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Tylenol and Advil for children

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One of the studies about children and migraine that was mentioned in the December 28 issue of Neurology compared ibuprofen and acetaminophen.  Ibuprofen was found to be effective, using the same dosage that you’ve already read about on our ibuprofen dosage page – 7.5-10mg per kg of body weight (that’s 2.2lbs).  Ibuprofen does have it’s problems, though, especially if used on a regular basis.  It’s always good to check with your doctor if you find your child needs ibuprofen often.

Acetaminophen was termed probably effective.  However, statistically it did reduce pain and was well tolerated by the children, in dosages of 15 mg/kg.  There has been some danger of acetaminophen overdose, because so many different medications for children contain it.  Be sure to read labels!

Be sure to read more about child migraines here, or general child headaches here.

Butterbur becomes respectable

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A herb for migraine is gaining new respect in the scientific world, thanks to a recent study.  That herb is an extract of petasites hybridus root, commonly known as butterbur.  Butterbur has been around for a while, but the research for migraine has been weak.  Dr Richard B. Lipton from the Einstein College of Medicine in New York reported in a news release the results of a clinical trial using butterbur on migraine patients.  The best results were with a dosage of 75mg twice a day using butterbur extract pills.  The frequency of migraine was said to be 48% less in patients taking the extract.  The main side effect was burping.

Previous studies of butterbur suggest that it may work as an anti-inflammatory, and as a help for seasonal allergies.  Whether or not one of these properties is helping migraine patients, it does seem that butterbur is an herb to keep on your list to try for migraine prevention.  It is suggested that you use extract from a commercial source, from a company you trust.

Brain reboot for migraine

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Many migraineurs experience something known as aura, an early “warning” stage of migraine often followed by a headache.  Aura may include things like seeing flashing lights and zig zags.  Auras may be related to electrical signals that are zipping around in your brain as the migraine chain-reaction begins.

Researchers at Canada’s McMaster University are developing a new treatment for migraine known as Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation.  TMS works on the electrical impulses in the brain to stop the migraine chain-reaction before it goes too far.  As with many migraine treatments, it’s not yet fully understood how this works, but it may be something like a “brain reboot” – turning off the migraine program before it has a chance to cause too many adverse symptoms.

The stimulator is a device about the size of a hairdryer which is held against the scalp.  The treatment is not painful and does not seem to have any lasting effects – except that it does seem to stop the migraine mid-stream.  Some test patients even report that the overall frequency of migraine is reduced.

The treatment is still in the testing phase, but so far reports are hopeful.  Similar treatments are being tested for other types of pain, and for disorders such as depression and obsessive compulsive disorder.  Read the patient’s point of view at CTV news [link no longer available].

New migraine genetic research

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You may have read about the new study done by Dr. Andrew D. Hershey and his team.  The study was published in Headache: The Journal of Head and Face Pain in November.

The team took 56 patients, 7 of whom had migraine and 15 of whom had chronic migraine.  Blood samples were taken from all the patients, and genomic expression patterns were analyzed.  Genomic what?!

Basically, this means that the researchers read some of the genetic "language" in the material that makes up human blood.  Imagine intercepting coded language between a foreign government and its spies – you might find out what they’re being told to do, who they are, and so on.  These researchers have intercepted messages in the human body.

What they’ve discovered is that the messages in migraineurs are quite different than the messages in the other patients.  For example, there seem to be more messages encouraging the increase of blood platelets (those things that help blood clot).  There was common ground between those with migraine and chronic migraine, but there were also differences between the two types of migraine.

So what does this mean?  Well, it’s further evidence that migraine has a strong genetic component.  It also may mean that we’ll someday be able to differentiate between different types of migraine on a genetic level, and so develop custom-made treatments for your specific migraine.  For now, this information isn’t a lot of help when you’ve got a pain in the head.  But it does mean that research is progressing.

Migraines and predicting the weather

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I suspected that the migraine might be coming, and maybe I should have done something about it. My barometer told me that the pressure was starting to drop, and sure enough by the middle of the night Mr. Migraine had arrived.

With very little scientific evidence, migraineurs have been claiming for years that their symptoms were linked to weather. Finally, in the last few years, science has begun to catch up. This past summer, a study was done by Dr Marcelo E. Bigal of the New England Center for Headache. The study told us two things – first, a large percentage of migraineurs do have weather-related migraine. Second, some who thought they had weather related migraine apparently didn’t. Dr Bigal says that most people thought they could predict the weather that would cause migraine, but they couldn’t.

So what’s going on here? I don’t think we should write the migraine meteorologist off quite so quickly. First, it seems that there are complex weather patterns triggering symptoms. It probably isn’t as simple as just heat or humidity or pressure alone. That’s why your predictions may be right some of the time. Second, triggers vary from person to person, and even in the same person.

So don’t stop watching the weather just yet. If I’d paid attention and taken some medication a little sooner, I might not have the headache I have today. 🙂

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The articles on Headache and Migraine News are © 2004-2026 J. Cottrill.
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