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11 November 2015

Why You Should Ignore the “Daith Piercings for Migraine” Hype

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Actually, it’s not even that much hype. But you may have seen an article circulating about how piercings, specifically daith piercings, may eliminate migraine attacks.

Daith piercing is a specific type of ear piercing, where the pierce goes through the ear’s innermost cartilage fold (if you have enough fold to get it done). Here’s some more information, plus pictures, from Body Piercing Magazine.

So stories have started to circulate that daith piercings could cure migraine. Take for example:

A “Piercing” New Alternative for Migraine Relief Summary: One nurse has never heard of it, but suggests you go for it. Especially if you “believe”. A man who does piercings for a living most definitely suggests you go for it.
Woman claims her EAR PIERCING has cured the excruciating migraines that left her housebound and vomiting Summary: One woman claims that her migraine attacks disappeared after her piercings (we don’t know how long ago that was). Someone at the Migraine Relief Center in Texas apparently wrote a blog post stating that daith piercings may work like acupuncture, which may work. However, the post has been removed from their website.
A “Piercing” New Alternative for Anxiety and Migraine Relief: New Findings Summary: Finally, some “Findings”! The same nurse still hasn’t heard of it. One woman has seen “some difference” in her headache symptoms, but isn’t sure the changes are related to the piercing. The same guy selling piercings still recommends them. Oops – what were the findings again?
Can Daith Piercings Stop Migraines? Here’s What You Need To Know About The Growing Trend Summary: Oh, good, a “trend”! With actual Twitter testimonials! Oh, wait … one person has fewer attacks … a second person says things have improved … oh, that’s all.
Lots Of People Are Saying This Piercing Has Completely Cured Their Headaches Summary: Ok, “lots of people”. Oops – just one person quoted.

I also found a Twitter “club” where people can share their success stories. On October 17th, the owner (Natalie Thompson) had gone 39 days since the piercing, with no migraine attacks. In an interview she stated that she would like to think the piercing was a “part” of her improvement. On November 2nd she asked Is this damp and foggy weather affecting anyone? Maybe not feeling so well now? However, the club does have 23 followers.

In most cases, the daith piercing is being compared to acupuncture, a treatment that unfortunately has been far more hype than actual evidence. But this isn’t acupuncture anyway, it’s daith piercing, so …

I checked a little more on social media, and discovered that some people found the piercing gave them a migraine attack, and others found no or very little difference.

We can speculate all we want about the science of why this might work, but the fact of the matter is that it doesn’t seem to be working for that many people. There are no clinical trials. I can’t find any doctors saying that they have x number of patients who have found it helpful.

So it all leaves me spectacularly unimpressed.

And as far as the advice,”Try it, why not?” – well, with all the excellent treatments out there, I can actually suggest some reasons why not. Use up your mental and emotional energy, and money, on something that has some good evidence behind it. And if you really like the look of a daith piercing – go for it, but realize it actually could give you a headache. At least for a while.

I’ll say this – it is a good illustration of a lot of what is wrong with media reporting on migraine.

For more, check out this article on Snopes: A Daith of Evidence

9 November 2015

Does Vegetarian Cheese cause Migraine?

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Vegetarian and vegan cheese in particular can be a little different from traditional cheeses. We know that cheese is often on the list of foods to avoid for migraine patients. But does vegetarian cheese cause migraine?

Let’s be careful about our terms – the cause of migraine is a complex mystery. That is, why one person has a migraine attack and another person doesn’t. What we’re actually talking about are things that trigger an attack, such as certain foods, hormonal changes and weather patterns.

Vegetarian Cheese Sandwich We’re not sure exactly why certain cheeses trigger attacks, but a likely culprit is tyramine, which is a compound found in many foods. Migraine patients may also be sensitive to other chemicals that are added to highly processed foods.

Vegetarian cheeses may still contain high amounts of tyramine, especially aged cheeses. From what I understand about the process of making vegetarian cheese, the levels will probably be similar to normal cheese. Your best bet is to go with cheeses that are fresher. For more information, check out Can I be Migraine-Free and still eat Cheese?

Now vegan cheese is a little different than vegetarian cheese. Although (aged) vegan cheese is . . . well, still aged, it is entirely plant-based. That probably means that some high tyramine products were taken out – but others may have been put in. Unfortunately, I have yet to see a good study on vegan cheeses and tyramine, and I may not see one because it’s all very different depending on the manufacturer.

One downside of vegan cheese is that it tends to be highly processed, which may cause problems for someone with migraine – again, depending on the brand.

Some common ingredients in vegan cheese can trigger migraine attacks in some people – soy, aged soy, yeast, and nuts, for example (more about vegan cheese here).

In the end, until someone starts specifically manufacturing “low tyramine” vegan or vegetarian cheese, you’re probable best to stick with regular, fresh cheeses such as ricotta and cottage cheese. If you’re on a special diet and can’t eat regular cheese for another reason, be cautious and stick to small quantities if you really want to go for a cheese fix.

Again, for basic tips on cheese and migraine, check this article.

5 November 2015

Sleepwalking, Headache, and Pain

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Just how common is sleepwalking? Estimates range quite a bit, although a study in 2012 suggested that almost 30% of us walk in our sleep sometime in our lives.

Those who sleepwalk on a regular basis do tend to complain that they’re sleepy during the day. But there may be a lot more to the condition than we realize. Sleepwalking is closely related to other disorders, including depression, headache, and migraine.

Sleepwalking, Headache and Migraine — Photo courtesy Herzi Pinki

The relationship between sleepwalking and migraine is a complex one. For example, depression and migraine are also linked. Magnesium levels are linked to both migraine and sleepwalking. Changing sleep schedules are linked to both. Certain medications may affect both, such as antihistamines, mild tranquilizers and a few antipsychotics. Obstructive sleep apnea is also strongly related to both.

This spring a report on a fascinating sleepwalk study was released. The authors of the study confirmed that migraine and headache were highly associated with sleepwalking. (This doesn’t mean that most migraine patients walk in their sleep. It does mean that if you sleepwalk you are much more likely to have migraine.)

But a fascinating twist is that patients were very unlikely to experience pain while sleepwalking. In other words, banging your knee on the table while you’re sleepwalking is unlikely to even wake you up. In fact, one patient fell off his roof and broke his leg, but didn’t wake up until the morning!

There are obviously many mysteries about pain still to be solved. However, there are some key things you can do about sleepwalking, especially if you have migraine as well:

Consider taking a magnesium supplement.
Get into a regular sleep schedule, and dedicate more time to sleeping/getting to sleep. Take some low-stress, low-light, low-technology time in the evening.
Consider seeing a sleep specialist, who can help you look into issues such as sleep apnoea (apnea) and restless leg syndrome.
Take a walk before bed (yes, really!).

Focusing on your sleep may actually help relieve migraine and stop sleepwalking. It’s funny in fiction, but it needs to be taken seriously in real life.

For more on the recent study into sleepwalking and pain, read Sleepwalkers feel no pain, remain asleep despite suffering injuries from ScienceDaily. Also check out this Sleepwalking Overview from emedicinehealth.

2 November 2015

The Colour of Migraine?

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So what colour is migraine?

That was the question of the latest poll – what colour do you associate with migraine?

So this is the answer:

The Color of Migraine?
The colour most associated with migraine was black – then red, and then white. The rest of the colours were fairly far behind, but included yellow, orange, purple, blue, and green (in that order).

A brief investigation of the psychology of colour turns up the following attributes of the top 3:

Black: heaviness, oppression, death, anger, depression
Red: aggression, heartbeat, anxiety, danger
White: hospitals, death

Of course, these are just the more negative connotations. And some experts are telling us that the connections between colour and emotion are just personal.

Still, I’d much rather look at the picture below than the picture above. 🙂

Healing colors?

29 October 2015

My Child was hit in the head – What should my doctor do?

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After a blow to the head, it’s certainly wise to see the doctor. The blow could be from falling, from a sporting event, from a fight, from an accident – but whatever it was, it can result in brain damage and needs to be taken seriously.

Many organizations have a specific process that they want doctors to go through when seeing a patient who may have a concussion. An excellent example of this is the Concussion Algorithm from Hamilton Public Health Services in Hamilton, Canada.

You can download the one-page document for yourself using the link at the bottom of this article. But here are some highlights.

If there are certain red flags after or even before an examination, the patient is advised to go to the emergency department immediately. Red flags include loss of consciousness, slurred speech, or ongoing vomiting.

If the red flags aren’t present, but there are other symptoms (such as headache, dizziness, irritability, or sleeplessness), doctors need to check for factors which may predetermine the patient to more serious problems. These issues will help doctors decide how much rest/recovery time the patient needs.

If no symptoms are present, patient may return to normal activities (with caution, I would add. Symptoms may show up later, or another blow to the head may make matters worse.).

It’s worth your time to have a document like this handy, particularly if your child is heavily involved in sports, so that you and your child will know what to expect.

Concussions can be very serious, and can lead to lifelong problems. Taking them seriously right from the start is vital to your child’s health.

To pick up the document, see Concussion Algorithm [Important: Original link no longer available. This is an archives link.]. If you’re actually in the Hamilton area, you’ll notice that there is a second page with emergency numbers and addresses.