Resources

17 October 2009

Alternative therapies – this month’s blog carnival

The theme of this month’s Headache and Migraine Disease Blog Carnival was Alternative therapies. There weren’t a lot of posts, and they were all good ones, so why not click the link and read through them?

I especially appreciated the simple but important post complementary vs alternative medicine. If you just read one, this might be the one to consider.

Thanks again to Diana at Somebody Heal Me for the hard work she does putting up this blog carnival each month.

5 October 2009

Taking Control of TMJ: A Review of the Book

James Resources 2

Most people will understand why we’re talking about a book on TMJ – that is, temporomandibular joint disorders, on a site about headache and migraine. What not everyone understands is the complex relationship that TMJ can have with various other disorders.

In his book Taking Control of TMJ, Dr. Robert O. Uppgaard does give us some insight into how issues in the TMJ, the jaw joints, can come from problems in the rest of the body, and can also cause problems all over the body. Headaches in the temple, migraine, fibromyalgia, whiplash, mayofascial trigger points – this is not a simple linear relationship, but a web of relationships that Dr. Uppgaard takes seriously.

Trigger point diagram from Taking Control of TMJ

At only 184 pages (included a glossary, index and appendices), there’s a lot of information packed in a small space, which most people will appreciate. And this isn’t just a book of information on TMJ disorders – it really is a workbook.

And I think that’s what I like best about Taking Control of TMJ – it’s very practical. It’s packed with tips and how-tos, diagrams and charts, but also simple checklists for you to work through.

The smallest tips can be the most helpful. For example, I always used to end up with migraine attacks on days I visited the dentist. Dr. Uppgaard’s tip, slipped in on the end of page 51? "Tell your dentist to allow you to exercise your jaws intermittently during dental work."

I wonder how much pain that simple tip could have saved me?

And how many books have I said that give vague instructions about how to do various exercises, leaving me with no idea if I’m doing it right? The clear and specific instructions, with diagrams, leave me with something I can actually use. Dr Uppgaard even gives examples of case histories and why, from his experience, these exercises can benefit you.

Here’s an example:

Exercise 2: Stretching the Jaw and Increasing Range of Motion

Purpose: This exercise helps you to relax the opening muscles, stretch the closing muscles, and remediate limited jaw opening.

Precautions: Do not do this exercise if your jaw is is acutely strained or if you experience grating, clicking, or popping.

The Exercise: Do the exercise for one to two minutes, twice a day. Use ice or moist heat, whichever feels comfortable to you, over the sore area of the muscle as you do this exercise.

Gradually increase your jaw opening by placing one knuckle or an object of equivalent size between the teeth.
Rest on knuckle or object for sixty seconds.
Increase to two knuckles and finally three, as you feel comfortable.

Of course all this is in a context of many exercises and tips and what needs to be used when and by whom.

Another thing I appreciate about this book is that it draws (selectively) from a wide range of other experts. There are other sources you can read for more information, of course, but a lot of the research from various other sources is right here in the 184 pages. You’re not left feeling like you have incomplete information.

Not that you’ll agree with every expert. There’s a difference of opinion, for example, on the significance of the origins of yoga. Dr. James Baltzell, the book’s expert on the topic, differentiates between yoga and religion, but doesn’t take into consideration the importance of yoga’s religious roots. In my opinion, it’s important to understand clearly where treatments come from and what they’re attempting to accomplish before choosing what to focus on.

That aside, the majority of the information here is excellent, and for such a short book the breadth of practical information is amazing.

As I started out saying, the connection between TMJ disorders and migraine or headache disorders is complex, and Dr. Uppgaard recognizes this. Now many people have had almost complete healing after dealing with TMJ issues, and the book has many amazing examples. On the other hand, for many people TMJ is one of a complex web of problems.

But the fact is, many people with chronic migraine or headache diseases have major TMJ disorder related problems and don’t realize it. By dealing with the issues that Dr. Uppgaard will take you through, I’m convinced many people can see a significant improvement.

This is one book I will actually be able to use, because it’s so easy to pick up and work with a few minutes at a time. Without presuming to be the solution to everyone’s problems, Dr. Uppgaard provides practical, easy to follow tips that more of us need to pay attention to.

1 October 2009

1% Thursday: Back to the Headache/Migraine Diary

James Resources, Tips 4

It’s been 14 weeks – did you keep up with your headache/migraine diary?

If so, time to pull out the 14 sheets of paper and take a look. What kinds of symptoms are common. Is there a pattern? How often are you having attacks? Does it look like there are different types of attacks (maybe showing different kinds of headaches from different causes)? What about triggers? Are you taking too much medication? Are there other treatments that have worked?

I encourage you to keep up with the diary (and if you haven’t started, now is a great time!). Also, it would be great to talk to your doctor about what you’ve found. Show her the diaries and talk to her about the patterns you’re seeing. It just may lead to a break-through!

What is 1% Thursday?

Every Thursday at Headache and Migraine News (weather permitting) we’ll talk about one measurable, practical thing we can do to make our lives just 1% better. Usually it will be something very easy, sometimes it will be a challenge. Let us know if you try it, or share an idea of your own – and maybe a year from now we’ll see that things have really changed for the better!

23 September 2009

Life and Migraine: A Review of the Documentary

James Resources 2

Leaving the door to your apartment open? Getting a hobby? What do these things have to do with migraine? Read on to find out…

Life and Migraine is a rare thing: a documentary focused on telling the story of people dealing with migraine and what they had to go through before finding help. Thirteen people, both men and women, tell their stories, intertwined with a drama of a working woman trying to hold her life together while dealing with migraine’s horrible symptoms.

Barbara Coven stars as Jennifer Niehaus
The documentary was written, produced, and directed by Daniel Messina and Dr. Edmund Messina.

Dr Edmund Messina

Dr Edmund Messina is a neurologist who currently treats patients with migraine at the Michigan Headache Clinic. Throughout the documentary, he provides commentary, and other facts about migraine are shown on the screen for background.

So there’s a lot going on in this documentary, as you can tell. First, there’s the fictional but realistic story of Jennifer Niehaus, a teacher, wife and mom struggling with migraine. Next, the commentary and background. Finally, the comments by the 13 real people. And I should add not all of them are migraineurs, there are some cluster patients as well.

There are two versions of the documentary on the DVD; a broadcast version 27 minutes long, and a full version about 55 minutes long. With so much happening, the full version really is better, and I didn’t find it too long at all.

With that background, let me tell you what I liked and didn’t like about Life and Migraine, because there was a bit of both.

The Bad and the Good

First, let me say I’m so happy to see someone make a documentary like this. Everything here is important – hearing real people tell their stories, hearing the facts, and also seeing what it may be like to live with migraine in the drama. The interviewees, cast, and crew have put a lot of work into something that is worthwhile.

It’s obvious that this isn’t a multi-million dollar production, but it still comes across as something to be taken seriously.

I was left feeling there was some confusion over cluster, migraine and headache. I’m not suggesting the makers of the documentary are confused, but the differences were not clear. Even the cover of the DVD says,"a surprising documentary about people whose lives were ruled by headaches and how they found help"

Now we know that migraine is much more than headache – in fact many with migraine have other symptoms and no headache. But this wasn’t clear in the documentary. Also, those with cluster were not clearly identified. Cluster is very different from migraine – it would have been nice to at least clearly know who had cluster and who had migraine, and what the differences are, if both were to be included.

One more thing – and this isn’t really a criticism, maybe more of a heads up if you’re interested in the DVD (and I still recommend it – I’ll explain more in a moment). Early on Dr. Messina says that "this is a story of hope". Well, yes, there is hope here, but often it comes across as a story of frustration.

The drama of Jennifer Niehaus is harsh, as many real stories of life with migraine are. It’s not warm and fuzzy. Many of the people interviewed have frustrating stories to tell, and it’s not always clear how much help they found (though many did find help).

I don’t think this is a bad thing – it’s realistic. We need to emphasize that most people can probably find very significant relief from symptoms. But for many it takes a long time, and honestly some live with pain for many many years. Life and Migraine is not a fairy tale – it tells stories of hope but also faces the truth of migraine without apology.

In the end, I did like the documentary, and recommend it for a couple of reasons. First, I think it still sheds a lot of light on migraine for so many that just don’t know what it is. So many people interviewed went for years thinking they had sinus headache, or thinking that their symptoms were "normal". If more people watched this documentary, I really think more people would find help instead of suffering in silence.

Secondly, I think that this is an excellent resource for people who have migraine. Get a copy and show it to family and friends. Talk about it – are your experiences similar to someone in the documentary? Different? How? This could be such an amazing way to start discussion. In fact, I think this could be one of the best ways to help people understand that we’ve talked about here.

A Couple of Highlights

Linda Polack
and a bad doctor’s visit

Let me finish with a couple of my favourite moments from the interviews. First, a jaw-dropping moment (though I shouldn’t have been surprised). Linda Polack was one of the women interviewed. She had never told a doctor about her headaches, and finally worked up the nerve one day.

After asking her several questions about her symptoms and medical history, he decided to have several tests done so that…. no wait, that’s not what happened.

She simply mentioned how often she had headaches, and he said,"Oh, your poor husband! … Well my dear, tell you what. You need to get a hobby. Your husband shouldn’t be coming home watching after these kids. You need to get a hobby. You need to pull yourself together and you need to do something so that you don’t have these headaches!"

As you may imagine, she wasn’t anxious to mention her pain again for a long time (and hence no treatment!).

One other interview made me laugh – not because it was funny, but because he said something that should have been strange and shocking, but because I know migraine I completely understood.

The interviewee was Dr. Sigrid J. Dixon. He said that he was in his apartment one day, and he had a terrible headache. It was so bad, that he opened the door to his apartment, so that if he died someone would eventually see the open door and realize something was wrong.

Dr. Sigrid Dixon
Opening the door…
If that seems normal to you, maybe you’ve had pain as bad as Sigrid and I.

Life and Migraine is a documentary more people need to see. People need to realize that they are not alone, and that together we need to fight migraine and cluster, and fight the misunderstanding of both. Hats off to the cast and crew for all the hard work they put into spreading understanding.

Visit the Life and Migraine website
Purchase Life and Migraine

15 September 2009

You’re not missing Invisible Chronic Illness Awareness Week, are You?

James Resources 2

… I hope not! It’s on right now, right until the 20th (Sunday), so take advantage of it live if you can! There are opportunities to call in, there are prizes, and other ways to participate.

There are lots of online seminars (that’s right, you don’t even have to leave home!), with lots of down-to-earth topics to get you thinking and give you resources. Those will be going on all week until Friday. For example, what if you have chronic migraine, and you have a crisis situation on top of that? What do you do in a crisis, when sometimes you feel like your whole life is a crisis? That’s the topic of the seminar at 12pm (USA Pacific Time) today.

There are many more excellent seminars coming up later in the week – on Wednesday, Jenni Prokopy from ChronicBabe.com will talk about It’s OK to say NO: Building Healthy Boundaries (we all know it’s ok to say no – but … um … how do you do that??).

Also on Wednesday Marcia Ramsland, author of Simplify Your Life: Get Organized and Stay That Way will talk about simplifying your home.

Also coming up – Real Talk About Men and Chronic Illness, When Your Child is Chronically Ill, Helping Others Understand Your Pain, Being a Teenager with a Chronic Illness – and much more!

There are also many articles online, and guest bloggers with many helpful topics. For example, Will You Receive Disability Benefits If You have an "Open and Shut" Case? and When Your Children Are Ill.

Go now to the main Invisible Illness Week site to listen to archived seminars (you can also subscribe to the podcast), read articles, subscribe to the twitter feed, and do much more!

Headache and Migraine News is proud to be an official sponsor of this year’s Invisible Illness Week. Take advantage of the many resources available, and help get the word out about invisible illnesses of all kinds.