What a horrendous couple of weeks! In so many ways, I love spring with it's cherry blossoms, birds returning, flowers blooming! But, spring also seems to bring me more Migraines than any other time of year with wildly fluctuating temperatures and weather fronts coming through. UGH!
Of course, the increase in Migraines is at least partly my own fault. Once warmer weather arrives, I tend to curl up on my porch swing and sit there late into the night. That means going to bed later, getting less sleep. So, add that to the mercurial weather, and I'm doomed.
I can't decide if I love or hate spring. The one thing I'm sure of? Migraines love it!
Namaste,
Abi
Showing posts with label migraine triggers. Show all posts
Showing posts with label migraine triggers. Show all posts
Thursday, April 24, 2008
Thursday, March 15, 2007
The "Gentle Dentist" and his philosophy.
I have Google News Alerts set so that I receive emails about news and new blog entries related to Migraine disease. They're generally interesting, and help me learn and stay up-t0-date. There are times, on the other hand, when one of the catches my eye for another reason -- doubting what I'm reading or even the reason someone wrote it in the first place.
Case in point, is a Blog Alert I received about half an hour ago. The title was "Migraine headache treatment," and it led to a blog titled "The Gentle Dentist." The description on the blog reads, "Press Releases and Ask The Dentist Q and A. This particular blog entry is of the Q & A variety, and the question was about Imitrex and the person asking the question having read that "there may be something I can do about it that doesn't involve drugs."
In his response, "The Gentle Dentist" states that, "Medications such as Imitrex have been used to help, but only in about 50% of the cases is there a resolution from the pain." Hmmmmmmm. That figure seemed low to me, so I did a bit of research. According the the University of Maryland, "Unfortunately, recurring headaches with sumatriptan develop within the first 24 hours in 20% to 40% of people who have taken the drug... Studies on the newer agents (triptans) have reported pain relief within two hours in between 60% and 91% of patients." That would seem to contradict the dentist blocker, but let's not go on just one source.
On the American Council for Headache Education site, I found this, "About three-quarters of migraine sufferers will report significant improvement within an hour after taking sumatriptan by injection. One-half to two-thirds will have a good response 2-4 hours after taking the oral form of sumatriptan.
The Gentle Dentist goes on to say, "There is a new dental device that has been approved by the FDA to treat migraine headaches and has been actually shown to be more effective than the medications." He's referring to the NTI-TSS, developed by Dr. Jim Boyd. The NTI device is excellent. However, what the blogger dentist doesn't mention is that it's not for acute treatment, bur for prevention, and is effective for a subset of Migraineurs, those with triggers related to the temperomandibular joint and the effect it can sometimes have on the trigeminal nerve. The main web site for the NTI-TSS device, www.nti-tss.com, states, "In a large percentage of migraine sufferers, the motor root which travels within the conduit of the (sensory) third division is hyperactive, commanding tremendous amounts of potentially damaging activity from the jaw muscles during sleep. This results in a bombardment of noxious (negative) information going back to the sensory nucleus, thereby sensitizing it, making the patient far more susceptible to migraine attacks."
Comments were closed on the Gentle Dentist's blog, so I couldn't leave him a comment there. If I could have, I'd have
******************
Notes:
The Gentle Dentist can be found on his own blog.
My info on Imitrex success rates came from:
Case in point, is a Blog Alert I received about half an hour ago. The title was "Migraine headache treatment," and it led to a blog titled "The Gentle Dentist." The description on the blog reads, "Press Releases and Ask The Dentist Q and A. This particular blog entry is of the Q & A variety, and the question was about Imitrex and the person asking the question having read that "there may be something I can do about it that doesn't involve drugs."
In his response, "The Gentle Dentist" states that, "Medications such as Imitrex have been used to help, but only in about 50% of the cases is there a resolution from the pain." Hmmmmmmm. That figure seemed low to me, so I did a bit of research. According the the University of Maryland, "Unfortunately, recurring headaches with sumatriptan develop within the first 24 hours in 20% to 40% of people who have taken the drug... Studies on the newer agents (triptans) have reported pain relief within two hours in between 60% and 91% of patients." That would seem to contradict the dentist blocker, but let's not go on just one source.
On the American Council for Headache Education site, I found this, "About three-quarters of migraine sufferers will report significant improvement within an hour after taking sumatriptan by injection. One-half to two-thirds will have a good response 2-4 hours after taking the oral form of sumatriptan.
The Gentle Dentist goes on to say, "There is a new dental device that has been approved by the FDA to treat migraine headaches and has been actually shown to be more effective than the medications." He's referring to the NTI-TSS, developed by Dr. Jim Boyd. The NTI device is excellent. However, what the blogger dentist doesn't mention is that it's not for acute treatment, bur for prevention, and is effective for a subset of Migraineurs, those with triggers related to the temperomandibular joint and the effect it can sometimes have on the trigeminal nerve. The main web site for the NTI-TSS device, www.nti-tss.com, states, "In a large percentage of migraine sufferers, the motor root which travels within the conduit of the (sensory) third division is hyperactive, commanding tremendous amounts of potentially damaging activity from the jaw muscles during sleep. This results in a bombardment of noxious (negative) information going back to the sensory nucleus, thereby sensitizing it, making the patient far more susceptible to migraine attacks."
Comments were closed on the Gentle Dentist's blog, so I couldn't leave him a comment there. If I could have, I'd have
- asked him to check his statistics on the success rate of Imitrex
- suggested that it was a bit narrow of him to only mention one of many Migraine treatments
- pointed out that it would be helpful to say that the device is appropriate for a subset of Migraineurs, not all.
******************
Notes:
The Gentle Dentist can be found on his own blog.
My info on Imitrex success rates came from:
Sunday, October 01, 2006
Be skeptical of Migraine info in press releases!
Google has a great feature that allows you to customize a page with news items about whatever key words you select. I love it, but have learned to be skeptical when I come across press releases there.
One I read just today is a perfect example, "Modern Treatments for Migraines and Frequent Headaches." The opening paragraph of this release says to me that this press release was most likely issued to bring this doctor business, NOT to help us. The first paragraph reads,
Danger, Will Robinson, Danger! Look at that paragraph carefully. "Permanent end," "guaranteed to permanently end chronic suffering from migraines..." OK, fella, get a clue! Migraine is a genetic neurological disease. There's no cure, and most of us know that.
Personally, I find this press release and Dr. Halmaghi's claims insulting. I know there's no cure. I also know that there are treatments that, at least for some of us, can prevent most of our Migraines. BUT, that does NOT constitute a cure.
To Dr. Halmaghi, should you come across this post, certainly you know better than to claim to be able to "cure" Migraines. Shame on you!
One I read just today is a perfect example, "Modern Treatments for Migraines and Frequent Headaches." The opening paragraph of this release says to me that this press release was most likely issued to bring this doctor business, NOT to help us. The first paragraph reads,
Today's cranial headache treatments provide a permanent end to years of needless suffering. Dr. John Halmaghi at the Michigan TMJ/Headache Institute explains the reasons behind migraine headaches. His unique program is guaranteed to permanently end chronic suffering from migraines and frequent headaches. He also explains why your previous doctors have not been able to help you.
Danger, Will Robinson, Danger! Look at that paragraph carefully. "Permanent end," "guaranteed to permanently end chronic suffering from migraines..." OK, fella, get a clue! Migraine is a genetic neurological disease. There's no cure, and most of us know that.
Personally, I find this press release and Dr. Halmaghi's claims insulting. I know there's no cure. I also know that there are treatments that, at least for some of us, can prevent most of our Migraines. BUT, that does NOT constitute a cure.
To Dr. Halmaghi, should you come across this post, certainly you know better than to claim to be able to "cure" Migraines. Shame on you!
Sunday, September 10, 2006
Stress a Migraine trigger? What's the deal?
There are some issues, even in medicine, on which even the best of the best disagree.Seldom are such issues black and white. There are often points to support both sides. The issue of whether or not stress is a Migraine trigger is one of those.
For much of my life, I was told to relax, that stress was bringing on my Migraines. Consulting my Migraine journal, I could never make sense of that statement because I could find no correlation between times of stress and my Migraine patterns. Of course, some of the people who told me to relax, were also the same uniformed, patronizing fools who told me to have a hysterectomy to stop my Migraines.
What disturbs me about the disagreement over stress as a Migraine trigger is the way in which the NHF (National Headache Foundation) chose fairly recently to express their disagreement with those who say stress is not a trigger. Two of the top Migraine sites on the Internet, MAGNUM and About Headaches / Migraine, have had Migraine myths on their sites for years, literally. The NHF has not and still does not. However, on July 31, the issued a press release, "Dispelling Migraine Myths From Fact." Their stated myth #2 is, "Migraines are not triggered by stress." This statement is directly contradictory to the myth sections on both the MAGNUM and About sites.
You may wonder why this disturbs me. Allow me to explain. By issuing a press release in this fashion, the NHF prompted a series of articles all over the Internet. These articles, for the most part, simply regurgitated the press release, accepting everything in it as undisputed fact. So, who in the hell are we supposed to believe? MAGNUM has nothing on their site addressing the NHF release. On About.com, I found this:
You can read the rest of this article here.
What I respect about Mrs. Robert's article is found in this question and answer:
That is a reasonable, respectful, and classy response. It's also one that tends to make me look at things more from her point of view than that of the NHF. Perhaps Ms. Simons at the NHF should give this some consideration.
Shalom!
For much of my life, I was told to relax, that stress was bringing on my Migraines. Consulting my Migraine journal, I could never make sense of that statement because I could find no correlation between times of stress and my Migraine patterns. Of course, some of the people who told me to relax, were also the same uniformed, patronizing fools who told me to have a hysterectomy to stop my Migraines.
What disturbs me about the disagreement over stress as a Migraine trigger is the way in which the NHF (National Headache Foundation) chose fairly recently to express their disagreement with those who say stress is not a trigger. Two of the top Migraine sites on the Internet, MAGNUM and About Headaches / Migraine, have had Migraine myths on their sites for years, literally. The NHF has not and still does not. However, on July 31, the issued a press release, "Dispelling Migraine Myths From Fact." Their stated myth #2 is, "Migraines are not triggered by stress." This statement is directly contradictory to the myth sections on both the MAGNUM and About sites.
You may wonder why this disturbs me. Allow me to explain. By issuing a press release in this fashion, the NHF prompted a series of articles all over the Internet. These articles, for the most part, simply regurgitated the press release, accepting everything in it as undisputed fact. So, who in the hell are we supposed to believe? MAGNUM has nothing on their site addressing the NHF release. On About.com, I found this:
Is stress a Migraine trigger or not?
Recently, the National Headache Foundation (NHF) sent out a press release regarding myths about Migraine. One of their myths was, "Stress is not a Migraine trigger." In other words, they're saying that stress is a Migraine trigger.
MAGNUM, the International Headache Society (IHS), and I disagree with that statement. In their International Classification of Headache Disorders, 2nd Edition, the IHS actually moved stress from their list of "triggering factors" to their list of "aggravating factors."
You can read the rest of this article here.
What I respect about Mrs. Robert's article is found in this question and answer:
So, is the NHF wrong?
I wouldn't say that they're wrong, just that we have a difference in philosophies. That's not always bad, and this isn't a black-and-white issue. As long as questions are asked and a healthy dialogue continues, differences in opinion and philosophy can spark very educational exchanges.
That is a reasonable, respectful, and classy response. It's also one that tends to make me look at things more from her point of view than that of the NHF. Perhaps Ms. Simons at the NHF should give this some consideration.
Shalom!
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