New York Headache blog

Another excellent educational course for healthcare professionals will be held on March 10th and 11th in Greenwich, CT. The Headache Cooperative of New England has held these symposia for over 20 years. The topic of my...

Migraine surgery is controversial. I would not consider it until most of the less invasive options have been tried. In my latest book, I give migraine surgery a score of 3, on a 1 to 10 scale. This rating may not be fair because...

Daily multivitamin use was compared to cocoa extract in more than 2,200 people over 65. After three years, taking a cocoa extract had no benefit while taking a multivitamin led to a significantly slower age-related cognitive...

Opportunities & Challenges in the Management of Headache is one of the two annual courses organized by the Diamond Headache Clinic Research & Educational Foundation. This year, it will be held in San Diego from February...

Botox has been shown to relieve the pain of trigeminal neuralgia (TN). TN is an excruciatingly painful and debilitating condition. The most common cause of TN is compression of the trigeminal nerve by a blood...

Holidays are again upon us. There are many reasons why people experience more migraines this time of year. Family drama, all the delicious unhealthy food, and alcohol. A report just published in the journal Headache brings...

Multiple posts on this blog have described clinical trials that prove the benefit of exercise for the prevention of migraine headaches.In a recent paper published in The Journal of Headache and Pain Stanford researchers compared...

According to a new report by Spanish researchers published in The Journal of Headaches and Pain, effective preventive treatment of migraines can improve cognitive impairment in patients with frequent attacks...

Riboflavin (vitamin B2) has been a popular supplement for the prevention of migraine headaches. The evidence for its efficacy is limited. Only one small double-blind, placebo-controlled trial showed that a very high dose of riboflavin...

Psychedelics are being actively studied for depression and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). These trials usually involve hallucinogenic doses. Microdosing psychedelic substances such as psilocybin, lysergic...

A recent study by Chinese researchers showed that acupuncture is an effective treatment for tension-type headaches. The results were published in a leading neurology journal, Neurology. Being published in such a journal...

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...