poll results

11 November 2020

Fighting Migraine: You have 10 billion dollars. How will you spend it?

Our recent poll asked this question regarding the future of migraine treatmetn: You have 10 billion dollars. How will you spend it?

Migraine and headache patients want more research!

It’s very interesting to see what our priorities are.

51% of people who responded went right to the root of the problem. They wanted to invest their money into a better understanding of the biology of headache and migraine. This is a great choice, because if we can better understand what migraine is, we can fight it more effectively. Know your enemy.

13% wanted to research a completely unique treatment. Not more medication, not even necessarily a new “tech device”, but some other way to treat headache. These are people who are thinking outside the box.

Tied for third? 11% see hope in new medications, and wanted to research those. And 11% felt that doctors and specialists need more training. Also very true!

The rest wanted to research other types of treatments. For example, how can we better use diet and nutrition to fight migraine? What about exercises and stretching? And – let us not forget – those new “tech devices” that are still in their infancy when it comes to migraine.

Interestingly, there were no votes to develop awareness and support – which perhaps tells us that we’ve come a long way in the past few years! Maybe there is more awareness than there used to be. What we want now is effective treatments. So let’s move forward!

By the way, even if you have $10 instead of $10 billion, I would suggest investing in the future of migraine research through the Migraine Research Foundation! 100% of your donation will go to migraine research. Give yourself and migraine patients around the world the gift of quality research.

18 February 2020

Drastic Diet Changes

James Website news 0

The recent poll question was: Have you ever made drastic changes to your diet to fight your headache or migraine condition? (ie changes that affect most meals you eat)

Have you made drastic changes to your diet?

As you can see, most of our visitors answered “yes”.

Many years of research have convinced me that changing the way we eat is one of the most powerful (if not the most powerful) things that we can do to fight migraine. But that doesn’t mean it’s easy. Whose advice do we listen to? How “drastic” do the changes need to be?

Not only that, but it can be a real challenge to fight cultural norms. How can we cut such-and-such from our diet, when it’s a part of every social event and on every street corner?

We’ve talked a lot about changing the way we eat, and we’ll continue to do so. But don’t be discouraged! You’re not crazy if you’re ready to make serious changes to the way you eat. You’re in good company. And it’s only logical that you should think seriously about what you put into your body, instead of just following the crowd (or the latest advertisements!).

Of course we need to think seriously about treatments and drugs. But we should be thinking even more about what passes our lips several times a day.

12 September 2018

I cut this out of my diet – and had fewer migraine/headache attacks

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That was the topic of our recent poll. It was an interesting one, to be sure! Let’s look at the results…

Foods avoided poll Well, first of all we can see that this was’t a vegetarian’s dream. “Meats” came in last – with only 2% of respondents saying that it helped to cut meats.

The two at the top were close – surprisingly, “Alcohol” came out #1. 21% said that cutting alcohol from their diets made a significant difference.

Alcohol is a tricky subject when it comes to headache and migraines. We have discussed some tips here: Wine, Beer, and Headache Tips. But we also discussed the continuing controversy in Wine & Headaches: Why We’re Still Confused.

#2, with 19% of the votes, was “Processed foods”. I don’t think that one will come as a big surprise to any of us. Processed foods are just full of landmines for migraine and headache patients.

Next came “Sugar”, at 12%. Maybe lower because fewer people have really tried to cut out sugar.

So between alcohol, processed foods, and sugar, we have covered 52% who have had significantly fewer attacks.

“Caffeine” came next, at 10%. Then tied were “Chocolate”, “Gluten” and “Bananas”. Close behind those were “Dairy” and “Cheese”. And then with a rather low success rate was “Grains” and “Meat”.

Of course this is a very unscientific poll, and doesn’t take into consideration a million things like – what combinations of the above work?

That being said, it tells me two things. First, it confirms the dangers of processed food, something we’ve probably known for a long time.

Second, it should make us take another look at alcohol and sugar in our diets. Check out Sugar and Migraines? for a look at one aspect of the link between the two.

How about some comments? Have any of these worked for you? Combinations? Something else? Let’s talk!

13 July 2017

Migraine, Headaches, and Support (poll results)

James Tips, Website news 0

Having people around you who are supportive – even one person – can make an incredible difference. Recently we ran a poll to find out about the closest person in your life – just how supportive are they?

First of all, for about 9% of you, the closest person is someone who is not only very supportive, but also has the same condition. But let’s leave those aside for the moment, and look at the rest.

The support of friends Actually, I was happy to hear how many of you have a very supportive person close to you. 13% just raved about the amazing support, another 11% also incredibly supportive, and then 13% very supportive – getting us to 37%, plus those with the same condition, getting us to 46% who are very supportive to varying degrees.

But that is less than half. What’s next? Another 10% have at least taken some time to understand. So that gets us to 56% of friends/family who are at least pro-active.

Next are those who are at least aware that you get headaches/migraine attacks – 35%. Another 5% are only vaguely aware.

Finally, 6% reported that the closest person to them didn’t even know that they had headache/migraine attacks!

So I’m glad to see that many of you have friends and family who are extremely supportive. But really, that’s only half of you. For the other half, the closest person to you has either done very little to try to understand, or – let’s face it – you haven’t shared much!

I realize there are a lot of reasons why this might be. But we need to be pro-active ourselves to make sure that we have people very close to use who know what our struggles are. If it isn’t going to be the person closest to you, look to others who are close to you. Find someone you can talk to, and actually sit down with them this weekend and have the conversation. If you have to, tell them your friend James said it was important for your health. 😀

Let’s get the percentage up to 75% – then to 100% – so that we all have a person close to us who is very supportive. And remember – we need to be supportive of others too!

Here are some inspiring notes from people who do have a supportive friend/family member. And here are some ideas about how faith communities and others can be supportive.

23 June 2012

Pain During Migraine: Not Just in Your Head

James Discoveries & Stats, Website news 2

Our latest poll asked this question: Other than your head, where else do you sometimes/always experience pain during a migraine attack? (choose as many as apply)

The results were not surprising, but they do reinforce what a complex disease migraine really is. Here are the stats, with some comments.

During I migraine attack, I also have pain here:

Neck (83%): The question with all of these is – does the pain come from the migraine attack, or is there a related cause. Or, for example, does the cause of neck pain also trigger the migraine attack? There’s no doubt that neck pain (and neck stiffness) come along with migraine. For more on neck pain, read Methods that are Really Fighting Neck Pain and Get rid of neck pain!
Face (60%): Facial pain is very common in migraineurs. In fact, in rare cases facial pain is the main pain in a migraine attack. Sometimes, migraine is mistaken for sinusitis because of the pain in the sinus area. See Migraine: Does your face hurt?
Stomach (37%): Another very common issue in migraine, and again, stomach pain (abdominal pain) may be the main symptom in your attack. This is especially common in children. Read about abdominal migraine here.
Back (32%): Back pain is another prime suspect when it comes to migraine triggers. Could pain and tense muscles trigger (not cause) an attack? Also, could your body’s reaction to migraine pain cause back pain? I think the answer to both could be yes. Read Dissolving tension.
Arms (22%): This was an interesting response that I hadn’t given much thought to. But I do know that migraine can cause pain from head to toe – been there, done that. But why is arms so high on the list? What are your experiences with this?
Skin (19%): Sensitive and painful skin is very common in migraine. The technical term is cutaneous allodynia, and it commonly strikes on the scalp and arms. Combing your hair or wearing a shirt can be very painful. Read My Hair Hurts! Migraine and Allodynia
Other (16%): As I said, head to toe. And I could say inside to outside.

These were the most common answers. However, visitors also included hands (14%), legs (12%), chest (12%), fingers/toes (12%), feet (8%), and finally pelvis (6%).

I’ve taken to saying that migraine attacks can cause pain all over the body – and they really can. It’s time to bust the myth that migraine is a bad headache. Oh yes, migraine often brings on bad headaches – really bad – but that’s not all.

Be sure to take our new poll on migraine triggers!