New York Headache blog

A typical visual aura which precedes the headache in about 20% of migraine sufferers usually lasts 20 to 60 minutes. A small number of patients suffer prolonged auras, which can last for hours. While we have many medications to treat the pain...

I failed to mention in my two previous posts that there is a difference in the type of electrical current used in transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS) and transcranial direct current stimulation. The former uses alternating current...

An article in today’s New York Times reported on the efficacy of electrical brain stimulation for the treatment of depression. It described a study published last week in the journal JAMA Psychiatry, in which a commonly used antidepressant...

Electrical stimulation of the nervous system is widely used for a variety of conditions and in a variety of ways. The nervous system can be electrically stimulated at the level of the brain, by implanting electrodes into the brain, at the level...

Sudden hearing loss is a rare condition, but it is more common in people who suffer from migraine headaches, according to just published study by Taiwanese researchers. Taiwan, just like many Scandinavian countries has national health insurance...

Many migraine sufferers report that flickering lights and vigorous exercise trigger their migraine attacks. Danish researchers published a study in the journal Neurology , in which they recruited 27 patients who suffered from migraines with aura...

Botox (anabotulinumtoxinA) is the only treatment approved by the FDA for the treatment of chronic migraine headaches. The FDA based its approval on the results of two clinical trials with 700 patients in each (I participated in one of them). In these...

Migraine surgery continues to be promoted by an ever increasing number of plastic surgeons. In my previous post in 2007 I mentioned the reasons to avoid such surgery and five years later all those reasons remain. Some of the leading objections...

Botox relieved severe pain of SUNCT, a rare and very painful condition, according to a report recently published in journal Cephalalgia. SUNCT stands for short-lasting, neuralgiform headache attacks with conjuctival injection and tearing. The pain...

Zecuity was just approved by the FDA for the treatment of acute migraines. Zecuity is a skin patch containing sumatriptan. Delivering sumatriptan through the skin is an appealing option for patients who have severe nausea or vomiting and have...

Newer oral contraceptives increase the risk of strokes and other types of blood clots in patients with migraines with aura, according to a study to be presented at the next meeting of the American Academy of Neurology in San Diego in March. We have...

Some features of migraine with aura clearly set it apart from migraines without aura. Aura is present in 15% to 20% of migraine sufferers. Most often it is a visual disturbance, which consists of either gradual loss of vision, starting from the...

Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) seems to be effective for the treatment of migraines with aura. “Spring TMS” device which delivers a jolt of such stimulation has been on the market in Europe since 2011. The American company that...

Migraine headaches that occur at around the time of menstrual period tend to be more severe and more difficult to treat. Analysis of studies that involved 187 women with menstrual migraines who treated at least one of their attacks with frovatriptan...

Aspirin is by far the most effective drug for the prevention of migraine with aura, according to Italian researchers from Turin. They reported on 194 consecutive patients who had migraine with aura and who were placed on a prophylactic medication...

The use of acute anti-migraine medications in patients with episodic migraine (migraine occurring on less than 14 days a month) prevents progression of episodic migraine into its chronic form, according to Dr. Zaza Katsarava and his colleagues...

A new treatment developed by Belgian neurologists was reported to help patients with chronic refractory cluster headaches. The name cluster headaches originates from the fact that headaches occur in clusters, typically once a year for a period...

Exercise-induced headaches are thought to occur more often in people who do not exercise regularly and my usual recommendation is to exercise regularly, starting with low intensity and short duration exercise sessions. If headache occurs with...

Erythromelalgia is a rare, often inherited pain syndrome which causes pain and redness of hands and feet. I just saw another woman who had both erythromelalgia and migraines. My observation of several patients who had both diseases does not mean...

Many women are denied therapy with combined (estrogen with progesterone) hormonal contraceptives because published guidelines by doctor organizations recommend against their use in migraine with aura. The concern is that these products might...

Celiac disease and gluten sensitivity is known to cause or at least increase the frequency of migraine headaches. The recently published study in journal Headache by doctors from Columbia University and Mt. Sinai School of Medicine in New York City...

Children suffering from migraine headaches are more likely to have difficulty performing well in school, according to a new report published in Neurology. The doctors studied 5,671 children between ages 5 and 12 from 87 Brazilian cities and found...

I see many patients who tell me that “I’ve tried every migraine drug” and seek me out to explore non-drug approaches, such as herbs, supplements, Botox, acupuncture and other. I always try to avoid using medications (and have written books on...

Pituitary adenoma is a benign tumor of an endocrine gland that is situated underneath the brain. Pituitary gland is connected to the brain and it produces several hormones. The most common type of pituitary tumor is one that secretes prolactin, hormone...

Occipital nerve stimulation (ONS) has been reported to relieve refractory (difficult to treat) migraine headaches. Results of a clinical trial of ONS for patients with refractory migraine was just published in the journal Cephalalgia. This study was...

Steroid injections are routinely used at our Center for the treatment of cluster headaches and occipital neuralgia. I just received a call from a concerned patient with cluster headaches who recently received an occipital nerve block with...

Vertigo is a common symptom in patients suffering from migraine headaches. Vestibular migraine is a new category of migraine proposed by German researchers led by Dr. Andrea Radtke. In the current issue of Neurology Dr. Radtke and her colleagues...

Prodrome refers to symptoms that precede an actual attack of migraine. Migraine aura also precedes an attack, but it occurs 20 to 60 minutes before the headache and typically consists of visual disturbances or partial visual loss. Prodrome typically...

Migraine aura is a visual disturbance that usually precedes the headache in about 20% of migraine sufferers. The aura can sometimes occur without a headache and some people, myself included, always have migraines and auras independently of...

Infant colic appears to be more common in babies whose mothers suffers from migraines, according to a just published study by researchers at UCSF. This study looked at 154 infant-mother pairs and discovered that the risk of colic increases 2.6...