide (AGRP), which, when activated, create a sensation of hunger (and sometimes cravings) in the body.

NPY is also associated with migraine headaches. In animal studies, higher levels of NPY were shown to enhance the firing of trigeminovascular neurons, and we know that migraine pain occurs when there’s an increased activity of these neurons in the brain. These specific events almost exclusively occur during the prodrome phase of a migraine, or the “pre headache” stage, when the person may not even know that an attack is about to start. This is why a lot of people misattribute their prodromal symptoms to something that triggered their migraine, instead of something that warned them of the attack.

Other common prodromal warning signs include:

Irritability
Trouble sleeping
Anxiety and hyperactivity
Mood swings
Yawning
Nausea
Increased need to urinate
Neck pain or stiffness

In Closing

We tend to put great emphasis on diet and nutrition as preventative measures for migraines, but evidence shows that this may not be the case for all migraine sufferers. To date, the vast majority of migraine triggering food lists have been created by patient self-report, and most of these claims have not been scientifically studied in migraineurs. Eating a specific food and getting a migraine shortly after is not necessarily indicative of the food being a migraine trigger, as new evidence suggests that sudden food cravings could actually presage an impending attack, not cause it.

According to the authors of the study, “the take-home message is that certain lifestyle modifications, such as specific dietary restrictions, are not evidence-based recommendations to treat or prevent migraine due to lack of randomized clinical trials.” They further added that “the fact that specific neuronal populations govern appetite and play a role in migraine pathophysiology is relevant because unlocking this overlap of neural networks will help determine locations (and its pharmacology) with which to target for migraine therapy.”

In the meantime, if you are intensely craving a slice of chocolate cake, a migraine may already be underway – so why not eat it anyway? And perhaps, while you are at it, consider reaching for your bottle of MigreLief-NOW, our fast-acting nutritional-support supplement that has your back when you need it most!

Moms with Migraine: 7 Helpful Tips for Managing & Preventing Migraine Attacks

Being a mom with migraine isn’t for the faint of heart. Parenting is tough – but parenting with chronic migraine takes it to a whole new level.

Moms with migraine may worry about how their chronic migraine affects their family or feel a major case of mom guilt when an attack strikes. Plus, there’s that looming dread of wondering when the next migraine will hit. And when it does, the pain and other symptoms like nausea, vomiting, and sensitivity to light and sound can make you want to hide in a dark room and wait for it to pass. But when you’re a mom, that’s just not possible. Yet, you can be proactive and practice healthy lifestyle habits to lessen migraine attacks and plan ahead for when they do strike. This article unravels why moms are more prone to migraine and offers helpful tips to prevent future attacks.

Motherhood and Migraine: What’s the Connection?

According to a US survey, 17.1% of women and 5.6% of men suffer from chronic migraine. That means women are three times more likely to experience migraine than men! But why? Well, scientists think your hormones may be to blame. During childhood, migraine occurs equally among boys and girls. That is, until puberty hits. Once girls begin menstruating, their incidence of migraine skyrockets. Scientists believe this is likely due to changes in estrogen. Studies show that when estrogen dips, it can trigger migraine attacks.

Women experience hormone fluctuations often, with the most dramatic changes happening before, during or after:

menstruation
ovulation
pregnancy
giving birth
perimenopause
menopause

Many moms get a reprieve from migraine during pregnancy, only to be hit hard after giving birth. Having a baby elicits an enormous drop in estrogen, which can easily trigger postpartum migraine.

Migraine During the Pandemic

The pandemic has only exacerbated migraine pain, especially for moms. According to data from Migraine Buddy, a smartphone application used to track migraine symptoms, during the pandemic:

57.5% of respondents reported more migraine days
26% reported a significant increase in migraine days
41.8% of respondents said the severity of symptoms increased

Since stress is the most common migraine trigger, this isn’t all that surprising. We all dealt with massive stress during the pandemic, between health worries, financial concerns, and social isolation. But moms felt the brunt of pandemic stress especially hard with the added responsibilities of virtual learning.

That means it’s even more important that moms practice healthy habits to prevent migraine attacks. Granted, that’s easier said than done as moms have trouble focusing on themselves and always want to put their kids first – which is amazing. But migraine attacks can make it difficult for you to show up for your loved ones. By investing time and energy in taking better care of yourself, you’ll be better able to take care of your kids.

7 Helpful Tips for Moms Managing Chronic Migraine

1 – Know Your Triggers & Avoid Them When Possible

There are a lot of potential triggers for migraine attacks, including:

Stress is the most common migraine trigger. Consider stress-coping strategies that work.
Menstrual cycle: especially right before your period or during ovulation.
Weather: changes in barometric pressure are known to trigger migraine.
Blood sugar imbalances can spark a migraine attack. So don’t skip meals.
Trigger foods: They’re different for everyone, but some common offenders include aged cheeses and meats, MSG, and aspartame.
Strong scents such as perfume, cigarette smoke, and vehicle exhaust can aggravate migraine.
Alcohol can trigger migraines. So don’t overdo it.
Dehydration can set a migraine off. Drinking plenty of water is crucial.

Every person’s experience of migraine is different. Knowing your unique triggers can help you avoid them or plan ahead for when potential triggers may strike.

So keep track of your triggers and see if you notice any patterns. You may want to record them as they occur in a migraine diary (download here). This will clue you in on what to be mindful of or avoid altogether.

2 – Preparation is Key
As said before, skipping meals can trigger a migraine attack. So no matter how busy you get, don’t skip them! Also, when you’re out and about, always have snacks handy for your kids and YOU. Dehydration can stir the migraine beast as well, so carry a water bottle wherever you go. Aim for at least half your body weight in ounces every day. And since you never know when a migraine might hit, plan ahead. Do some meal prep or make freezer meals on your migraine-free days, so you have less to do when those bad days pop up.

3 – Talk With Your Kids
Explain to your kids how a migraine attack feels in language they can understand. You might tell them that a migraine feels like ‘brain freeze,’ but instead of lasting a few seconds, it lasts for hours or even days. Tying it in with an experience they’re familiar with can help them understand migraine better. That way, they’ll realize why you need the lights dimmed and quiet time when an attack strikes.

Talk with your kids about migraine

Another huge reason to talk to your children is that they may experience migraine themselves one day. Children with one parent who struggles with migraine have a 50% chance of having them. If both parents deal with migraine, the risk increases to 75%. Educating them now may help them recognize signs in the future.

4 – Get Support
Tell your friends and family about your chronic migraine and how it affects you. Give them a heads up that there may be days you need some help. That might look like having your kiddos join a carpool to school or having an impromptu playdate if the pain gets bad. You may even want to talk with teachers, so they’re aware of your migraine struggles. Also, there are several delivery services for groceries and meals that can be a lifesaver during an attack. So don’t be afraid to use them!

5 – Plan ‘Quiet Day’ Activities
When you chat with your kids, give them a heads up that migraine days are ‘Quiet Days.’ Have plenty of puzzles, Legos, crafts, coloring books, and Playdoh ready for those times when you need some rest and recovery. ‘Quiet Days’ can even be an opportunity to bond! You can snuggle up and read books together in bed or pop some popcorn, dim the lights, and have a movie marathon. However, if the pain is terrible and you need some peace and quiet, that’s okay. In those cases, screentime can be a savior to give your body the rest it needs.

6 – Self-Care Isn’t Selfish
Many things that prevent migraine attacks are easy to let slide, especially for busy moms! But making time for healthy habits will allow you to be fully present with your children more often.

Here are some lifestyle habits that can lessen migraine attacks:

Get quality sleep: Having a consistent sleep schedule is important for your kids AND you! Research shows that poor sleep quality can trigger migraine attacks. Yet, it also shows that preventative migraine treatments improve sleep.
Exercise regularly: Exercise boosts your mood, improves sleep, and eases stress. It also releases endorphins, your body’s natural painkillers. So make time for regular exercise whenever you can! Try getting the kids involved and go on a walk or bike ride together. Or squeeze in a quick workout video while they’re enjoying screen time.
Eat a healthy diet: Processed foods contain harmful preservatives and flavorings such as nitrates and MSG, known migraine triggers. Opt for wholesome, nutritious foods like fruits, vegetables, whole grains, lean protein, and healthy fats.
Manage your stress: Practice regular stress relief to keep migraine at bay. You can try journaling, breathwork, yoga, or meditation. If you’re not sure where to start, there are several helpful apps like Headspace and Calm that can help guide the way. You may also want to consider a natural combination supplement formulated to reduce the physical and psychological impacts of stress. There are also various techniques used to relax the body, including deep breathing, visualization, and progressive muscle relaxation (a technique of tensing and relaxing various muscles in a specific order).

Many of the habits above are healthy for your children too! So by taking good care of yourself, you’ll be setting them up for their own self-care success in the future.

7 – Build a Migraine Toolkit
It would be nice to say if you religiously practice the six tips above, you’ll never have another migraine attack. But we both know that’s a longshot. Yes, you can do a great deal to help prevent a migraine attack. But it also helps to be prepared for when they do strike. Having a migraine toolkit can be a godsend during those tough times.

Here are some things to consider adding to your own migraine toolkit:

Earplugs or noise-canceling headphones to keep the noise level down
Sleep mask for those light-sensitive moments
Ginger chews in case nausea hits
Ice packs to dull the sensation of pain
Heating pad to relax tense muscles
MigreLief-Now for fast-acting nutritional support and neurological comfort. It contains a combo of magnesium, ginger, and Boswellia to provide neurological and whole-body comfort when you need it most.

Be prepared – build a migraine toolkit

Takeaways

Motherhood is challenging on its own. Adding migraine into the mix can make it even more difficult to keep up with everyday responsibilities. While migraine attacks can strike at any time, you hold more power than you think. Prevention is key when it comes to managing migraine, especially for moms with migraine. Prioritizing healthy habits like quality sleep, exercise, nutritious food, and stress relief can be tricky as a mom. You may even feel selfish investing time and energy into yourself. However, the more you care for yourself, the better you’ll be able to care for your family. And the less likely those migraine attacks will happen.

Want an extra boost of targeted nutritional support? For those of you who don’t already know about this once, best-kept secret… try Migrelief. This unique original patented formula contains magnesium, riboflavin, and Puracol feverfew and has been helping migraine sufferers reclaim their lives for over 25 years.

MIGRAINE TYPES

Many people assume there’s just one single type of migraine, but in fact, there are many different types of migraine and migraine variants. The 2 most common ones are classic migraine and common migraine. These are also referred to as migraine with aura (classic) and migraine without aura (common).

Classic Migraine – Classical migraine has been described as a familial disorder characterized by recurrent; attacks of head pain, often on one side (often two sides in children), that varies in intensity, frequency, and duration and accompanied by aura. The aura associated with classic migraines are visual hallucinations such as jagged lines or being partially blinded in one or both eyes, disruptions in sight, smell or touch, or even speech. The aura actually serves as an early warning sign.

Common Migraine – Most people with migraine have common migraine or migraine without aura. This type of migraine causes a throbbing pain on one side of the head. The pain is moderate to severe and gets worse with normal physical activity. You may also have nausea and vomiting and may feel worse around light and sound. The headache lasts 4 to 72 hours if it’s not treated. A common migraine doesn’t begin with an aura.

Hormones & Migraine

Headaches in women, particularly migraines, have been related to changes in the levels of female hormones estrogen and progesterone before, during, and after a woman’s menstrual cycle. Estrogen, progesterone, and even testosterone levels can fluctuate significantly a few days before and after menstruation, leading to migraines. Women approaching menopause can also experience hormonally-related migraine.

Menstrual Migraines – Fueled by the drop in estrogen levels just prior to menstruation, true “Menstrual Migraines” occur at the time of menstruation. “Menstrually Related Migraines” occur throughout the menstrual cycle. They are often more severe, last significantly longer, and are more resistant to treatment than the usual non-menstrual migraine attacks. Menstrual migraines are now considered a separate disorder from other types of migraine.

RARER FORMS OF MIGRAINE

Retinal or Ocular Migraine vs. Visual Migraine– Not all migraine sufferers experience the head pain commonly associated with migraine attacks. Some people experience a type of silent migraine with visual disturbance but no head pain. “Ocular migraine” also known as “retinal migraine” is often confused with “visual migraine” which is a symptom of visual changes or vision loss resulting from the aura phase of the common migraine. Ocular or retinal migraines happen in the eye, so only affect the vision in that eye, while visual migraines occur in the brain, so affect the vision in both eyes together.

For people who experience ocular migraines, the visual changes are a little different and can be very frightening as they most often include temporary vision loss that can last up to an hour. Both ocular migraines and visual migraines can occur with or without a headache.

Hemiplegic Migraine – Hemiplegic migraine is a rare subtype of migraine with aura characterized by the presence of motor weakness (hemiplegia). Typically, migraine aura has visual symptoms as aura, but occasionally impairment of speech may also be seen. Symptoms of a hemiplegic migraine attack are similar to a stroke that typically includes sudden severe headache on one side of the head, weakness on one side of the body, ataxia (poor muscle control), and aphasia (speech impairment) which can last for hours, days or weeks, Hemiplegic migraine may run in the family (familial hemiplegic migraine) or occur sporadically in an individual (sporadic hemiplegic migraine). (1)

Nocturnal Migraine – Although nocturnal migraine is not a true migraine variant, it is unique in that it occurs during the middle of the night or the early morning hours. It is thought to be related to the circadian activation of certain neurotransmitters during sleep, which are known to trigger a migraine attack.

Basilar Artery Migraine (Migraine with brainstem aura or MBA) – This is a type of migraine that begins in the brainstem and includes aura, or preceding symptoms like vertigo, speaking and hearing difficulty, and loss of muscle control. A throbbing at the back of the head which can lead to dizziness and difficulty speaking occurs in this migraine form. (2)

Abdominal Migraine – This is a type of silent migraine with abdominal pain and typically no head pain. The pain usually causes nausea and vomiting and is most often seen in young children, but is starting to be recognized in adults as well. Abdominal migraines are diagnosed in children who meet these criteria:

At least five attacks of abdominal pain that each last 1 to 72 hours
Dull pain around the belly button, moderate to severe in intensity
At least two of these symptoms: appetite loss, nausea, vomiting, pale skin

Abdominal migraines usually follow a pattern, same type of appearance, same time of day, and the same duration with the symptoms going away completely between migraine attacks.

USING A MIGRAINE DIARY or MIGRAINE TRACKER

A migraine diary is a tool for managing your migraines by tracking your symptoms and recording important facts about your migraines – before, during, and after they occur. Use this MIGRAINE DIARY or look up an application on your smartphone, to help you identify potential triggers and monitor the effectiveness of treatments and alternative therapies. The data you generate can also help your doctor correctly diagnose migraine or other disorders. Continue to record in the diary each migraine experienced.

To the Best of Health,

Curt Hendrix, MS, CCN, CNS

References:

(1) https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/18405771/

(2) https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29939655/

The Science of MigreLief – Nutritional Supplements for Migraine Sufferers

THREE MECHANISMS OF ACTION TO HELP MAINTAIN NORMAL NEUROLOGICAL FUNCTION… ALL IN ONE SUPPLEMENT

MigreLief Original Formula should be part of your “Preventive” regimen. It is not an “Abortive.” MigreLief was formulated to help migraineurs maintain normal cerebrovascular (blood vessels that supply the brain) tone and function by addressing the underlying nutritional deficiencies and imbalances that are common to many migraine sufferers. These deficiencies lead to many dysfunctional processes in the brain.

TRUSTED “TRIPLE THERAPY” – A NUTRITIONAL APPROACH

MigreLief is a great option and a good place to start… a vitamin, a mineral, and a plant, all well known for their safety, efficacy, and low side-effects to establish normal cerebrovascular function. Magnesium, riboflavin (B-2), and the herb feverfew are listed in the American Academy of Neurology’s Evidence-Based Guidelines for Migraine Prevention. Puracol, Akeso Health Sciences proprietary blend of two feverfew sources (whole leaf and special feverfew extract), magnesium (oxide and citrate), and high dose riboflavin (Vitamin B-2) have independently been shown to have significant benefits for chronic migraine sufferers.

THE SCIENCE OF MIGRELIEF

Nutritional deficiencies, inflammation, and vasospasm can independently and together contribute to migraine occurrence, frequency, and intensity. The multi-patented combination of ingredients in MigreLief was formulated to address the underlying dysfunctional processes in the brain that often lead to migraines once triggered. MigreLief helps to maintain normal cerebrovascular function by addressing the nutritional deficiencies and imbalances often associated with migraines such as:

*Excessive Platelet Aggregation resulting in blood vessel changes.

*Decrease in the brain’s cellular energy reserves. Cells lose energy production ability when the powerhouses of the cells (the mitochondria) become dysfunctional due to nutritional deficiencies.

*Inflammation

Migrelief – Triple Therapy Ingredients:

Magnesium
Magnesium is a nutritional supplement with numerous effects that support cerebrovascular tone.

These include:

1) inhibition of platelet aggregation
2) interference with synthesis, release, and action of inflammatory mediators
3) direct alterations of cerebrovascular tone
4) inhibition of vasospasm
5) stabilization of cell membranes.

Some migraine sufferers with poor cerebrovascular tone have been found to have low brain levels of magnesium. Recommended daily dosages of magnesium typically range from 200 to 600 mg to compensate for this deficiency, far above what’s found in most multi-vitamins. Several double-blind placebo-controlled studies have demonstrated that oral magnesium can reduce the frequency and intensity of migraine headaches in both adults and children.

Riboflavin
Riboflavin (vitamin B-2) is a precursor of flavin adenine dinucleotide (FAD). This coenzyme is an important component of the electron-transport chain. A deficiency of mitochondrial energy reserves has been observed in some persons exhibiting poor cerebrovascular tone. This defect may theoretically be corrected by a compound such as riboflavin that improves the activity of the electron-transport chain.

MigreLief provides 400 mg of riboflavin. Multiple studies have demonstrated that high-dose riboflavin can be beneficial to both adults and children who suffer migraines.

Some studies of extracts of feverfew containing parthenolide yielded no significant benefits. This led researchers to believe that certain of the unidentified phytochemicals may have been left behind during the extraction process. The ideal solution would be a non-extracted feverfew product that naturally contained high levels of parthenolide and kept all of the other naturally occurring phytochemicals as well. For this reason, Puracol Feverfew, AKESO HEALTH SCIENCE’S proprietary non extracted plant source for feverfew with high levels of naturally occurring parthenolide was developed. Scientific studies have found parthenolide inhibits platelet aggregation and the release of serotonin from platelets and polymorphonuclear leukocyte granules.* It has also been shown to inhibit pro-inflammatory prostaglandin synthesis and the release of arachidonic acid. Each of these phenomena is associated with migraines. European studies have shown the benefits of feverfew on long-term cerebrovascular tone in multiple human studies.

The World Health Organization lists migraines 19th among the world’s most debilitating and disabling diseases.

Migraine is the most common neurological condition in the developed world: it is more prevalent than asthma, epilepsy, and diabetes combined. In the United States alone, 37 million people.

MigreLief is a wonderful nutritional option for migraine sufferers and has been recommended by neurologists, headache specialists, and other healthcare professionals throughout the United States and worldwide.

Magnesium, riboflavin, and the herb feverfew are listed in the American Academy of Neurology’s Evidence-Based Guidelines for Migraine Prophylaxis.

Curt Hendrix, M.S., C.C.N., C.N.S. and Chief Scientific Officer of Akeso Health Sciences, formulated and patented MigreLief Triple Therapy with Puracol™ was well received by physicians at the recent Pri-Med convention and explained the science behind the success of MigreLief to a very interested audience.

Most MigreLief fans already know that MigreLief was formulated to address the underlying nutritional deficiencies and imbalances that are common to many migraine sufferers. But for those newcomers lucky enough to have stumbled upon MigreLief for the first time…it is not an “abortive” to treat the pain while it is occurring. It is nutritional support and daily maintenance.

MigreLief-NOW is Akeso’s fast-acting “as-needed” formula that can be taken at the first sign of discomfort. It can be used by itself as needed or combined with MigreLief Original, Children’s MigreLief, or MigreLief+M (menstrual migraines). For additional nutritional support, 2 MigreLief-NOW capsules can be added to the morning dose of any MigreLief daily maintenance product.

MIGRAINE SUFFERER NEW TO MIGRELIEF?

MigreLief should be your first choice for migraine therapy… not the last!
Too often sufferers opt for the more invasive, complex often side-effect-prone approaches to their problem. MigreLief is an inexpensive, drug-free nutritional option (vitamin, mineral, and herb) that addresses the underlying deficiencies and imbalances common to many migraine sufferers.

MIGRELIEF REGIMEN: To get started, select one of the daily formulas (MigreLief, Children’s MigreLief, or MigreLief+M for menstrual migraines), and take as recommended every day for a 90 days to experience the full benefits and evaluate how it works for you. We suggest keeping fast-acting MigreLief-NOW on hand to be taken as-needed during the 90 day build-up period or any time you fell you need extra support.

100% MONEY BACK GUARANTEE – Try MigreLief Risk-Free

We’re so confident that MigreLief will make a difference, if anyone is dissatisfied for any reason, we offer a 100% money-back guarantee of the product purchase price for new customers trying MigreLief for 90 days (each bottle is a one month supply). Although many consumers/patients experience beneficial results in as little as 3 weeks, it is recommended that it be taken for the full 3 months to build blood levels for maximum effectiveness.

Note: MigreLief does not interfere with prescription migraine or OTC medications.

Track your MigreLief progress with our Migraine Diary and Trigger Tracker.

MigreLief.com – Product Information

MigreLief Store Finder

Feverfew for Migraines – A Real Plus!

Peter Rabbit’s mother was onto something when she put him to bed with a cup of wild chamomile tea after his escapade in Mr. McGregor’s garden. People in the modern world often think of chamomile as a sleep or digestive aid. But wild chamomile is another name for the herb Feverfew. A tea of feverfew would not only have relaxed the hapless rabbit but would also have routed his headache, calmed his upset tummy, put his mind at ease, and soothed his jangled nerves after his terrifying turn in the garden.

Native to southeastern Europe, feverfew is now widespread throughout Europe, North America, and Australia. Feverfew is a short perennial that blooms between July and October, and gives off a strong and bitter odor. The herb Feverfew (Tanacetum Parthenium) has been recorded as a medicinal remedy for millennia. One can find references to the Latin “febrefugia” from which Feverfew gets its name in Old Saxon records. Hildegard of Bingen, a great 12th-century abbess and healer made mention of it in her herbal tomes. Febrefugia literally means “Fever flies,” and has always been used as a fever reducer among other purposes. In even more ancient times, the Greeks used Feverfew to treat melancholy which was characterized as much by debilitating headaches as it was by long-term depression.

Studies have confirmed that feverfew has activity similar to non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), such as aspirin. Extracts of feverfew have been shown to inhibit the release of arachidonic acid from cell membranes as well as the synthesis of compounds that promote inflammation, including inflammatory prostaglandins, leukotrienes, thromboxanes, lactones and tanetin, a lipophilic flavonol. Feverfew constituents have also been shown to have antimicrobial activity and other immune-supporting effects.

Historically Feverfew has been used as a dietary supplement for headaches, constipation, diarrhea, and dizziness. But one of the greatest boons in the modern era is the discovery of Feverfew as an aid for migraine headaches.

FEVERFEW & MIGRAINES

Commonly recommended for its ability to support cerebrovascular tone, Feverfew is rich in compounds known as sesquiterpene lactones. One of the more important of these compounds is parthenolide, which represents 85% of the sesquiterpene lactone content in Feverfew. Some scientific studies indicate that while parthenolide may be important there may very well be other phytochemicals in Feverfew that are as of yet unidentified and play a role in its effectiveness.

INHIBITING BLOOD PLATELET AGGREGATION

In addition to its many anti-inflammatory properties, feverfew also inhibits platelet aggregation, the clumping together of platelets in the blood (part of the sequence of events leading to the formation of a blood clot), and secretion of allergic mediators, e.g., histamine and serotonin. Its parthenolide component has been shown to produce a tonic effect on vascular smooth muscle, inhibiting the contraction of smooth muscle normally caused by serotonin and phenylephrine.

Over aggregating of platelets in the blood appear just before a migraine forcing a release of serotonin. Serotonin causes the blood vessel to constrict. Scientific studies have found parthenolide (one of the many beneficial phytochemicals in feverfew), inhibits platelet aggregation and the release of serotonin from platelets and polymorphonuclear leukocyte granules thus keeping the blood vessel normal. It has also been shown to inhibit pro-inflammatory prostaglandin synthesis and the release of arachidonic acid. Each of these phenomena is associated with migraines. Studies have shown the benefits of Feverfew on long-term cerebrovascular tone in multiple human studies. (1-10)

ACTIVATING DYSFUNCTIONAL BRAIN PROCESSES

Though the exact cause of migraines is unknown, certain triggers like tyramine in aged cheeses, chocolate, scents/perfumes, bright lights, changes in weather/temperature/humidity/altitude, over-use of headache medications, stress, hormonal fluctuations, and many more, can activate certain processes that increase the risk of migraines occurring.

The dysfunctional processes that these triggers can activate are:

* Excessive platelet aggregation which can result in changes in blood vessels associated with migraines.

* Decrease in the cellular energy reserves in the brain that is common to migraine sufferers.

NUTRITIONAL APPROACH – When Migraine Sufferers Get These 4 Factors Under Control – The Results Can Be Life-Changing

1. Maintain normal platelet aggregation

2. Maintain healthy cerebrovascular tone and function (blood vessels in the brain)

3. Maintain healthy mitochondrial energy reserves (the powerhouses of cells)

4. Healthy nerve transmission in the brain

A Nutritional Approach for Migraine Sufferers: Riboflavin, Magnesium, and Feverfew for maintaining normal cerebrovascular function.

Magnesium: Research studies show that almost half of all migraine sufferers have low blood levels of Magnesium, which is critical in controlling vasospasms (the contraction and dilation of blood vessels in the brain which occur during migraines).

Riboflavin: Migraine sufferers also suffer mitochondrial energy deficiencies, which Riboflavin (Vitamin B2) can improve when given in high dosages.

Feverfew: Research studies show Feverfew inhibits blood platelet aggregation and helps maintain a healthy inflammatory response.

The Combination Effect

Migraines are multifactorial. They involve or depend on a number of factors or causes. Combining 3 nutritional ingredients with different mechanisms of action makes sense and is a good place to start for migraine sufferers looking for a nutritional option.

References:

Awang DVC. Herbal Medicine, Feverfew. Canadian Pharm J 1989; 122:266-70.
Heptinstall S, Awang DVC, Dawson BA, et al. Parthenolide Content and Bioactivity of Feverfew (Tanacetum parthenium). Estimation of Commercial and Authenticated Feverfew Products. J Pharm Pharmacol 1992; 44:391-5.
Pugh WJ, Sambo K. Prostaglandin Synthetase Inhibitors in Feverfew. J Phrm Pharmacol 1988; 40-743-5
Heptinstall S, White A, Williamson L, Mitchell JRA. Extracts of Feverfew Inhibit Granule Secretion in Blood Platelets and Polymophonuclear Leukocytes. Lancet 1985; i:1071-4.
Makheja AN, Bailey JM. A Platelet Phospholipase Inhibitor from the Medicinal Herb Feverfew (Tanacetum parthenium). Prostagland Leukotrienes Med 1982;8:653-60.
Sumner H, Salan U, Knight DW, Hoult JRS. Inhibition of 5-Lipoxygenase and Cyclo-oxygenase in Leukocytes by Feverfew. Biochem Pharmacol 1992;43:2313-20.
Johnson ES, Kadam NP, Hylands DM, Hylands PF. Efficacy of Feverfew As prophylactic Treatment of Migraine. British Med J 1985; 291:569-73.
Murphy JJ. Heptinstall S, Mitchell JRA. Randomized Double-Blind Placebo-Controlled Trial of Feverfew in Migraine Prevention. Lancet 1988; ii:189-92.Brown D, Gaby A, Reichert R. Clinical Applications of Natural Medicine–Migraine. NPRC 9
Condition-Specific Monograph Series, 1997.
Lawrence Review of Natural Products, September 1994.

What Research Says About Headache in Transgender and Gender-Diverse Patients

Migraine and severe headache are highly prevalent among US adults, affecting about 1 in 6 Americans. However, not all populations affected have the same experiences and needs. Even the amount of research done regarding headache disorders differs from one population to another. For example, headache disorder research in transgender and gender-diverse populations is limited. The goal of current and future research is to learn more about the effects of the disorders and find proper treatments for them.

Gender has long been known to play a role in the pathophysiology of primary headache disorders. Migraine and tension-type headaches, for example, are more prevalent in women, while cluster headaches are more common in men. Hormonal alterations and their impact on brain physiology and pain response are thought to be linked to this discrepancy in occurrence. This association is supported by the research done on headache in transgender and gender-diverse patients; it was found that the prevalence of migraine increased in transgender women using estrogen and decreased in transgender men using testosterone.

However, each person responds differently to hormone therapy. Therefore, treatment for the headache disorder should be individualized and supportive of continuing gender-affirming hormone therapy.

In this article, we will dive into the different aspects that come with headache in transgender and gender-diverse patients.

How Common Are Headache Disorders in Transgender and Gender-Diverse Individuals?

Gender-diverse people make up between 0.1 to 2 percent of the population. There are an estimated 1.4 million transgender adults in the United States, but little is known about how commonly migraine and other headache disorders affect them.

A Dutch study found that transgender women who had recently undergone sex reassignment surgery and used anti-androgens to suppress male sex characteristics while using oestrogens to induce female sex characteristics had a migraine prevalence of 26%. This percentage is similar to the migraine prevalence in cisgender women in the same population. Cisgender refers to an individual whose personal identity and gender correspond with their birth sex.

Though there are no statistics on migraine prevalence before and after hormone therapy, an Italian study found that two of 47 transgender women had headache before using feminizing hormones. After hormone therapy, the number of transgender women reporting headache increased to five. In addition, ten of 26 transgender men had headache before hormone therapy. However, following treatment, six had a reduction in the severity and frequency of headache, while three reported onset of headache.

The Role of Hormones in Headache

Gender differences are evident in primary headache disorders. The most studied of these disorders is migraine. Migraine impacts one in five cisgender women and one in 15 cisgender men. It is more prevalent in women after puberty. However, a second peak may occur with perimenopause around the age of 40. This prevalence is thought to be linked to hormones and hormonal changes.

The lower levels of testosterone and higher levels of estrogen in women seem to be associated with the difference in headache prevalence between cisgender women and men. Falling estrogen levels are thought to be associated with migraine without aura, while high levels are linked with migraine aura.

Migraine is common during menstruation, with up to 20% of women experiencing migraine exclusively during this period. Women with migraine appear to have a quicker drop in estrogen levels in the late luteal phase of the menstrual cycle, triggering migraine onset. Women during menopause could still suffer from migraine, but the migraine’s frequency often declines. In addition, the symptoms of migraine differ from gender to gender.

Tension-type headache (TTH), similar to migraine, is more common in women, but less is understood regarding this correlation. It is thought that the greater occurrence in women is due to hormonal factors, especially since the likelihood of a TTH rises during hormonal fluctuations, as with menses. In addition, unlike migraine and TTH, cluster headache has long been known to occur more frequently in men. However, studies have suggested that the frequency of cluster headache in women has increased over time.

With all this information at hand, it is expected that hormone therapy will have an impact on migraine in transgender people. Despite the data being extremely limited, the use of estrogen in transgender women has been shown to aggravate pain conditions, such as headaches.

It has been found that any shift in hormones, whether an increase or a decrease, may impact migraine. As mentioned earlier, transgender women on anti-androgens for male sex characteristic suppression and a high dose of estrogens to induce female sex characteristics have an increased prevalence of migraine. Particularly, the prevalence of migraine with aura increases, especially in those taking high doses of oral estrogen.

Animal studies have seen that oestrogen in high doses potentially stimulates increased responses in the trigeminovascular system, a mechanism that could be involved in the headache phase of migraine. In addition, oestrogen raises the risk of cortical spreading depression, which is the pathophysiological process underlying migraine aura. Clinically, this may correlate with the increased prevalence of aura in transgender women taking high-dose oestrogen therapy.

As for testosterone, there isn’t enough evidence to tell if it is a migraine trigger in individuals. However, changes in testosterone levels may impact the frequency of migraine attacks. Studies have found that some testosterone-treated people had fewer attacks. In addition, a small case series found that after establishing testosterone therapy, transmasculine youth with postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome and related headache had both conditions resolved.

In transmasculine youth, suppressing endogenous estrogen with lynestrenol, a progestin medication, resulted in headache during the first six months but not after. This may be explained by the estrogen withdrawal effect in the population.

The impact of transition surgeries on migraine is not well researched. However, similar procedures can provide insight into their possible effects. Hysterectomies and oophorectomies, or the removal of the uterus and ovaries, in cisgender patients have been linked to an increase in the incidence of migraine attacks right after surgeries. If a sudden estrogen drop occurs due to the ovaries being removed, more attacks may occur due to the hormonal decline. However, in terms of causing migraine, the actual surgeries are not a big concern.

Headache Diagnosis and Treatment

Correctly diagnosing headaches in transgender and gender-diverse individuals is critical for ensuring proper headache management. If new-onset headache occurs, secondary causes need to be carefully evaluated. As headaches are not mutually exclusive, each type of headache should get its own separate diagnosis. There are validated diagnostic screening tools that can be used to diagnose headache conditions, such as migraine. Often, diagnosing aura tends to be more difficult, but its correct diagnosis is vital since it is a marker for people at increased risk of ischaemic stroke.

Managing migraine in transgender and gender-diverse patients doesn’t differ much from managing migraine in cisgender patients. If migraine does occur in transgender and gender-diverse patients, it should be managed based on national guidelines while taking into consideration the impact of hormone therapy.

Transgender and gender-diverse patients with migraine should be provided with individualized treatment plans. The treatment strategy should be tailored to fit each patient’s unique needs. Transgender headache sufferers should not have to choose between continuing hormone therapy and managing their symptoms. Instead, the treatment should be supportive of any intervention the individual wants.

In this population, the treatment for headaches should help reduce the severity and frequency of attacks while receiving gender-affirming hormone therapy (GAHT) or undergoing surgical interventions. Regarding the hormone treatment itself, stable oestrogen levels in transgender women are best attained using non-oral modes of oestradiol delivery, which are less likely to provoke migraine than oral forms. The treatment should begin with modest dosages that are gradually increased. If aura occurs, there should be a reduction in the dose of oestrogen, and oral oestrogens, if used, should be replaced with transdermal oestrogen if necessary. In transgender men, the possible benefits of testosterone might not be fully achieved without complete ovarian suppression.

While on hormone therapy, transgender and gender-diverse individuals can take migraine or other drugs to lessen the burden. However, some medications may interact with hormone therapy. That’s why it is critical to consider potential drug-drug interactions in transgender and gender-diverse individuals receiving GAHT or antiretroviral treatments (ARTs). Certain medications that might be avoided in certain patients’ transitions include beta-blockers. Any changes in medication or hormone therapy should be discussed with your doctor. More research is needed to understand further how to manage headache disorders in this patient population properly.

An Underserved Population

Despite the transgender and gender-diverse populations’ increased visibility and the mainstream media recently adopting a positive approach, they continue to face excessive discrimination and prejudice. That is largely why this population remains underserved.

Transgender and gender-diverse individuals with migraine face discrimination from two fronts. First, they live with migraine, an invisible disease that people often overlook. In addition, society is not always accepting or understanding of people who are transgender and gender diverse. These two factors combined leave patients unheard and underserved.

There is also a lack of data and research available to help guide healthcare providers. This research limitation has to do with the lack of funding for migraine research in general, even more so for migraine in the transgender and gender-diverse community.

It’s important for transgender and gender-diverse individuals to find healthcare providers they are comfortable with. Every patient’s migraine is unique, so choosing the right doctor is critical for obtaining an accurate diagnosis and a treatment plan that is effective for the patient.

Final Thoughts

Primary headache disorders are known to be influenced by gender. Research has found that in transgender women using estrogen, the prevalence of migraine increases and reduces in transgender men using testosterone.

Hormones play a role in headache disorders. The lower levels of testosterone and higher levels of estrogen in women seem to be associated with the difference in headache prevalence between cisgender men and women. In addition, falling estrogen levels are linked with migraine without aura, while high levels are linked with migraine aura. Though migraine research in the transgender and gender diverse population is limited, it has been shown that hormone therapy has an impact on some headache disorders such as migraine.

An accurate diagnosis of the condition is critical for ensuring proper headache management. Treatment plans should be individualized based on each patient’s unique needs. However, unfortunately, the transgender and gender-diverse population are underserved. More research is required concerning headache disorders in this population.

Having Migraines in Midlife Could Increase Your Risk For Dementia

Having migraines with aura in midlife can increase your chances of developing dementia later in life, researchers report.

For the study published in The Journal of Headache and Pain, investigators looked at 30-year medical data from all inhabitants of Denmark born between 1935-1956. The purpose of the analysis was to see whether those who had received a migraine diagnosis in midlife were also more likely to receive a dementia diagnosis later in life compared to those without migraine.

After controlling for other factors that could potentially increase a person’s risk for dementia: past heart attacks, peripheral vascular disease, diabetes, renal disease, and more, investigators found that those diagnosed with migraine between ages 31-58 were more likely to have dementia in later life. Interestingly, migraineurs without aura had a 19% higher rate of dementia, and those with aura had double the rate of dementia.

Migraine and dementia are two of the most common neurological conditions globally. Dementia is more common as people grow older and affects about one in nine Americans, according to the National Alzheimer’s Association. Migraine affects people of all ages, and it is one of the world’s most prevalent health conditions. An estimated 39 million people in the United States suffer from migraine headaches.

This study was not the first to find a connection between migraine and cognitive decline, but it is the first large-scale one to recognize midlife migraine as a risk factor for dementia. In a 2019 paper published in Geriatric Psychiatry, a group of researchers found that having a history of migraines made a person three to four times more likely to develop some type of dementia after 65, especially Alzheimer’s disease.

What does this mean for migraineurs?

Learning that having migraines — which is something that cannot be avoided or cured — increases your risk for dementia can be alarming. But do not panic. First, it’s important to understand that a risk factor is simply something that increases your chances of developing a disease. A person can (and usually has) multiple risk factors for multiple conditions. For example, the simple fact of being a biological woman increases a person’s risk of heart disease and stroke.

Having migraines with or without aura doesn’t necessarily mean that you will be diagnosed with dementia at a later age. On the other hand, a person might still get dementia even if they avoid risk factors or are considered “low risk.” There are many other known risk factors for dementia other than having a history of migraines. According to the National Alzheimer’s Association, the two biggest risk factors are aging and genetic predispositions. Other risk factors include:

High blood pressure
Diabetes
Traumatic brain injury
Atherosclerosis
Obesity
High alcohol consumption
Depression

The good news is that since inflammation plays a role in both the development of migraines and dementia, taking natural anti-inflammatories like feverfew, ginger extract, and Boswellia extract — which have been shown to help with migraine pain and aura — could theoretically curb a migraineur’s risk of getting dementia later in life.

To Wrap Things Up

Studies have found a strong association between suffering from migraine attacks, particularly ones with aura, and many types of dementia — including Alzheimer’s disease. Having one or more dementia risk factors doesn’t mean you will get it for sure, but it is important to know them so you can take steps to bolster your neurological health.

Although more research is needed, supplementing with brain-healthy herbs, vitamins, and minerals that reduce inflammation may support you during migraine attacks and could even help protect you against cognitive decline.

Understanding Migraines: The Role of Inflammation

Anyone who has experienced a migraine knows it’s not just an ordinary headache. Migraine is a neurological disorder that affects one person in seven and is a significant cause of disability.

Being one of the most prevalent diseases worldwide, migraine, and its accompanying disorders, put a significant burden on individuals and societies. That is why migraine researchers strive to learn more about it and its pathology. Though the exact pathology of migraine is still being studied, it has been found that several possible factors could play a role.

Inflammation and pain commonly go hand in hand. The mechanisms underlying migraine are said to possibly involve inflammation. Migraine pathophysiology is associated with the interaction of the vasculature, neurons, glial cells, and inflammatory signaling.

In this article, we will dive into the link between migraine and inflammation.

What Is Inflammation?

We’re all familiar with the inflammation that occurs when you cut yourself. As the body detects an outside intruder like a virus or bacteria, the immune system is activated. The immune system responds by sending out inflammatory cells and cytokines, which stimulate more inflammatory cells. The cells cause an inflammatory response that will attack the intruder or heal the damaged tissue. This response is referred to as acute inflammation.

When inflammation becomes chronic, that’s where the trouble starts to arise. Chronic inflammation triggers the defense response even when there is no invader to fight off. Often with autoimmune diseases, the immune system treats normal tissues as if they were infected or somehow unusual. This prolonged inflammatory response may lead to tissue damage. Researchers believe that inflammation plays a role in a wide range of chronic diseases.

Triggered by nerve activation, neurogenic inflammation is defined as the release of neuropeptides and other inflammatory mediators from peripheral nerves. This phenomenon leads to vasodilatation and increases vascular permeability. Neurogenic inflammation results in rapid plasma extravasation and edema, contributing to pain conditions.

An adaptive reaction activated by noxious stimuli, such as injury, infection, and tissue stress, is referred to as neuroinflammation. Neuroinflammation is an inflammatory response that occurs within the brain or spinal cord. It is the activation of the brain’s innate immune system when an inflammatory challenge appears and is depicted by molecular and cellular changes within the brain.

The Link Between Migraine and Inflammation

The pathophysiology of migraine is highly complex and not completely understood, but researchers have identified a great link between migraine and inflammation. In addition, experts now have a closer grasp on how this link is associated with migraine pain.

Migraine-related inflammation occurs when the cells of the immune system are activated, triggering cytokine production. Cytokines are pain mediators in neurovascular inflammation that are associated with migraine pain. Various cytokines have been involved with inflammation; inflammatory signaling, in this case, stimulates neurons and causes pain.

Inflammation that is extensively linked with several pain disorders, including migraine, is neuroinflammation. In addition, studies have found neurogenic inflammation to be involved in migraine. This type of inflammation is triggered by nerve activation and causes neuropeptide release, rapid plasma extravasation, and edema; thus, it is said to be one of the mechanisms that contribute to migraine pain. However, some studies argue that neurogenic inflammation could occur with a migraine attack but don’t believe it is the original cause of migraine.

Another well-established key factor in migraine pathophysiology is the neuropeptide calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP). CGRP is a protein released around the brain. It is synthesized in neurons, nerve cells in the spinal cord, and the brain and is a potent vasodilator that relaxes blood vessels. It has been linked to various pain conditions, including migraine. When CGRP is released, intense inflammation occurs in the meninges (the coverings of the brain), leading to migraine attacks in the majority of migraine sufferers. In fact, research has found that if migraine patients were given CGRP by an intravenous method, most would get migraine within four hours.

Migraine attacks cause plasma CGRP levels to increase significantly. These peptides increase vasodilation and promote neurogenic inflammation, leading to further increased sensory trigeminal fiber activity, prolonged production of vasoactive peptides such as CGRP, and altered pain impulse transmission to the brain. With the use of triptans, a group of medicines used to ease migraine symptoms, studies have found that the relief of migraine pain is accompanied by the normalization or reduction in CGRP concentrations in blood.

The activation of CGRP receptors in the trigeminovascular system plays a vital role in the peripheral and central nervous events that eventually lead to migraine pain. Peripheral release of CGRP from trigeminal nerve endings is said to trigger several responses induced by CGRP receptor binding, ultimately leading to the sensitization of specific neurons. The stimulation of these neurons is said to relay the pain signal to the brain via the brainstem, leading to migraine pain.

Finally, for migraine, most preventative treatment options consisted of drugs developed for other diseases, such as depression and hypertension. Since scientists first identified CGRP, they were committed to finding ways to stop it from being activated with migraines. After 30 years of translational research, CGRP inhibitors have emerged as a possible new tool for preventing migraine attacks. Research has proven that selective CGRP receptor antagonists aid in reducing vasodilation and neurogenic inflammation. An antagonist is a substance that reduces or blocks a molecule’s effect. The CGRP antagonist seems to work for decreasing migraine pain but may come with serious side effects, so make sure to consult a healthcare professional.

Research has found that baseline levels of inflammation are higher in those with migraine than in those with no migraine. Some levels even rise during migraine attacks. For example, plasma levels of anti- and pro-inflammatory cytokines were found to increase during attacks. In addition, a 2016 study that evaluated the blood of young adults with migraine found that their migraine diagnosis was associated with elevated high sensitivity C-reactive protein (hsCRP), an inflammatory biomarker. However, human data vary, and its relevance to migraine pathophysiology remains unclear.

The Role of Inflammation in Chronic Migraine

Most of the time, migraineurs suffer from attacks that occur sporadically. However, about 2% of the general population experience gradual increases in attacks over time, eventually developing chronic migraine. Experts define chronic migraine as a headache occurring 15 or more days every month for more than three months and features of migraine headache at least eight days a month. The mechanisms underlying the chronicity of migraine are complex and not yet fully known but are said to involve a degree of inflammation.

The transformation from episodic to chronic migraine appears to involve neurogenic neuroinflammation. There is a possible increase in cytokines expression via activation of protein kinases in glial cells and neurons of the trigeminovascular system. that despite inflammation not being required for acute migraine attacks, it could be associated with the “chronification” of migraine.

Aside from the pain itself, with migraine, there are no imaging indicators of chronic inflammation. However, acute or chronic inflammation could be associated with the exacerbation of migraine.

imaging indicators of chronic inflammation

Women Are At Greater Risk

Studies have found that women are two to three times more likely to have migraines than men. In addition, women are likely to experience worse and more frequent migraine attacks. Migraine headaches occur more often in women between the ages of 15 and 55. It is possibly due to the influence of hormones. In fact, the onset and timing of migraines were linked to the hormonal flux of the menstrual cycle in more than half of women between the ages of 18 and 60.

Inflammation may also play a significant role in migraine in women. According to the same 2016 study mentioned earlier, the correlation between migraine diagnosis and elevated high sensitivity C-reactive protein was more prominent among young women.

Ways to Reduce Inflammation

With migraines, the pain can get so intense that people tend to forget they possess the ability to help themselves. However, some steps can aid in reducing overall inflammation, including migraine-related inflammation. Taking care of your health with the help of professionals will elevate a bit of the burden that comes with migraine disease, but it might not keep migraines at bay. The following are approaches you can take.

Taking control of your lifestyle is essential and only possible with consistency. Disrupting the balance within your body can lead to inflammation, so maintaining stable outside factors are necessary, especially with things like sleep, diet, and activity. For example, a poor night’s sleep can trigger both inflammation and migraines, so develop and maintain a consistent sleep schedule. Consider an effective sleep supplement with proven ingredients to help you reboot and recharge your brain and body with a good night’s sleep.
Dietary factors have been found to have significant impacts on modulating inflammation. Managing your diet correctly, avoiding inflammatory foods, and getting adequate nutrients are among the steps you can take to reduce inflammation in the body. Consider avoiding foods or components that trigger your migraine and inflammatory foods such as fried foods, refined carbohydrates, and soda. According to a 2022 study published in Scientific Reports, the adherence of migraineurs to a diet with anti-inflammatory properties was significantly and inversely associated with headache frequency. In addition, consuming colorful fruits and vegetables should be part of a healthy diet. Finally, aim for a diet rich in omega-3 and low in omega-6 as it has been found to lessen the intensity and frequency of monthly migraine attacks.
Never underestimate the power of nutrition when it comes to inflammation and migraines. Here are five effective supplements proven in clinical studies to benefit migraine sufferers: Magnesium, Riboflavin, Feverfew, Boswellia Serrata, and Ginger. While low magnesium intake is linked to increased levels of inflammation, Boswellia and Ginger are especially known for promoting a healthy inflammatory response. Migraine sufferers should consider a specialty combination supplement for proper nutritional support.
Carrying excess body fat can increase inflammation in the body. Maintaining a healthy weight could have beneficial effects on migraine. A possibly successful strategy for underweight patients is weight gain and a weight reduction strategy for overweight or obese patients.
Stress is the top trigger for migraines. In addition, it can cause inflammation. Reducing stress is vital and can be achieved through stress management activities and techniques. For example, you can try meditation, yoga classes, and physical activity to help ward off inflammation and migraines. Furthermore, consider a stress-reducing supplement with ingredients to help with neuroinflammation and balance the stress hormone cortisol. Topping the list are Ashwagandha, Pantothenic Acid (Vitamin B5), Bacopa Monnieri (Brahmi), Sage Extract, Pyridoxal-5-phosphate, Huperzine A, and Vitamin C.

Final Thoughts

Inflammation and migraine are greatly linked. Studies have found that inflammation may play a significant role in migraine, particularly in women. However, certain lifestyle factors can be adjusted to help reduce inflammation and migraines.