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What is a Migraine “worse than”?

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Today I thought I’d surf around a bit and see if I could find the answer to this question – fill in the blank – migraine is worse than __________.

The Attack on Pearl Harbor
Attack on Pearl Harbor*

Now, we know that every migraine attack is different.  Some people do have "mild" attacks, some have migraine attacks with no headache, some people experience partial paralysis, some can’t speak or go blind, while others just feel a bit "off".

However, generally speaking in the medical world, migraine’s most well-known symptom is headache, and it tends to be a moderate to severe headache.

So what are migraine attacks worse than?  Here are the answers I’ve found – how would you answer?

Here it is, from various sources, online.  Migraine is worse than…

  • … a really bad brain freeze
  • … childbirth/labour pains
  • … a headache
  • … the attack on Pearl Harbor
  • … anything

* This is not intended to minimize the impact of almost 2500 people killed during the attack on Pearl Harbor.  There is no comparison between one migraine attack and the ongoing loss of friends and family after the attack of 1941.  However, the personal pain of migraine often does seem comparable to a battle being fought in your head – hence the comparison made by someone online!

So what’s your answer?  Migraine is worse than….?

Fibromyalgia and ME/CFS Awareness: Migraine and Chronic Headache Big Issues

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Today is Fibromyalgia Awareness Day.  Actually, it’s also Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (otherwise known as Chronic Fatigue Syndrome) Awareness Day.

Both Fibromyalgia and ME/CFS are nasty relatives of migraine.  Fibromyalgia in particular is a well-known comorbid condition with migraine.  How exactly these interact is a complicated issue.

We do know that chronic headache and/or migraine conditions are very common in patients with fibromyalgia.  There are also many treatments common to both.

If you can get a proper diagnosis of ME/CFS and/or Fibromyalgia, your doctor may be able to help you get treatments that are more likely to help with migraine as well.  If your doctor can have a more full knowledge of your medical history, she has a better chance of finding treatments that work.

Here is a little more information:

Lily’s Mom Review: Follow-up from Dr. Messina

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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.

Watch for it – Ketamine for Migraine and More

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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.

Ketamine for depression, migraine, and more?

 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

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