New York Headache blog

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...

Botulinum toxin injections relieve tension headaches, according to a study just published in the European Journal of Neurology. Most of the previous studies had been conducted in patients with migraines or chronic migraines (more than 15 days...

Migraine and cluster headaches that do not respond to the usual treatments, may improve with injections of histamine. Dr. Seymour Diamond of the Diamond Headache Clinic in Chicago has pioneered the use of histamine in cluster headaches...

Two recent studies suggest that music can relieve migraine headache in children and relieve experimentally-induced pain. In a study of 58 children with migraine headaches published in the European Journal of Pain music therapy was compared to...

A new drug may be better for the prevention of migraines than the old ones in the same category. A study just published in Headache suggests that nebivolol, a beta-blocker just approved in the US for the treatment of high blood pressure may be as...

Anti-epilepsy drugs such as Neurontin (gabapentin), Topamax (topiramate) and Depakote (divalproex) have been proven to prevent migraine headaches. Each drug works for about half of the patients who try it. The other half either does not get...

Memantine is an old medication which has been available in Europe for over 30 years, but was only recently introduced in this country for the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease. Memantine blocks a specific receptor in the brain cells. Activation of this so...

Topamax is a popular drug for the prevention of migraine headaches. IT works for about half of the patients who try it. The main problem that makes people stop taking the drug is cognitive side effects. Patients tell us that they feel “stupid”...

Bright light can trigger migraine headaches and many migraine sufferers have increased sensitivity to light during an attack. A recent report has suggested that wearing amber colored lenses (Nike Maxsight) can relieve the light sensitivity...

Clopidogrel, which is also known as Plavix, is a drug used to prevent strokes and heart attacks. It works by preventing platelets from sticking together and causing a blood clot which can block a vessel in the heart or brain. Platelets also tend to become...

German researchers showed that acupuncture relieves back pain significantly better than combination of medications, physical therapy and exercise. They enrolled over one thousand patients with chronic back pain in a study that compared traditional...

Botox has been shown to relieve migraine headaches in another two studies published in Headache. One study compared the efficacy of Botox and an epilepsy drug, Depakote and found them to be equally effective. However, Depakote caused more...

Migraine does not cause cognitive impairment, according to a new Danish twin study. This important finding reassures millions of migraine sufferers and confirms our clinical observation. Another recent study in mice suggested that inducing brain...

Botox relieves migraine headaches and other painful conditions, such as sciatica, neuralgias and neck pain. A recent study of 43 patients with arthritis of the shoulder suggests that Botox may relieve arthritis pain as well. This was a double-blind...

A recent study published in Neurology showed that migraine sufferers have thicker gray matter in the part of the brain that perceives pain. Thickening of the gray matter indicates larger number of brain cells in that area, which is not...

This is a common question people ask when we suggest that they start taking a daily preventive medication. A groundbreaking study just published by Hans-Christoph Diener and his colleagues answers this question. Over 800 patients were placed on...

We always recommend exercise as one of the most effective preventive treatments for migraines and tension-type headaches. However, it appears that some patients may have difficult time exercising because of low vitamin D levels. Vitamin D...

It appears that women respond better to morphine than men and men respond better to a different opioid (narcotic) drug, butorphanol. This was the conculsion of a study presented at the American Pain Society. The next step that the researchers...

A recent study by Richard Harris presented at the American Pain Society’s meeting of 18 patients with fibromyalgia showed different brain mechanisms for true and sham acupuncture. It appears that placebo response in sham acupuncture can be...

Many patients tell me that monosodium glutamate (MSG) gives them headaches, but we never had a scientific study to explain or support this observation. A study by Brian Cairns and his colleagues in the November issue of journal Pain reveals possible...

“Anne Frank’s headache” is the title of an article just published by RF de Almeida and PA Kowacs in the journal Cephalalgia. This is an abstract of the article: “There are a significant number of famous people who suffered from frequent headaches...

Postpartum headaches are very common and are usually benign. A study presented at the meeting of the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine by Dr. Caroline Stella and her colleagues looked at 95 women with severe headaches that started 25 hours...

Migraine is known to subside in most people, often when they reach their 40s or 50s.  A recent report from Sweden suggests that even patients with more severe migraines who end up going to a headache clinic have favorable...