Discoveries & Stats

28 November 2012

Child with Headaches? Glasses not the Solution.

Your child is getting frequent headaches? Especially while they’re working on homework? Looks like they need eye glasses – right?

Actually, probably not.

Earlier this month, a study was presented at the 116th Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Ophthalmology. The records of 158 children were reviewed who had come to the ophthalmologist because they had frequent headaches.

All the children were given an eye exam.

Most of the children did not have problems with eyesight (problems that had not already been corrected – some did wear glasses). About 14% said that they had headaches when doing homework and other visual tasks. But a need for vision correction was not the primary cause of the headaches – in ANY of the cases!

Researchers noted that for most of these children the headaches did lessen over time – but getting dealing with vision problems did not mean they were any more likely to resolve.

The take-away? If your child is having frequent headaches, it’s very unlikely that vision problems are the issue. Of course, your child should have regular check ups for eyesight. But don’t wait for new glasses to deal with headache problems.

If your child has frequent headaches, it’s not normal. Take your child to a doctor right away. If your doctor brushes it off as nothing, seriously consider a specialist. The earlier you can catch headache problems, and treat them, teh better.

via Children’s Headaches Rarely Indicate a Need for Eyeglasses, Study Finds

26 November 2012

Researchers “see” the Migraine Storm

James Discoveries & Stats, News 1

Late last week, this video was put on the web showing visual migraine aura and some brain images (thanks to the Migraine Research Foundation for posting it at our Facebook page). It’s a fascinating video, showing visually some of the things people with migraine may see.

Dr. K.C. Brennan at the University of Utah has been investigating cortical spreading depression (CSD) for some time now. He uses much of the technology available to us today (such as spectroscopy, two-photon microscopy, etc) to “view” what is happening in the brain during the CSD, which is a key part of the migraine chain-reaction.

One thing that’s not clear in the video report – Dr. Brennan is not showing us the visual aura in the brain, only the CSD. There is a lot of debate over exactly how, why, even if, the CSD is the direct “cause” of some visual aura in migraine.

On other words, “seeing” a CSD does not tell us that this is exactly where and how migraineurs get visual aura. However, learning more about this phenomenon is key in understanding the migraine chain-reaction – and hopefully in stopping in.

We should also remember that having this storm go through your brain (CSD) does not mean that you’ll experience visual aura. Another area of study involves just why two people with CSD in migraine may have very different symptoms.

That being said, on with the video:

[Sorry you missed it! This video is no longer available.]

5 November 2012

Could you use Aspirin to Prevent Migraine Attacks?

James Discoveries & Stats, Medications 12

Aspirin is considered by many to be one of the better migraine treatments, both as an abortive and a preventative treatment. Should it be getting more attention?

Aspirin: Your new Migraine Preventative?

Dr. Lidia T. Savi reported on an aspirin and migraine study at the European Headache and Migraine Trust International Congress. The study looked at a number of preventatives, and found that aspirin held its own.

Out of 194 patients with migraine with aura, 90 were given 300mg of aspirin (acetylsalicylic acid) each day. The rest were on a variety of other preventatives, such as propranolol (Inderal) and topiramate (Topamax). How did the patients do?

First question – how many saw a 50% improvement after 32 weeks?

Obviously, the aspirin group generally did much better than the rest. How about a 75% improvement after 32 weeks?

Once again, aspirin out did the others. As expected, there were few problems with aspirin, and no patients had to stop taking it over the 32 weeks due to side effects. Better yet, the patients on aspirin already saw improvement after 16 weeks (just over 3 and a half months).

This study does tell us that we need to seriously consider aspirin as a preventative treatment for migraine with aura. This study does not tell us that aspirin will be the most helpful for you.

This study actually raises a lot of questions. The methods can drastically change the outcome. For example, how were the patients diagnosed? Why were they put on the preventatives – was it random? There is no doubt whatsoever that some medications work better for some than others.

Even the lead researcher admitted that a larger study is needed.

It would be interesting to see more study in this area, especially for two reasons:

Migraine has been associated with increased risk of heart disease and stroke. Would aspirin help with treatment?
Some studies suggest that migraineurs have an increased risk of aspirin resistance. Why is that, and how would it affect treatment?

Meanwhile, this may be an option you’ll want to discuss with your doctor.

For more information:

29 October 2012

Chronic Musculoskeletal Pain – and Chronic Daily Headache?

James Discoveries & Stats 2

More bad news with good news for those with chronic daily headache. Clinical Neurology News reports on a study that links CDH with chronic musculoskeletal pain – but the study may have a silver lining.

chronic daily headache and chronic musculoskeletal pain

The report was made by Dr. Lars J. Stovner at the European Headache and Migraine Trust International Congress. The research showed a bidirectional relation between the two conditions.

In other words, patients with chronic daily headache were 1.8 times more likely than the average to develop chronic musculoskeletal pain. And patients with chronic musculoskeletal pain were 1.8 more likely than the average to develop chronic daily headache. This was a large study running for more than 10 years.

How could this possibly be good news? Well, as with any research of this kind, we do get more insight into what may be causing both conditions.

But it’s more than that. If doctors realize that their patients are at risk, they can watch for the other condition and even take steps to lower the risks and prevent it.

Dr. Stovner says:

From a practical point of view, one can say that if one has a patient with one of these common complaints, one should try hard to treat it effectively not only to bring relief to the patient but to prevent the development of the other condition.

Take note, and discuss this with your doctor if you’re dealing with either type of pain.

5 October 2012

Aura, then Headache? What’s Your Sequence?

James Discoveries & Stats 2

When we talk about the different phases of migraine – we throw around words like prodrome, aura, headache, and so on – you might get the idea that the phases come in a sequence, one after another.

Well, there does tend to be a sequence – in other words, usually you don’t have aura and then headache. But the phases are not always clear-cut stages.

Dr. Jakob M. Hansen from Glostrup Hospital in Denmark, has done some work on auras and migraine. He gave a report about aura at the annual meeting of the American Headache Society.

His study suggested that the headache phase – and other symptoms – may start sooner in many patients.

This is what seemed to happen within 15 minutes of the start of migraine aura:

How does that compare with your experience?

Dr. Hansen, as quoted at Clinical Neurology News:

These results do not seem to be consistent with the current ICHD-2 [International Classification of Headache Disorders, second edition] classification that states that migraine headache usually follows the aura symptoms; that’s not the case here.

“Furthermore, we have already headache at the onset of aura, and that does seem to conflict with the idea that you have to have a [cortical] spreading depression to activate the trigeminovascular system to cause headache.

These data suggest that the phases of migraine attack may not be as discrete as originally believed. This is food for thought.

Dr. Hansen is not the only one who has seen this in real life. Dr. Alexander Mauskop has seen a few (though a minority) of patients report aura and headache starting at the same time. Dr. Werner Becker of the University of Calgary also reported seeing nausea, and sensitivity to light and sound, very early in the migraine chain-reaction.

This report is a change from what many migraine specialists have long believed. On the other hand, some like Dr. Mauskop intend to question their patients more closely regarding the sequence of events. Knowing what happens when gives us clues into what goes on in the brain, and helps us get the proper treatment sooner.