Subscribe to New York Headache blog

Levetiracetam (Keppra) is an epilepsy drug that has been reported to help some patients with migraines. However, unlike divalproex sodium (Depakote) and topiramate (Topamax, Trokendi, Qudexy), the evidence for its efficacy in...

An alarming study entitled Association Between Migraine Headaches and Dementia in More than 7,400 Patients Followed in General Practices in the United Kingdom was just published in the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease...

Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) has been definitively shown to alter brain connectivity and function. We are still enrolling patients in our double-blind study of tDCS for the prevention of migraines, so please contact us...

Migraine with and without aura carries an increased risk of strokes and heart attacks, according to several large studies. Most migraine sufferers are young women and until now there have been no studies looking at...

Many migraine sufferers have gastro-intestinal problems, such as irritable bowel syndrome, constipation, sensitivity to gluten, dairy, and other types of foods. Nausea and vomiting and gastric stasis are common symptoms...

Ketoprofen (Orudis, the branded version, is no longer available) is a prescription nonsteroidal antiinflammatory drug (NSAID) without any outstanding features. Just like all other NSAIDs, it is effective for the acute treatment...

Dihydroergotamine (DHE-45) is a very old migraine drug in the family of ergot alkaloids. It is one of the most effective migraine drugs when it is given intravenously and it is often used when patients are admitted to the hospital for...

The annual scientific meeting was held last weekend in Philadelphia. The largest number of presentations was about the CGRP drugs, both monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) for the prevention and soon to be approved oral medications...

Ketamine (Ketalar) was officially approved for human use by Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in 1970 and, because of its wide margin of safety, was even administered as a field anaesthetic to soldiers during...

Indomethacin (Indocin) is one of the strongest non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), but unfortunately it is rarely used for the treatment of migraines. It has a higher chance of causing gastro-intestinal (GI) side effects...

Ibuprofen (Advil, Motrin, Nuprin, Nurofen, etc) is a very effective migraine drug. Of course, patients with severe migraines tell me that for them taking ibuprofen is like eating candy, but even those patients can get better relief...

Galcanezumab (Emgality) was just approved by the FDA for the prevention of episodic cluster headaches. Galcanezumab is one of the three new drugs recently approved for the prevention of migraines (the other two are erenumab...

Keeping a diary of symptoms has long been considered a part of a successful approach to managing migraine headaches. The diary can help identify potential migraine triggers and contributing factors and a description of specific...

Hydroxyzine (Vistaril) is an underutilized old anti-histamine drug with some unique properties. Just like diphenhydramine (Benadryl) and other older anti-histamine drugs, hydroxyzine causes some sedation. However, it is the...

Researchers at SUNY Buffalo and University of Manitoba studied the effect of exercise on recovery from a sports-related concussion in 103 adolescents. The results were published in JAMA Pediatrics. The participants were enrolled...

Drs. Lisa Yablon, Sara Crystal, and Alexander Mauskop are included in yesterday’s New York Times Magazine supplement, SuperDoctors. According to this publication, “Physicians are selected using a patented multiphase...

Hydrocodone (Vicodin, Lortab, Norco) is an opioid or narcotic pain killer, which should not have much of a role to play in the treatment of migraine headaches. Opioids are much less effective for the treatment of migraines than...

The role of vitamin B12 is underappreciated by many doctors. This week, The Wall Street Journal published a full-page article on vitamin B12 deficiency, which can be of great help to many of the two million readers of this newspaper...

Migraine is rightfully considered a women’s health issue since of the more than 39 million Americans with migraines, 28 million are women. But 11 million is still a lot of men. Unfortunately, men do not seek help as often as...

Haloperidol (Haldol) is a psychiatric drug prescribed for the treatment of schizophrenia, tics in Tourette syndrome, mania in bipolar disorder, nausea and vomiting, delirium, agitation, and acute psychosis. A cases series published...

Granisetron (Kytril, Sancuso) is one of the anti-nausea medications in the family of setrons. Ondansetron (Zofran) and palonosetron (Aloxi) are the other two drugs in this family available in the US. These drugs are approved...

by Molly Rubin, a video journalist at Quartz. Quartz is a digital news site founded by the Atlantic. This is a very well done video news piece on migraines...

Patients suffering from migraine with aura (MA) are at a higher risk of strokes. It is not clear what leads to this problem. Elevated homocysteine level increases the risk of strokes and heart attacks and patients with MA...

Cluster headaches derive their name from the fact that they occur daily for a period of one to several months. It is rarely noted that these cluster periods occur in many patients at the same time. We do not see any cluster patients for...

Galcanezumab (Emgality) was the third drug in the family of CGRP monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) to become approved by the FDA for the prevention of migraines. It is more similar to fremanezumab (Ajovy) in its mechanism of action...

Yet another study shows that low vitamin D level predisposes to neurological problems. A report just published in a leading neurology journal, Neurology by British and American researchers shows that low levels of vitamin D are...

Ginger is not only a popular spice, but a truly remarkable medicinal plant. Ginger’s proven anti-inflammatory properties may be responsible for its beneficial effects in migraine patients. Ginger may be effective for the treatment...

Gabapentin (Neurontin) is a drug that was originally developed for the treatment of epilepsy but now it is used for a wide variety of conditions except for epilepsy. It is just not strong enough to control epileptic seizures. Gabapentin...

To be eligible for this study you have to live in NYC or its suburbs and cannot be currently receiving Botox or a CGRP monoclonal antibody, such as Aimovig, Ajovy or Emgality...

Cefaly is a transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS) device designed to treat migraine headaches by stimulating supraorbital nerves. The device was cleared by the FDA in 2014 for both acute and preventive treatment...