Comments on: Major shift in Migraine Thought? (part 2)

By: jeisea

jeisea — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 02:22:47 +0000

Hi James
Informative, interesting article. All the more evidence for considering prevention of headache rather than dealing with the consequences. There are various preventative measures. Some neurologists specialize in this area. One of my specialists pointed me to the research about B2 (Riboflavin) as a prevention. It works for me and at less than the dose suggested in research.

By: James

James — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 15:06:44 +0000

Heidi – sorry, that wasn’t meant as a refutation of something terrible you said! I agree with you – I was just adding some balance and further thoughts to the discussion. Don’t worry!

DJ, thanks for your further thoughts. It is disappointing to hear that so many people have bad experiences with doctors. We’re going to talk more about this next week. We did talk a little about how to approach your doctor in this issue of Headway.

By: DJ

DJ — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 10:13:52 +0000

Good article. The biggest problem with getting migraine or headache treatment is a doctor not believing in it which is pretty endemic in Australia. The article itself says “The truth is that many people suffer for years, lose jobs and have strained relationships due to so-called “lesser” headaches.” which is only one justifiable reason out of many why affected patients should get a much better deal from their doctors.

Anyhow hints on how to successfully approach and convince doctors that migraine/headache treatment is necessary would be great.

By: Heidi Gunderson

Heidi Gunderson — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 21:49:29 +0000

Okay. Thanks for your reply. I don’t think I was completely clear. I’m not sure doing completely away with the different types is the answer either, and that’s not really what I meant. I don’t know. I’m not a doctor. And I’m not sure, after reading Dr. Buchholz’s book, if that’s what he meant either. I don’t mean to put words in anybody’s mouth. I just think everyone should be treated as an individual. It seems like grouping them into different types may have been too much of a problem for awhile. Someone may have symptoms from several different types of migraine, so that person’s personal migraine progression needs to be looked at on an individual basis instead of as a type of migraine. That’s all I meant. I’m sorry if the way I worded it was confusing. Thanks for your answer. I appreciate your thoughts.

By: James

James — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 19:32:04 +0000

Thanks for your comments.

No, this thinking came long before Dr Buchholz’s book. In some ways, it’s a return to the past – we’ve gotten very specific in our categories, and now we’re realizing the relationships between the many different diseases.

But I don’t think this is the end of “different types of headache and migraine”. The categories are still useful, and we still may find many different diseases here, even if they end up being related. The categories are helping us find shortcuts to better treatment, because people with certain symptoms tend to do better with certain types of treatment.

By: Heidi Gunderson

Heidi Gunderson — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 14:19:24 +0000

I am so glad that the medical profession is starting to look at migraine in this way. It helps doctors see us as individuals and gives them more options for treatment. I love your blog. You are helping open migraine sufferer’s eyes to the fact that grouping headaches into one category helps doctors treat us better, not worse. Some migraine sufferers have been afraid they won’t find out what “type” of migraines they have, when the better option is to find the best way to treat their personal overall migraine disease. I’m pretty sure Dr. David Buchholz from Johns Hopkins led the thinking in that direction with his book “Heal Your Headache: The 1-2-3 Program for Taking Charge of Your Pain.” It is a great read for anyone with headaches. Thanks again for your wonderful blog entry. I enjoyed reading it.

By: Sandy

Sandy — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 11:09:21 +0000

Very interesting information. I used to get terrible migraines but the symptoms varied from attack to attack. It was always very puzzling. I did notice that the neck tension came on after the initial gut symptoms started. I read somewhere that the chemicals released as a result of a reaction to food in the gut caused the neck and shoulder tension. After doing a lot of work on myself through detox and nutrition the migraines just vanished.

By: Btesy

Btesy — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 05:11:41 +0000

It’s certainly all food for thought — and it’s never a bad thing to consider anything from another perspective. Interesting, because a lot of people describe their tension-type headaches as starting in their neck and shoulders, but I hear many migraineurs describing their migraines as starting the same way!

Maybe it’s all just more evidence of how desperately we need additional research and understanding of migraine disease and headache disorders for the millions and millions of people affected!