New York Headache blog

It was an honor to speak in Israel at the 6th Annual International Headache Symposium along with past presidents of the International Headache Society, Drs. Messoud Ashina and Alan Rapaport, the current IHS president, Cristina...

The second updated and expanded edition of The End of Migraines, 150 Ways to Stop Your Pain is now available on Amazon.com. The book is available as an ebook, paperback and hardcover. I would recommend getting the Kindle...

Nummular (coin-shaped) headache is an uncommon condition. It is defined as intermittent or continuous pain in a small circumscribed area of the scalp with the following four characteristics: sharply-contoured...

Regular exercise has been proven to prevent migraine headaches in many studies. A Swedish study of 91 patients established that exercising for 40 minutes 3 times a week is as effective as relaxation training or taking a...

No, Daxxify is not really a competitor in the treatment of chronic migraines or any other medical condition. Daxxify, a new botulinum toxin, was just approved by the FDA only for cosmetic use. Daxxify does stand out from five other...

Headache is a common symptom of any infectious illness, including COVID. A group of Spanish researchers analyzed six published studies of headaches in adult Spanish COVID patients. According to their review, headache...

Dr. Brian Loftus, a Texas neurologist, alerted me to the possibility that the shortening of the effect of Botox can be reversed by taking a zinc supplement. Dr. Loftus shared an unpublished report by Houston physicians who...

Patients with chronic migraine who were started on Botox were significantly more likely to continue to be treated with Botox after one year than patients who were started on a CGRP monoclonal antibody (mAb). mAbs are given...

A case report presented at the annual meeting of the American Headache Society described a patient with trigeminal neuralgia (TN) whose pain responded well to rimegepant (Nurtec). Rimegepant is a drug approved...

Last week I spoke to Dr. Amelia Scott Barrett, a neurologist and headache specialist based in Denver. She shares my interest in combining medications with various non-drug therapies. In our first conversation, we discussed...

The 6th Annual International Headache Symposium in Israel will be held at Daniel Hotel, Herzliya (8 miles from Tel Aviv), on October 27, 2022. THe symposium is organized by the President of the Israeli Headache Association...

Regular intravenous infusions of magnesium prevented migraines in five children, according to a report presented at the annual meeting of the American Headache Society by A.J. Freed and S. Sahai-Srivastava. The children...

Two out of three women stop having migraines during pregnancy, especially in the second and third trimester. The difficult question is how to treat migraines in the first trimester and in women whose migraines do not...

With tens of millions of Americans suffering from migraines, access to care is a major problem. Cove, a telemedicine startup, offers a practical and affordable solution. They deliver evidence-based therapies to patients in need...

A paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Headache Society that is taking place this weekend examined the risk of major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE) in patients with preexisting cardiovascular...

Sumatriptan (Imitrex) and other triptans have been available without a prescription in all European countries for over a decade. A new study by Austrian researchers published in the current issue of Headache confirms the outstanding...

Primary stabbing headache is a rare disorder. Because it is rare, it is often misdiagnosed and not treated properly. This post was prompted by a patient with this condition I saw last week. She went undiagnosed for 45 years...

Not surprisingly, none of the new migraine drugs have been tested in pregnant women. No new drug for any indication is ever tested for its safety in human pregnancy. They are always tested in pregnant animals, which helps...

Rimegepant (Nurtec ODT) was just approved by the European Medicines Agency for marketing in 27 EU countries as well as Iceland, Liechtenstein, and Norway. It was approved for both the acute treatment of migraine...

If you are “overusing” acute migraine medications, preventive migraine treatments still work very well. This was the conclusion of a study that was just published in the journal of the American Academy of Neurology, Neurology...

Yesterday I saw a 48-year-old man who has been suffering from migraine headaches since his teens. He did not respond to a wide variety of drugs and non-drug therapies, but Emgality has been very effective. The only problem...

I recently saw a 32-year-old woman who never suffered from headaches until a year ago when she was given an injection of a COVID vaccine (J&J). Her headache started the day after vaccination and it has persisted unabated...

A patient recently asked me about trying chiropractic treatment for her migraines. This is a chapter on chiropractic from my last book, The End of Migraines: 150 Ways to Stop Your Pain. Chiropractors can also relieve...

RetreatMigraine 2022: April 1-3 at Hilton Charlotte University PlaceRetreatMigraine is a conference specially designed by and for adults living with migraine disease. The multi-day event brings together patients, care partners and...

See Julie’s solo show at Shrine.nyc, 179 East Broadway, New York, NY...

Botox is one of the most effective and safest treatments for frequent and chronic migraines. One of the potential side effects of Botox is droopy eyelids. When injections are done correctly this happens in a very small percentage...

I am happy to announce that you can attend the Migraine World Summit free of charge. It is back on March 16-24, 2022 for its 7th annual virtual event. As one of the former presenters, I can tell you that you may greatly benefit...

Nerivio, an electrical stimulation device was cleared by the FDA to treat acute migraine attacks in adults almost three years ago. It was recently also cleared to treat migraines in adolescents. A new study sponsored by Theranica...

My previous post described a study that found no difference in efficacy among different types of psychosocial interventions for the treatment of chronic back pain. A recent 2020 Cochrane review concluded that there is strong...

Patients with chronic pain, including those with migraines, have been shown to benefit from psychological interventions. There is a wide variety of such treatments – biofeedback, meditation, acceptance-commitment...