New York Headache blog

Many people who experience severe headaches are often concerned about having a brain aneurysm. What prompted this post is a patient I just saw who was found to have a small (3 mm) aneurysm on a routine MRI scan as well as a new article just...

Branded triptan medications are extremely expensive with one pill of Relpax or Frova costing $30 – $40. Fortunately, Imitrex, Maxalt, Amerge, and Zomig tablets are available in a generic form. However, even the generic version of Amerge is $3 to $4...

Another large scientific article on the benefits of cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) was just published in the Journal of the American Medical Association. In this study by doctors at the Cincinnati Children’s Hospital led by Dr. Andrew Hershey...

Mindfulness appears to reduce the effect of pain on day-to-day functioning in adolescents, according to a new study published in The Journal of Pain by Canadian researchers. This was a scientifically rigorous study of 198 boys and girls aged 13...

Research by Israeli pediatric neurologists confirms the clinical observation that chewing gum can make headaches worse. By chewing gum teenagers and younger children appear to be giving themselves headaches, according to a study published in the...

Transcranial magnetic stimulation (stimulation of the brain with a magnetic field) has been researched for over 30 years. It has been used to study the brain and to treat a variety of conditions, such as depression, Parkinson’s, strokes...

Botox is the most effective preventive treatment for chronic migraine headaches. It is also the only treatment approved by the FDA for this condition, which affects 3 to 4 million Americans. Despite the wide use of Botox for cosmetic indications...

The approval of the lower dose Sumavel device is a good opportunity to again remind migraine sufferers about the benefits of injectable sumatriptan. Many doctors do not even mention to their patients that sumatriptan is available in an injection...

The risk of dying from a variety of causes can be reduced by exercise, according to a new study published in the British Medical Journal. The effect of exercise was as strong as the effect of drugs for the prevention of diabetes, coronary heart...

Many migraine sufferers appear to have cold hands and nose, according to a new study by Finnish researchers described in the Wall Street Journal. The study compared 12 women with migraines with 29 healthy controls without migraines. Family...

Dr. Andrew Charles and his associates at UCLA just published a fascinating report on migraine aura in the journal Brain. We still do not understand the brain mechanisms that lead to the phenomenon of migraine aura. The published report...

Vitamin D seems to prevent relapses of multiple sclerosis, according to a large study by Dr. Ascherio and his colleagues at the Harvard School of Public Health. My previous posts mentioned that a high proportion of migraine sufferers have low...

Three out of four migraine sufferers may have reactive hypoglycemia, which may be contributing to their headaches. Reactive hypoglycemia is the so called sugar crash – a drop in blood glucose level after eating or drinking a large amount of sugar...

Thirty-two percent of patients with multiple sclerosis experience both migraine and pain with neuropathic (related to nerve damage) characteristics, according to a report by French researchers led by Xavier Moisse. These two symptoms appear to be...

Many medical specialty groups of doctors have been coming out with “Choosing Wisely” campaign where they recommend avoiding five things in their field. Headache specialists just came out with their own list of items that offer low-value and can...

More patients with fibromyalgia suffer from migraine headaches than those without this fibromyalgia. Those with fibromyalgia are also more likely to have irritable bowel syndrome, depression, and panic attacks. Fibromyalgia has been a mysterious...

Migraine headaches can be triggered by exposure to a variety of chemicals, including fumes, MSG, artificial sweeteners and many other. Now, scientists at the university of Kansas Medical Center published a study suggesting that BPA, a ubiquitous...

White matter lesions (WML) are more common in people who suffer from migraine headaches with or without aura and my recent post mentioned yet another study confirming this finding. Researchers from Johns Hopkins School of Medicine just published...

Botox injections are currently approved for the treatment of chronic migraines but not cluster headaches. However, my experience at the New York Headache Center suggests that Botox injections may also help relieve cluster headaches, which some...

The previous post mentioned a study confirming that caffeine makes headaches worse in adults 20 years or older. A study by pediatric neurologists from the Cleveland Clinic, Chad Whyte and David Rothner showed that this is also true in adolescents...

A study of 13,573 people by a Harvard physician Catherine Beuttner examined the role of nutrition in patients with migraines and severe headaches. Among these participants of the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey who were 20 years...

Omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids are needed for our body to produce pain-relieving and pain-enhancing substances. Researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill conducted a randomized, single-blinded, parallel-group clinical trial...

Vertigo presenting during the peri-menopause can be related to migraine, according to a report by Nashville neurologists led by Dr. Jan Brandes. They collected information on 12 women who presented with a new onset of vertigo during their...

Dihydroergotamine (DHE-45) is considered to be the most effective injectable migraine drug. In addition to injections, it is been available in a nasal spray form (Migranal), but the nasal spray is much less effective than the injection. Early next...

Fainting spells (syncope) are more common in people who suffer from migraine headaches. Compared with control subjects, migraineurs have a higher lifetime prevalence of syncope (46 vs 31%), frequent syncope (five or more attacks) (13 vs 5%), and...

Topamax (topiramate) has been reported to cause inability to sweat which can lead to hyperthermia or overheating. At first, this condition was reported as a rare complication, but a study of 173 children showed that 22 of them or more than 10%...

Botox injections is the only FDA-approved treatment for chronic migraine headaches. This is a very effective (works in 70% of chronic migraine patients) and very safe treatment. The only major drawback is its cost. However, there is a great...

Cleveland Clinic doctors established that migraine patients who are educated about sumatriptan (Imitrex) and other triptans tend to do better. It is not a surprising discovery, but it highlights the importance of patient education. The study...

Migraine affects people in all socio-economic categories, however it is more likely to occur in poor, according to a report in the latest issue of Neurology. Researchers examined the data from the American Migraine Prevalence and Prevention Study...

Performing an MRI scan is unnecessary in the vast majority of migraine sufferers. However, many migraineurs end up having this test because they are concerned about having a brain tumor or another serious condition and because many doctors order...