New York Headache blog

Doxycycline has been reported to relieve treatment-resistant new daily persistent headache in four patients. The dose was 100 mg twice a day and was given for 3 months. One of the patients responded after two weeks, but the average response...

Mindfulness meditation has been shown to produce numerous benefits in older adults with chronic low back pain. These benefits included less pain, improved attention, better sleep, enhanced well-being, and improved quality of life...

Treatment of menstrual migraines often is more difficult than of non-menstrual attacks. A double-blind study by Marcelo Bigal and his collaborators just published in Headache shows that a combination of 10 mg of rizatriptan (Maxalt) and 4 mg...

Migraines may be helped by omega-3 fatty acids, a supplement that has gained well deserved popularity. Several recent studies suggesting benefits for the cardiovascular system prompted me to look at the headache literature. An article in...Migraines may be helped by omega-3 fatty acids, a supplement that has gained well deserved popularity. Several recent studies suggesting benefits for the cardiovascular system prompted me to look at the headache literature. An article in...

Refractory migraines may respond to occipital nerve stimulation, according to Dr. Joel Saper who led a multicenter trial of this treatment. An electrode was surgically implanted in the back of the head, where the occipital nerve is located, and...

Patients who suffer from migraine headaches are 30% less likely to develop breast cancer. It is well established that fluctuating estrogen levels throughout the menstrual cycle can trigger migraine attacks. These fluctuations are reduced during...

It is well known that if you take a snapshot of the population, about 18% of women and 6% of men suffer from migraine headaches. However, a report by Dr. Stewart and his colleagues in the latest issue of Cephalalgia indicates that cumulative lifetime...

Magnesium is effective in preventing migraine headaches according to a new study published in the last issue of journal Magnesium Research. The researchers found that patients treated with magnesium, compared to those treated with placebo, had fewer...

15,056 patients with migraine and tension-type headaches were treated with acupuncture in a largest acupuncture study, which was financed by the German government. Results published in the latest issue of journal Cephalalgia by S. Jena and colleagues...

Progressive muscle relaxation is an integral part of biofeedback training, but can be used by itself for the treatment of migraine and tension-type headaches. A group of researchers at the Ohio State University published an article in the journal Pain...

Botox is effective for chronic migraines, according to a statement released by Allergan, maker of Botox. The company reported that a large multi-center trial (the New York Headache Center was one of the trial sites) yielded positive results...

Cluster headaches cause the worst pain imaginable, leading some patients to thoughts of suicide. They occur in about 0.1% of the population, while migraine headaches afflict 12%, which may explain why so much less research has been conducted on...

Children with thyroid disease are more likely to have headaches, according to a study done by Dr. David Rothner and his colleagues at the Cleveland Clinic. 36% of children with hypothyroidism and 19% with hyperthyroidism had headaches...

Women with menstrual migraines who also have chronic migraines can be successfully treated with hormonal therapy, according to a study by Drs. Calhoun and Ford published in journal Headache. Surprisingly, controlling menstrual migraines led...

Chronic migraine is very disabling and is poorly treated according to a study by Dr. Marcelo Bigal and his colleagues published in the current issue of journal Neurology. The study looked at 520 patients with chronic migraine (those who had more...

Migralex is an over-the-counter medication for the treatment of headaches, which will become available in November of 2009. Results of the first study of Migralex were presented at the annual scientific meeting of the American Headache Society...

Vitamin D deficiency has become a very popular topic in lay and professional literature, and deservedly so. Vitamin D is important not only for bone health, but for normal functioning of many organs. Its deficiency appears to be much more common...

A study conducted by one of the leading headache researchers, Dr. Richard Lipton looked at possible factors that worsen migraine headaches. The study looked at people with frequent migraines (15 or more days with headache a month) and found...

A person empathizing with someone in pain perceives his or her own pain as more severe and unpleasant. Researchers at McGill University published these findings in the current issue of journal Pain. This observation could explain, at least in part...

Patients who faced delays in the treatment of their chronic pain were found to have worsening of their condition, according to a recent review published in the journal Pain. The review of 24 trials showed that patients had a significant...

Facial expression of pain seems to make you feel worse, according to a study published in the May issue of The Journal of Pain. Healthy volunteers were asked to make a painful expression before the pain started and without anyone appearing to be...

Treating migraines in adolescents presents some unique challenges. Besides difficulties, such as getting them to bed before midnight and getting them to improve their diets, we face the problem of not having any FDA-approved drugs to treat migraine...

For many years headaches were thought to be triggered by elevated blood pressure. Evidence had suggested that only very sudden increase in blood pressure triggered a headache in some patients, but the myth of high blood pressure headaches has...

Menstrual migraines are at times very difficult to treat. Triptans, such as Maxalt, Imitrex and other are usually very effective, but in some patients do not provide sufficient relief. Corticosteroid drugs, such as prednisone and dexamethasone...

Scientists in Trieste, Italy suggested a new approach to the treatment of migraine headaches. They hypothesized that combining two different approaches would yield better outcomes than either one alone. A neurotransmitter CGRP antagonists appear to...

Treatment of migraines leaves a lot to be desired and in part not because we do not have effective treatment, but because of a communication barrier. Doctors appear not to want to hear what migraine patients have to say about their headaches...

How long will I suffer from migraines? Will it ever go away? These are very common questions patients ask their doctors. Drs. Bigal and Lipton reviewed a recent large study that looked at what happens to migraine patients within one year of...

Treximet, a new migraine treatment was approved today by the FDA. Treximet is a combination of two old drugs – sumatriptan (Imitrex), 85 mg and naproxen (Aleve), 500 mg. The combination is more effective than Imitrex alone because naproxen provides...

For many years migraines have been thought to occur more often in left-handed people, but a new study from Germany disputes this theory. A recent study published in journal Cephalalgia looked at 100 people with migraines and 100 controls and also reviewed...

Migraine is most likely to occur at noon, according to an article just published in Headache by Norwegian researchers. Although only 58 patients participated in this year-long study, there was a very clear peak of occurrence at noon. This finding is...