New York Headache blog

A report by Taiwanese doctors just published in the journal Neurology suggests that having migraine headaches may double the risk of Bell’s palsy. Several medical conditions, such as asthma, anxiety, depression, irritable bowel syndrome...

Trigeminal neuralgia is a very painful and debilitating condition (Here is a review article I wrote for physicians). Fortunately, it is relatively infrequent – affecting 0.3% of the population, compared to 12% afflicted by migraines. This explains...

Cost is the only major issue with Botox injections, which is the only FDA-approved treatment for chronic migraines and which is now covered by almost all insurance companies. It is very safe and highly effective, relieving headaches in 70% of...

Cyclic vomiting syndrome (CVS) is usually seen in children. The attacks of vomiting often stop as the child gets older, but then they usually go on to develop migraine headaches. A recent report in Headache describes three adults with CVS...

Placebo effect is a well-documented phenomenon, which is particularly pronounced when treating migraine headaches. Intravenous (IV) infusion of saline water is a placebo commonly used in studies where placebo is compared to a medication also...

Considering that meditation can literally change your brain, it is not at all surprising that it can also prevent migraine headaches. A study by doctors at Wake Forest School of Medicine and Harvard Medical School published in the journal Headache...

Germany was just voted world’s favorite country, according to a report in the USA Today. It also may be the most advanced country in the area of medical rehabilitation. I just came back from Germany where I was invited to give lectures at two...

A new report by Drs. Gfrerer, Maman and their colleagues at the Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston entitled Non-Endoscopic Deactivation of Nerve Triggers in Migraine Headache Patients: Surgical Technique and Outcomes was recently published...

Fish oil, or rather omega-3 fatty acids, seem to reduce the risk of Lou Gehrig disease or ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis). An article in JAMA Neurology by Dr. Fitzgerald and her colleagues analyzed 1,002,082 participants in 5 different...

Cluster headaches usually occur once or twice a year for a period lasting from a few weeks to a few months. During those periods, they occur daily or more than once a day. Interestingly, these episodes of cluster headaches tend to occur at the same...

The first time I heard of the potential benefit of stem cells for migraine headaches was last year from one of my patients. This 55-year-old woman had been having some improvement from intravenous magnesium and nerve blocks, while Botox...

Beta blockers (Inderal or propranolol and similar drugs) are used for the preventive treatment of migraine headaches. Over the years, a few patients have told me that they take a beta blocker only when they have an attack of migraine with very good...

Parkinson’s disease (PD), parkinsonian symptoms, and restless leg syndrome (RLS) are more common in people who in middle age suffered from migraines with aura. Those suffering from migraine without aura in their midlife had increased risk of having...

Stabbing headaches can be a sign of acute multiple sclerosis, according to a report by German doctors in the journal Headache. Stabbing headache is a rare type of headache, although patients with migraines often report having occasional “ice pick”...

Peripheral nerve blocks can be very effective in stopping a severe migraine attack. We utilize them when a patient does not respond to oral or injected medications or when medications are contraindicated because of a coexisting disease or pregnancy...

Frequent attacks of migraine are best treated with preventive measures. Several categories of medications have been shown to be effective for the prevention of migraine headaches. These include Botox injections (for chronic migraine), epilepsy...

Severe persistent migraines can affect emotional, interpersonal, social, and work-related functioning. It is difficult to learn how to cope with pain and improve your functioning on your own. Cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) has been proven to...

Expiration date on medications does not indicate that the medication is no longer effective or safe after that date. Having had extensive experience with the production and testing of Migralex, I can reassure you that medications remain safe and...

A report from the Cleveland Clinic and Case Western Reserve describes 22 patients with new daily persistent headaches (NDPH) who were treated with Botox injections. NDPH is a condition in which the headache begins suddenly without an obvious...

A new combination of two old drugs seems to provide relief for some trigeminal neuralgia (TN) sufferers. The first line drugs for TN are epilepsy drugs, carbamazepine (Tegretol) or oxcarbazepine (Trileptal). A presentation at the last annual...

Post-concussion syndrome, which often includes headaches, can persist for many months especially after a minor injury (yes, mild injury is more likely to cause post-concussion syndrome than a severe one). However, little is known about prognosis...

Botox is FDA-approved only for chronic migraine headaches, however, it is being used “off-label” for other types of headaches as well. We find that frequent episodic migraines, cluster headaches, numular, and cervicogenic (neck-related) headaches...

Acetaminophen is what most obstetricians recommend pregnant women take for their headaches. However, it is not very effective for migraine headaches and it is not as safe as we thought (see my recent post). Fioricet is another drug favored by...

Skipping meals, for some people, is a sure way to get a migraine headache. Even those who do not suffer from migraines can get a headache from not eating breakfast and lunch. However, fasting has remained popular for the treatment of various...

Botox is a very effective treatment for chronic migraines and possibly other types of headaches and pain. However, Botox is an expensive and somewhat unpleasant treatment. Even though Botox helps a high percentage of patients (about 70%) it...

Besides many other mental and physical problems, bullying in school causes headaches. This is the conclusion of a group of psychologists at the University of Padua in Italy who published their findings in the last issue of the journal Headache...

The introduction of Levadex has been delayed again, this time for a year. It seems like deja vu all over again – I wrote the same thing on this blog in April of last year. Levadex, which the manufacturer (Allergan) just renamed as Semprana, is an...

Migraine aura precedes the headache in about 20% of patients. The most common type of aura is visual. It consists of flashing lights, sparkles, partial loss of vision, and other visual distortions, which can move across the visual field. Typical...

“Visual snow” is a continuous TV-static-like visual disturbance experienced by some people who suffer from migraines and by some without migraines. A group of British doctors examined 120 patients with persistent “visual snow” and found...

The benign nature of white matter lesions (WML) on MRI scans of patients with migraine was noted in a post last year. While they appear to be benign, they are disconcerting nevertheless. It is possible that we haven’t yet discovered the negative...