New York Headache blog

Frequent use of marijuana has a negative effect on the developing brain. Researchers at Tulane and Dartmouth medical schools looked at the possible protective effect of marijuana in severe head injury. The results were recently...

Cannabis has known anti-inflammatory properties. A group of researchers from UCSD published a study, Recent cannabis use in HIV is associated with reduced inflammatory markers in CSF and blood. They measured a variety...

Topiramate (Topamax) is one of the most popular preventive drugs for migraine. This is not because it is more effective than other approved drugs. It is because it can cause weight loss. The drug manufacturer tried to get it...

It’s been a year since the introduction of Nerivio, an electrical stimulation device for the acute treatment of migraines. One of the unique features of the device is that it is controlled by a smartphone app. This allows Theranica...

Vitamin D deficiency predisposes to or worsens many different medical problems. I’ve written at least a dozen blog posts on vitamin D. A group of South Korean researchers just published in the journal Neurology a study...

Melatonin is a hormone produced by the pineal gland located in the brain. The release of melatonin helps us fall asleep. Melatonin supplements have been used to treat insomnia. The results of clinical trials, however, are contradictory...

Tizanidine (Zanaflex) is a muscle relaxant that has been shown to relieve chronic migraines in a 200-patient double-blind study by Dr. Joel Saper and his colleagues. It may be particularly effective in people with neck...

People who live at high altitudes tend to have lower oxygen levels in their blood. A higher percentage of them suffer from migraines than people who live at sea level. Oxygen is effective for a significant percentage of patients with...

Timolol (Blocadren), is the second of the two beta-blockers approved by the FDA for both hypertension and the prevention of migraines. Among the dozen or so beta-blockers, it is not very popular for either hypertension...

Histamine is best known as a part of the defense against allergies. But it is also an important neurotransmitter – a brain chemical involved in arousal, anxiety, the stress-related release of hormones, activation of the sympathetic...

Acetyl-leucine (Tanganil) is an amino acid that has been available in France for over 60 years as a prescription drug. It is approved for the treatment of low blood pressure and dizziness. However, there are no published studies of this...

Naltrexone is similar to naloxone, a drug used to reverse the effect of narcotic (opioid) overdose. Naltrexone is not used to reverse the effect of an overdose, but to treat opioid and alcohol dependence. (LDN) and is given as a monthly...

Sumatriptan (Imitrex, Imigran) is by far the most popular triptan because it was the first one on the market. Because it came out a long time ago, many manufacturers make generic copies of this drug. This has reduced its price...

Having given Botox injections to thousands of patients, I know that some patients tolerate pain better if they curse during the procedure. A British psychologist Richard Stephens seems to have made a career out of studying...

Rizatriptan (Maxalt, Maxalt MLT) is one of the seven triptans approved in the US. Along with zolmitriptan, it is one of the two triptans available in an orally disintegrating form – it melts in your mouth and does not require water to...

Lisinopril (Prinivil, Zestril) is a blood pressure medicine in the family of angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors (ACEI). At 20 mg a day it was effective in the prevention of migraine headaches, according to a double-blind...

Two patients treated at MD Anderson Cancer Center for brain tumors were given Botox injections for their tumor-related headaches. The report at the recent meeting of the American Headache Society describes two patients...

Lamotrigine (Lamictal) is an epilepsy drug that is also approved as a mood stabilizer in bipolar disorders. Its exact mechanism of action is not well understood. There are no good controlled trials of lamotrigine in migraines...

Promethazine (Phenergan) is a phenothiazine drug that can be very effective for the treatment of migraine-induced nausea and vomiting. Like other phenothiazine drugs, it can have some direct effect on pain of migraine although...

Prochlorperazine (Compazine) belongs to the category of phenothiazine drugs. Chlorpromazine (Thorazine) was the first drug in this family and it was approved for the treatment of schizophrenia in 1950. Phenothiazine drugs...

Protriptyline (Vivactil) is one of the tricyclic antidepressants (TCAs). It is rarely used, compared to amitriptyline and nortriptyline. This is probably because protriptyline has never been subjected to a controlled trial in migraines...

Pregabalin (Lyrica) is an epilepsy drug that is also approved by the FDA for the treatment of neuropathic (nerve) pain associated with diabetes, spinal cord injury, shingles (herpes zoster), and fibromyalgia. It is a controlled drug with...

A large population-based 11-year long study just published by Norwegian researchers confirmed that an elevated level of an inflammatory marker C-reactive protein (CRP) is associated with an increased risk of developing...

Propranolol (Inderal) belongs to the beta-blocker family of medications and it was approved by the FDA in 1967 for the treatment of high blood pressure. About a decade later it became the first drug to be approved by the...

If you’ve ever tried doing yoga as I have (I love hot yoga, but it’s not for everyone), you will not need convincing that it may very well help prevent migraine headaches along with giving you many other benefits. A study just published...

Propofol (Diprivan) was originally developed for general anesthesia during surgery. Smaller amounts were found to work well for “conscious sedation” to induce a semiconscious state for minor procedures such as...

My migraines respond very well to sumatriptan, but I do like to try new treatments that I recommend to my patients. A few months ago two new abortive drugs to treat acute migraine attacks were approved by the FDA. Ubrelvy...

We recently started using RightEye eye-tracking equipment which can help our patients who are suffering from visual difficulties due to migraines, concussion, or traumatic brain injury (TBI). Many brain disorders can impair the control...

The evidence is growing that those with low vitamin D levels are at a higher risk for respiratory infections, including COVID-19. However, purists argue that we need more evidence and better evidence from randomized...

Phenelzine (Nardil) is an antidepressant which was approved by the FDA for the treatment of depression in 1961. It belongs to the family of monoamine oxidase (MAO) inhibitors and it is a very effective antidepressant...