There is clear clinical and experimental evidence that the BRAINSTEM plays a pivotal role in the migraine process.
Migraine and headache are conditions in which normal light is unpleasant, normal sound uncomfortable, and where there is an abnormal interpretation of activity – one in which normal pulsing of arteries is felt as pain.
Information from the visual [...]
Avoiding chocolate to prevent migraine is not necessary – it isn’t about the chocolate!
The thought of living without chocolate is unbearable but I know that for many of you, the experience is not worth it!
However, many of my patients are now eating chocolate, in fact this is what I ask them to do after 3-4 [...]
There are numerous case studies which have shown that injecting local anesthetic around the greater occipital nerve the pain of migraine is eased. This is also a key finding in cervicogenic headache and confirms the diagnosis of cervicogenic headache. So why is it that, in this situation, almost invariably the interpretation is that the sufferer [...]
Cheers
Dean
Consultant Headache and Migraine Physiotherapist; Adjunct Lecturer, Masters Program, School of Physiotherapy, University of South Australia; PhD Candidate, Murdoch University, Western Australia
Migraine Treatment
Why is it that if treatment of the neck provides relief that it is assumed that cervicogenic (neck) co-exists with migraine or that it is a misdiagnosed migraine? Why can’t it be that cervicogenic factors are instrumental in the migraine process?
Clearly when patients with ‘migraine’ who have not responded to recognised migraine treatments, achieve substantial [...]
Here is some information which suggests that instead of blocking or ‘numbing’ the greater occipital nerve all you need to do is massage the greater occipital nerve firmly for the relief of migraine pain. Importantly, this was done as soon as the first sign of the migraine process appeared …. more information that by influencing [...]
One hundred and fourteen patients were diagnosed as migraine, 76 as tension-type headache, and 42 were not able to be classified according to the International Headache Society’s diagnostic criteria.
Ninety six per cent of migraineurs responded to sumatriptan, whilst it was effective in 97% and 95% of tension headache sufferers and unclassifiable headaches respectively .
This response [...]
Migraine without aura and migraine with aura - different expressions of the same condition?
Not only is there debate as to whether tension headache and migraine are different expressions of the same disorder or totally different conditions, but also … are migraine with and without aura different conditions or the same disease with differing presentations.
After assessing [...]
Recent research suggests people who develop headaches after a whiplash or other neck injury suffer less psychological distress than people with headaches (including migraine) of unknown causes.
It was found that, while both groups may be distressed because of continuing headaches, the injured group was less likely to have concerns such as fear of a brain [...]
True sinus headache is rare.
Clinical studies have demonstrated that nearly 90 per cent of patients with a diagnosis of ‘sinus’ headache have migraine or tension headache and therefore it is not surprising that recent research has shown that the ‘triptans’, medication developed specifically for migraine and which has been shown to be effective in tension [...]
