Coming Up: NYC Marathon and the Migraine Research Foundation
This just in from the Migraine Research Foundation:
James
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Lily’s Mom Review: Follow-up from Dr. Messina
After I posted the review of Lily’s Mom last month, I received an email by the writer, producer, and director – Dr. Edmund Messina. I thought you might like to hear his comments on my review:
James
Nicely written review.
One comment: The "natural therapist" actually was a real story that a patient told me. It was a neurologist who she had seen in Texas… I get to hear a lot of stories in my line of work and, as you already know, there are lots of people who like to take advantage of people suffering with painful conditions. Incidentally, all of the scenes in the movie were based on real-life experiences told to me by migraine people.
Keep up the good work.
Ed Messina
As you may recall, I had mentioned that the "natural therapist" was so far out there that he’s going to need a telescope to see reality. 🙂
My point was not that this person could not exist. Do I believe Dr. Messina’s patient? You bet. (But… he was a neurologist? Seriously?!)
My point was more that, since this is the moment in the movie for alternative therapy, maybe we should remember that there are many good alternative health practitioners out there.
Of course, you can’t cover the good and the bad and every aspect in one movie. And it’s very important to remember as a migraineur that there’s some crazy stuff out there. And it’s good for us all to remember the terrible things that many migraineurs have to go through – beyond the symptoms of their disease.
Time to Vote – For a Christmas Card!
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You might remember from my post in January Fight Migraine by … designing a Christmas card? that the Migraine Trust was looking for Christmas card designs to sell for the 2012 season – to raise funds to fight migraine!
Well, the entries are in! And now it’s your chance to vote. You can mention your favourite on Twitter, or else Like your favourite on Facebook.
Here are the entries – Christmas card competition
The winning card will be sold in the online shop starting this coming September. I’m sure you have some people you’d like to send a card to – right?
Botox and Magnesium for Cluster Headache?
Yesterday Dr. Alexander Mauskop reported on a man who has been taking Botox and magnesium for cluster headaches for three years. He’s found it very helpful, although the treatment is not alone. Here’s what he’s taking:
- verapamil
- intravenous magnesium (every 3 weeks to one month)
- Botox injections (every 2-4 months, usually between 2-3)
- To take for an attack, he usually uses rizatriptan (Maxalt) tablets or zolmitriptan (Zomig) nasal spray. If he needs more he takes sumatriptan (Imitrex) injections
Dr. Mauskop says he has found that about 40% of cluster patients are magnesium deficient, and respond to the magnesium injections. The Botox also seems to be helpful, but there are few long term cases. The interesting thing about this case is that the man has taken Botox over the course of 3 years.
All of these medications are also used for migraine, though verapamil is one of the less common ones.
For more, read Dr. Mauskop’s post: Botox for chronic cluster headaches
Watch for it – Ketamine for Migraine and More
Using ketamine for pain is not a new idea. But I think we’re going to see it get an increasing amount of attention in the months ahead.
A few weeks ago, NPR featured a news story on the use of ketamine for depression. Ketamine, originally developed as a human anaesthetic, has since been used for various applications in medicine.
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It’s also used as an illegal drug, gaining fame as "K", "Vitamin K" or "Special K".
In recent years there has been sporadic interest in using ketamine for pain. It’s a difficult drug to study, because it tends to be rather obvious that you’ve taken it.
But it has been suggested as a treatment for cluster headache, familial hemiplegic migraine, chronic daily headache, and migraine, as well as other types of pain.
Ketamine is a neurological drug, classed as a NMDA (N-methyl-D-aspartate) receptor antagonist. It is believed to work in a number of different ways in the brain – relating to calcium channels, serotonin, and glutamate – terms that will be familiar with migraine researchers in particular. In fact, ketamine has been especially useful in the treatment of headache or migraine that just won’t go away and isn’t responding to other kinds of treatment (refractory). It’s given as an IV or intranasal treatment. Of course, this means it’s way down on the list of treatments that will be given – it’s rare and even when it’s tried it’s often not successful.
However, with the growing interest in ketamine for depression, the game changes. You can bet that there will be increased interest in ketamine for chronic pain conditions, which often come hand in hand with depression.
Although increased interest doesn’t mean this should be the drug of choice for most people, it does mean that more research will be done. It may be a treatment that will help a few patients whose pain is seemingly unstoppable.
For more on the background of ketamine, read Ketamine and MDARs in the treatment of neuropathic pain from Dr. Jan M. Keppel Hesselink. For a review of the studies on ketamine for other types of pain aside from headache, read Ketamine in Chronic Pain Management: An Evidence-Based Review