Posts Tagged ‘migraine prevention’
Friday, December 30th, 2011
Which migraine headache therapy do you believe is most effective for migraine prevention- exercise, relaxation, or Topamax? Well, some researchers from Sweden compared the individual effect of each of the three migraine remedies on patients, with some surprising results.
What’s your migraine trigger?
Anybody who has ever known the agonizing symptoms of a migraine is willing to try almost anything to make them go away. Throbbing, excruciating head pain, nausea, eye sensitivity, vomiting, and visual impairments plague millions of migraine sufferers around the world.
And because migraine triggers vary greatly by patient, determining the cause of your migraines can take considerable time, effort, and patience. Headache specialists have the task of isolating individual triggers from food, hormones, weather, and lifestyle habits before they can recommend the most efficient cure for migraines.
 
Exercise: Migraine trigger or migraine treatment?
If you suffer exercise headaches, then the last thing you want to do is hop on the treadmill. Exertional migraines are triggered by strenuous exercise, in addition to sneezing, coughing, strong bowel movements, and sexual intercourse. But for many other people afflicted with chronic illness, daily exercise can be therapeutic in relieving stress, pain symptoms, depression, and fatigue.
Scientists in Sweden began to wonder if leading an active lifestyle would benefit migraine patients, and if exercise therapy could hold up on its own against relaxation therapy and migraine drug therapy, such as Topamax (topiramate).
 
Scientific study on migraines and exercise
October, 2011: A study focusing on exercise, relaxation, and Topamax as migraine prevention proposed the following hypothesis:
Can exercising for 40 minutes, three times per week, relieve migraines as effectively as using guided relaxation or Topamax (up to 200 mg) every day?
- In a three-month period, ninety-one migraine headache patients were observed by researchers for migraine symptoms, quality of life, fitness levels, and oxygen resuscitation.
- Their aim was to compare any changes in migraine frequency between the first and last months of treatment.
- In the group that received exercise therapy, migraine symptoms decreased in frequency by 95%.
- Migraine patients who received relaxation therapy or Topamax treatments also saw a 95% reduction in migraine frequency.
- Conclusion: Exercise is just as effective as relaxation and Topamax medication in preventing migraines.
- Results of the University of Gothenburg study are available in Cephalalgia.
Why are these results important?
Anybody trying to wean off prescription migraine treatments should be heartened by the news that healthier, more natural alternative migraine remedies are available, and the scientific research is there to prove it.
Topamax produces harmful side effects with long-term use. Side effects of Topamax may include:
- Short-term memory loss
- Difficulty concentrating
- Constantly being at a loss for words
- “Brain fog”
- Decreased reasoning skills
- Difficulty putting your thoughts together
Fortunately, the harmful side effects of Topamax disappear once you get the drug out of your system.
Additional natural migraine treatments
A growing body of research confirms the beneficial properties of other alternative treatments for migraines, such as nutritional supplements and herbs.
- Coenzyme Q10: This powerful antioxidant is effective at reducing migraine frequency and severity. It is also used for heart disease patients, diabetics, and people with autoimmune disorders.
- Butterbur: For hundreds of years, herbalists have used butterbur clippings to treat headaches, joint inflammation, allergy symptoms, and muscular pain. Today, alternative medicine practitioners recommend using butterbur as part of a well-rounded natural migraine therapy.
- Magnesium: Many doctors believe that magnesium deficiency is at the root of many migraine attacks. In a recent study, migraine patients who received magnesium supplements experienced 41.6% fewer migraine attacks than before the study.
- Riboflavin: In a study published by Neurology, 400 mg of vitamin B2 (riboflavin) administered for three months resulted in a 50% reduction in migraine attacks in 59% of patients, compared to 15% for the placebo group.
Read more about migraine prevention:
8 Ways to Avoid Exercise Headaches after Working Out
Natural Supplements and Herbs for migraines
Sources:
Exercise as migraine prophylaxis: A randomized study using relaxation and topiramate as controls- PubMed, NCBI
Effectiveness of high-dose riboflavin in migraine prophylaxis- A randomized controlled trial-PubMed, NCBI
Image credits:
Exercise shots- lululemon athletica, Butterbur- amortize
Tags: cure for migraines, migraine headache, migraine prevention, migraine remedies, migraine triggers, natural migraine treatments, symptoms of a migraine, Topamax
Posted in Migraine Prevention | No Comments »
Monday, November 28th, 2011
As if migraine headaches weren’t bad enough…here come headaches and dizziness to spoil your day! Migraine vertigo can be part of your migraine symptoms, or it can signify a comorbid vestibular disorder.
What is Migraine associated vertigo (MAV)?
Migraine attacks include a wide range of symptoms, including extreme dizziness. A significant percentage of migraine sufferers also experience vestibular migraines- migraine headaches that come with symptoms of vertigo.
Go Ask Alice: Migraine Auras in Wonderland
What are the symptoms of migraine associated vertigo?
It is important to use descript terms when explaining vertigo symptoms to your doctor or headache specialist, so that he will be able to differentiate between true vertigo, which is a vestibular disorder, and other conditions common with migraineurs, such as anxiety or Meniere’s disease.
Migraine patients usually describe vertigo symptoms as:
- Severe dizziness
- Rocking or spinning sensations
- Light-headedness
- Wooziness
- Imbalance
- Fatigue
- Feebleness
- Unsteadiness
- Motion sensitivity
- Feeling of ear fullness
- Tinnitus, or ringing inside the ear
- Muted hearing
Ménière’s disease and MAV
There is a high correlation between migraine illness and Meniere’s disease, as stated in this Japanese study on migraine-associated vertigo and Meniere’s disease released by PubMed. The main difference is duration- migraine vertigo symptoms can linger for hours, day, or even years, where vertigo associated with Meniere’s disease generally lasts for 24 hours, and no longer.
Benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (BPPV)
Benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (BPPV) is the most common cause of vertigo, and usually the cause of vestibular migraines.
Transient Ischemic Attack (TIA)
Small strokes, or transient ischemic attacks, are another cause of vertigo that your doctor will be able to diagnose with testing.
Motion sickness
It is worth noting that migraine patients are extremely prone to motion sickness while traveling, which is another common cause of light-headedness, headaches and dizziness.
Fluid leaks in ear
Sometimes, vertigo and tinnitus symptoms indicate leaking fluid in your inner ear.
Anxiety attacks and depression
If you suffer from chronic migraines, then you might also experience feelings of anxiety, nervousness, depression, or panic. Vertigo is one of many symptoms of an anxiety attack, with others being breathlessness, sweating, uncontrolled thoughts, paranoia, and heart palpitations. People who suffer from depression often experience panic disorder as well.
Treatments for migraine headache and dizziness
If headaches and dizziness are chronic, then your neurologist or other headache specialist might prescribe a migraine treatment such as Topamax, antidepressants, or beta-blockers. Alternatively, natural remedies for migraines that help include preventative treatments such as:
- Exercise, including yoga, Tai Chi, and low-impact aerobics
- Migraine prevention by diagnosing migraine triggers
- Stress management, including guided meditation, biofeedback, and deep breathing
- Herbal and nutritional supplements designed for natural migraine relief, such as butterbur, riboflavin, coenzyme Q10 and magnesium for migraines.
Read more about migraine symptoms:
Natural Migraine Remedies Surge with Prescription Drug Deaths
30 Natural Herbs for Headache Relief, plus Chinese Remedy
Why do Migraines cause Nausea and Vomiting?
Sources:
Does migraine-associated vertigo share a common pathophysiology with Meniere’s disease? Study with vestibular-evoked myogenic potential- PubMed- NCBI
Epidemiology of vertigo, migraine and vestibular migraine
Benign paroxysmal positional vertigo- Mayo Clinic
Ménière’s Disease [NIDCD Health Information]
Image credits, from top:
Mykl Roventine, AlicePopkorn, sufur, Renee Silverman, quinet
Tags: Headaches and dizziness, Magnesium for migraines, Meniere’s disease, migraine attacks, migraine headaches, migraine prevention, migraine symptoms, migraine treatment, migraine triggers, Migraine vertigo, Natural migraine relief, Natural remedies for migraines, Vertigo symptoms, vestibular migraines
Posted in Migraine Headache Symptoms | No Comments »
Monday, May 9th, 2011
Millions of Americans suffer from migraine headaches, but that number could be larger than we think. While data collected from the American Migraine Study II suggests that 28 million people in the US suffer migraine symptoms, another study points to a large number of cases where migraine pain was misdiagnosed as sinus headache symptoms.
 About 18% of all women are diagnosed with migraines; headache pain is described by 80% of all migraineurs as excruciating, to the point where sufferers are unable to perform even simple daily tasks, interfering with their social lives and job performance. More disturbing, experts believe that less than half of all migraine sufferers will ever be diagnosed with chronic migraines, and an even small number- fewer than 20%- will ever receive prescribed migraine medications for headache relief.
Please read: Migraine Headaches Send Millions to the Emergency Rooms
Some researchers have conducted a study to explain the high rate of misdiagnoses surrounding migraine headaches, pointing to a tendency among patients and some doctors to confuse the symptoms of sinus headaches with those of migraines.
The Sinus, Allergy and Migraine Study (SAMS) was conducted to draw a line of contrast between two headache types: migraines and sinus headaches. Says lead authors, the “majority of those with self-diagnosed sinus headaches have migraines or probable migraines.”
Here are the results of that study:
- Included in this study were 100 individuals who believed themselves to be suffering from sinus headaches.
- Participants were asked to fill out questionnaires designed to deduct the level of their headache pain and impairment caused by their headache symptoms.
- Headache sufferers were also asked if they had any other side effects, such as stuffy nose, watery eyes or flushed skin.
- All in all, 63% of study participants were eventually diagnosed with chronic migraines, after having previously been diagnosed with sinus headaches.
- Scientists attributed the wrong diagnoses to miscommunication between the patients and the doctors, in addition to a tendency among some patients to “self-diagnose” their headache symptoms.
- Triggers which caused migraines included changes in the weather and seasons, allergies and altitude changes.
For more info on headache types, read:
7 Headache Categories:Which Type of Headache do you Have?
Women who get Migraines are also Likely to get This
Sources:
FYI Living, PubMed Gov
Tags: cause migraine, causes migraines, chronic migraines, headache relief, headache triggers, migraine drugs, migraine headaches, migraine medications, migraine news, migraine pain, migraine pain relief, migraine prevention, migraine remedy, migraine symptoms, Migraines, migraines with aura, natural migraine treatments, prevent migraines, sinus headache symptoms, sinus headaches, Symptoms, women and migraines
Posted in Types of Migraines | No Comments »
Tuesday, March 29th, 2011
Question: What medications are available to prevent migraines?
Answer: There are several types of medications currently available that can reduce the frequency of chronic migraines–there truly isn’t any way to completely prevent them. You cannot obtain any of these medications without a doctor’s approval, however, as they are all FDA-approved prescription medications. Let’s look at which medications can help prevent migraines.
Beta-blockers
Beta-blockers work by relaxing the blood vessels in the brain, which scientists believe can help prevent migraines. Why they prevent migraines are not clear, however. According to one study reported by WebMD.com, it has around a 50 percent success rate. Doctors often recommend this drug as the first preventative option for migraineurs.
If a doctor recommends this medication, they may prescribe drugs such as atenolol, nadolol or propranolol. There are both brand and generic versions of these drugs, the latter being less expensive.
Beta-blockers, like most medications, can cause undesirable side effects, which may disrupt your day to day life. Their most common side effects include fatigue and sleep problems. Some people may also have trouble with their memory while taking these medications.
Antidepressants
Like beta-blockers, antidepressants are one of the main drugs recommended for preventing migraines. Sometimes they are used with beta-blockers to significantly cut back on migraine attacks. They aren’t sure how antidepressants work, however–they only know that they can help prevent some migraine attacks.
Tricylclic antidepressants, such as amitriptyline, have been shown to be extremely effective, and are often recommended as the first mode of treatment. Other antidepressants, such as MAOIs, SSRIs, or SNRIs, are also recommended.
These medications can cause adverse effects. These effects include dizziness, disorientation, changes in heart rhythm and sexual problems. But there may be other side effects, especially if you have another health condition. Your doctor will ultimately determine if these medications are safe for you or not.
Calcium channel blockers
Doctors often use these drugs when beta-blockers or antidepressants don’t work. This is because calcium channel blockers can take longer to work. These medications work by blocking the effects of a neurotransmitter called serotonin, which scientists believe can trigger migraines.
Calcium channel blockers may cause some mild side effects, which are generally well tolerated. Dizziness, nausea, constipation and low blood pressure are commonly reported, along with rapid heartbeat, edema and drowsiness. Again, your doctor will determine if you can handle these effects, if they arise.
Anticonvulsants
Like calcium channel blockers, anticonvulsants are used when beta-blockers or anti-depressants aren’t enough. These drugs also affect how neurotransmitters work inside the brain, which may prevent them from triggering migraines. These are not fact acting medications, however: it can take up to six months before you may experience its real results.
There are serious side effects associated with anticonvulsants, namely their effects on birth control medications. Clinical evidence shows they can reduce the efficacy of these medications, which may put women at a higher risk for getting pregnant. Anticonvulsants can also affect your memory and make your more sleepy.
Keep in mind that all of these medications are the most commonly prescribed drugs used to prevent migraines–this list does not include all possible medications used for these purposes. Your doctor will determine which medication you should take to reduce the frequency of your migraines.
Tags: anticonvulsants, antidepressants, beta blockers, calcium channel blockers, migraine drugs, migraine medications, migraine prevention
Posted in Migraine Medication, Migraine Prevention | No Comments »
Thursday, April 22nd, 2010
Proper management of migraines includes migraine prevention. For some people, the easiest way to prevent a migraine is to keep track of things that set it off, commonly referred to as triggers.
Keeping a diary of common triggers can help a person prevent future migraines, according to Dr. E. A. MacGregor. (The Journal of the Royal Society for the Promotion of Health; http://rsh.sagepub.com; February, 1992).
The triggers consist of various foods and activities that have been known to bring on migraines.
The following is a list of the most common triggers according to Dr. E. A. MacGregor:
- Foods: cheese, chocolate, citrus fruits
- Drinks: alcoholic beverages and caffeinated drinks
- hunger
- lack of sleep
- hormonal changes in women
- neck and back pain
- over-exercising
- environmental disruptions – loud noises, bright lights and strong stenches
- long trips
- general stress
According to Dr. E. A. MacGregor, his patients have claimed that sometimes a specific trigger will cause a migraine to occur, and sometimes this same one will not. Frequently, a multitude of triggers will trigger a migraine in one person, but an individual trigger will not. The “attack threshold” is defined as the point at which a combination of triggers will create a migraine. Obviously, this attack threshold is not the same for everyone.
People who are prone to migraines are advised keep a daily diary. In addition to keeping a log of the individual triggers, he/she should also pay close attention to when the migraine took place and its severity. Doing so may enable a person to manage the migraines without the aid of drugs.
Tags: alcoholic beverages, caffeinated drinks, citrus fruits, daily diary, diary, lack of sleep, migraine diary, migraine management, migraine prevention, migraine trigger, person, Promotion, Society, trigger
Posted in Migraines | No Comments »
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