Guest
Remembering Melissa: A Young Life Stolen By Migraine
In 2013, Melissa Dwyer lost her battle to chronic migraine. In her last year, Melissa had over 70 inpatient hospital days to try to break her migraine attacks. Each and every day she lived in excruciating pain. The pain and symptoms stopped her from living the life every 22-year-old deserves.
My Migraine Story: From Fear to Freedom
I am a 41-year old woman living in sunny California, with a wonderful family and a great job. Sounds idyllic, right? The problem is if you look closely, you would see that I am tired and frustrated from my fifteen-year battle with migraine.
How Does Medicare Cover Migraine?
Healthcare costs are 70% higher for a family that includes a person with migraine; however, many of these costs can be covered for older adults under Medicare.
What is strength?
Why? A simple and poignant question. It has been a breakthrough for so many. A three-letter word that cuts toward the core of understanding. I have heard both theoretical scientists and three-year-olds use this same question. Each trying to desperately grow their minds by willing it towards understanding the world around them. The day I asked the question of, why, on the side of a Tennessee path I was searching for the answers to why my stomach had revolted abruptly and violently. Leaving an otherwise patch of dry leaves moist and putrefied. The immediate causes I tried to line out but the solution still eludes me today. Even through the leaves and my unavailable powers of divination, I could see that my day was done. The “why?” of being there was easy. I have believed for some time that there is a need to show others the impact of migraine. I use arduous efforts of physical endurance to strike conversations about migraine.
Intentional Avoidance of Physical Activity
Scientific evidence supports the positive role of physical activity in the management of migraine.
Why Try CCBT for Migraine?
Cognitive strategies to enhance headache sufferers’ ability to engage in behaviors that enhance their self-management of headaches.
Migraine Solidarity Day – June 21
You may already know that migraine disease is more common than Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, epilepsy and multiple sclerosis combined. And despite that fact, it receives a small fraction of the available neuroscience research funding. Not surprisingly there are a very small number of neuroscience researchers who decide to take on migraine as a project, or devote a laboratory or professional
Migraine Awareness Month 2017
June 2017 marks National Migraine Awareness Month (#MHAM). This month long series of events promotes education, collaboration and general consciousness enhancing regarding the neurological affliction, migraine disease. Enormous strides have been made over the last several years. Possibly 2017 will be the most significant year to date, since the advent of triptans in 1991, in the history of migraine
Migraine Advocacy Update
This February witnessed the tenth anniversary of “Headache on the Hill”, the highly successful annual advocacy event, sponsored by the Alliance for Headache Disorders Advocacy (AHDA), designed to draw attention to the need for increased funding for migraines and related headache disorders. Apart from being the tenth consecutive advocacy year, this year was also remarkable for another reason: the passage
Migraine and Epilepsy
“Epilepsy is more than a seizure. It’s a life changing and threatening condition affecting the person and their families terribly.” (Julie Clark, Scotland, UK, 2017) We can easily substitute migraine and headache into that quote . The result would be a commonly acknowledged expression assigned to migraine disease: Migraine is more than a headache… which is also life changing and affects people’s lives terribly. Coincidence? Probably not. It brings us to
Vestibular Migraine
The Vestibular Migraine Mystery The medical community is just now waking up to the high prevalence of vestibular migraine (VM). Current estimates vary but VM appears to affect up to 1- 3% of the general population. 10% of all migraineurs may suffer from VM. And more than 50% of people complaining of dizziness have VM. We are talking about
Novel Approaches to Migraine Treatment
The last few years has seen a groundswell of promising research and innovative medications and devices designed to prevent or abort a migraine episode. The Association of Migraine Disorders reports on what we believe to be credible research and treatments that will withstand rigorous testing. When AMD refers to “novel approaches” we do not mean two minute YouTube guided imagery
Anti-CGRP Medications: An Update
A breakthrough year indeed! With CGRP antibodies leading the charge. It has been over a year since we reported on the great promise of CGRP antibodies and the immense promise they hold for a true, scientifically validated, migraine prevention medication. Our Twitter postings, for those that follow us, have kept pace with the developments, but it seems an opportune
2017: A breakthrough year for migraine?
The last year has been one of enormous promise for the prevention and treatment of migraine disease. Vigorous clinical trials of CGRP antibodies being aggressively pursued by Big Pharma, groundbreaking genetics research, and new developments in the area of neuromodulation have all led a renowned migraine expert, Dr. David Dodick, Chair of the American Migraine Foundation, to declare “2017 will be
Childhood Migraine Disorders Revisited
There are several reasons we are re-visiting this subject, the focus of a newsletter 8 months ago. First, recent tweets on this subject have shown an enormous interest in this oft misunderstood area of the migraine spectrum. Second, a recent study on medications for childhood migraine called into question their efficacy. Specifically, placebo was shown to be as effective as
Advances in Non-Drug Therapies for Migraine
If you follow our Twitter postings with any degree of regularity you may recognize many of the devices/procedures summarized here. It was the recent release of the Cefaly II device that caused me to think that our followers deserved an up-to-date look at the devices available, especially if one was looking to add it to their treatment regimen. Migraine treatment
Migraine Caregiver Stress
How is it possible that such a devastating illness could not have far-reaching, negative effects in every relationship a person with migraine has? Only recently has research emerged that looks family burden and the disruption chronic migraine causes in the lives of those inflicted. Very few of us lead totally isolated lives, devoid of familial connections and other work and
