Discoveries & Stats

15 January 2010

If People Only Knew – the Power of Getting the Word Out

One of the challenges for migraine and headache patient advocates is simply getting information out to people. The reason is, many of the people that need it most don’t know that they need to know something!

Enter this fascinating study that took place in Rome, Italy. The researchers wanted to see if they could make a real difference in people’s lives by doing a one-time information campaign about migraine.

So they made the Casilino district their target. They sent letters to all households with information about ID Migraine. They put up posters in doctor’s office waiting rooms.

Patients got in touch, and 92% were indeed diagnosed with migraine. But amazingly, 73% had never consulted a doctor for headache!

The researchers followed up on these people with a telephone interview. They found that even in the long term there was general improvement – less pain, fewer and shorter migraine attacks – an overall better quality of life.

All this for people who mostly didn’t even tell their doctor about their symptoms.

The researchers did notice a lack of benefit in more severe cases. They feel that the answer is encouraging GPs to refer patients right away to a headache/migraine specialist, because generally the family doctor was not equipped to deal with the more "serious" cases.

But in the end, the campaign generally made a big difference in the lives of 1-2 hundred migraineurs.

We need to do a better job getting the word out, so that people know about the treatments that are available. But how can we do it? What are your ideas?

Would this ibuprofen ad grab your attention?
Photo courtesy of Arturo de Albornoz
For details on the study see Long-term effects of a sensitisation campaign on migraine: the Casilino study.

21 December 2009

Increased risk of Migraine and Heart Disease – new study

James Discoveries & Stats, Tips 1

A study from the Medical University of Graz, Austria found a certain group of people had a 7.93 fold increased risk of migraine. Are you one of them? And why?

The interesting thing about the study was the type of testing that was done. This wasn’t any kind of migraine test – it was a common test for risk of cardiovascular disease – things like heart attack and stroke. It was the "lipid test" – a type of blood test that many adults have routinely every few years.

The lipid test measures things like various types of cholesterol.

If your doctor has concerns about your heart, for example if there’s a family history or you’re overweight, this is a common test.

But these patients that were tested were not overweight. And yet the migraineurs had higher cholesterol levels, including low density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) and low density lipoprotein cholesterol that was oxidized.

LDL-C is sometimes called "bad cholesterol", though that’s a bit of a misnomer. In fact, the cholesterol is the same – it’s the way it’s used in your body that’s bad.

The oxidized version is really considered to be bad, and many of the migraineurs showed increased levels. As a matter of fact, it was estimated that people with increased oxidized LDL-C had a 7.93 fold higher risk of migraine.

This is another clue into the connection between migraine and heart disease – we already know that migraineurs face an increased risk of heart and stroke. We’re still trying to get to the heart of the problem (no pun intended).

It’s also a reminder for migraineurs to be careful with their heart health. Getting sufficient exercise, watching your weight, and being careful of so-called "bad fats" in your diet, such as trans-fats.

Some excellent foods for migraineurs that are heart healthy include apples (whole apples – not apple juice), fish (such as tuna, salmon and halibut) and oats.

Study notes: Lipid profile in normal weight migraineurs – evidence for cardiovascular risk.

11 December 2009

Using the Toilet in the Night? A surprising new study…

James Discoveries & Stats, Tips 0

All right, so every once in a while we have a little too much liquid before bed, and – well, you know. But what if you find you’re getting up many nights – or every night? Even if you haven’t had a lot to drink?

This condition is known as nocturia. There are a number of things that can cause it (besides too much fluids) – diabetes, a bladder or urinary infection, hypercalcaemia, and others. But men and women get nocturia, and it tends to be more common in the elderly.

But there are at least a couple of interesting connections for those with headaches and migraine. First of all, a class of drugs commonly used for migraine can cause nocturia – beta blockers. It might be a symptom to look for… interrupted sleep can make things worse instead of better.

But there’s something else that just might be the cause – obstructive sleep apnea (sleep apnoea). We’ve talked a lot about sleep apnea before, and its relationship to migraine and headaches.

Many people assume that they wake up simply because they need to urinate. But it may be the other way around – they may want to urinate because their sleep was interrupted by sleep apnea.

Normally associated with sleep apnea is snoring. However, it turns out that nocturia may be just as good an indicator – better, maybe, since the patient may be more aware of it.

A recent study checked data on 1007 adults treated at sleep clinics. The finding? Neither snoring nor nocturia is proof of sleep apnea, but both are equally strong indicators.

There can be many causes of nocturia – some long term. Sleep apnea seems to be a major one. Many people just assume they have a "small bladder", or that they’re "just getting old" – but there’s probably more to it than that.

Because of the strong connection between sleep apnea and migraine, if you have nocturia, you should be properly checked out, preferably at a sleep clinic as well as by your regular doctor. A small clue might make a big difference in your health.

via wegohealth

1 December 2009

Those with Migraine more Sensitive to Stress?

James Discoveries & Stats 0

A recent study from Brazil asked the question – are those with migraine more sensitive to stress? Is there a difference between those with migraine and aura, and those without aura? And what about different types of stress?

Note, this is not asking whether or not stress is a true "trigger" of migraine – a question which is also debated. This is simply a question about the "migraine brain", perhaps. Are migrainuers different when it comes to stress – in other words, are their bodies or brains different in some way?

This study checked out two different types of stress using two tests. One is the cold pressure test, a common test for pain and stress when a patient usually puts a hand in cold water.

The other test involved mental stress – using the Stroop test card, which has to do with maintaining attention over a period of time.

The stress was measured using cardiovascular measurements.

The first answer to the question was that there was no difference between those with aura and those without. The second answer was – yes, migraineurs are more sensitive to stress – but only one type.

Can you guess which type?

There was no difference at all between migraine patients and the control group when it came to the cold pressure test. However, migraineurs did show more of a reaction to mental stress.

Why?

Researchers aren’t sure, but they speculated on why this might be. They say: A distinct pattern of activation of the prefrontal cortex-periaqueductal gray matter circuit in migraine may explain a singular autonomic reactivity to mental stress in this disease.

In plain language please? Well, basically it’s like this. We know that people with migraine disease have different "activation patterns" in the brain – their brains simply react in different ways. We have ideas why that is, such as genetic differences, but the details are still a mystery.

So the way the brain tends to react in migraineurs could likely explain why the different reactions to stress. This has something to do with genetic and/or biological differences.

So though this doesn’t answer the question of whether or not mental stress is a migraine trigger, it does tell us that those with migraine disease may be more sensitive to it, generally. It also gives us another clue about why the migraine brain works the way it does.

Read more about the study at Altered Cardiovascular Reactivity … in Migraine.

28 November 2009

Chocolate for Migraine?

James Discoveries & Stats 2

Chocolate has a notoriously bad reputation when it comes to migraine. But much of that reputation isn’t deserved. Although chocolate may trigger migraine in some, it may actually be ingredients accompanying the chocolate that cause the problem.

As a matter of fact, as you’ve probably heard before, cocoa has some health benefits. And a recent study from Missouri State University, USA, shows it may have some benefits for headache sufferers in particular.

Now before you get too excited, this was an animal study – on mice. The mice were fed a cocoa enriched diet for two weeks. The mice were shown to have less inflammation than those who were deprived of cocoa (poor things!).

The authors of the study felt that a cocoa supplement may help with diseases of the head and face that involved the trigeminal ganglion (part of the trigeminal nerve), not just migraine.

The researchers feel cocoa could be an important part of an anti-inflammatory diet: Cocoa enriched diets are able to repress the stimulated expression of proteins associated with the promotion and maintenance of inflammatory … responses said the researchers.

This is a very preliminary study, but it may lead to some helpful research in the future – possibly some new supplements that may be very effective. Of course we shouldn’t all go out and start eating chocolate bars. However, if chocolate isn’t a trigger for you, adding dark chocolate, low in sugar, and cocoa to your diet may decrease inflammation, as well as being an antioxidant, and a source of magnesium and folic acid.

More ideas and tips regarding chocolate and headache here. And this video shows a healthy way to add cocoa to your diet, and why.

More on the study here: Chocolate may ease migraines: Study