Tag: triggers

Meds & Supplements, Patient Education, Resources, Treatment, Triggers

Unexpected Migraine Treatments

Kerrie Smyres

Even when you feel like you’ve tried everything, there’s almost certainly more out there. This is something I’ve been posting about and e-mailing people a lot lately. Without knowing everything they’ve tried, it’s hard to point someone in the right direction.

Top 10 Unexpected Migraine Treatments, a HealthTalk webcast scheduled for Wednesday, April 18 will get to right to the point. Guessts will be Brian D. Loftus, MD and John Claude Krusz, MD PhD.

In the meantime, here are some other resources:

A fairly comprehensive list of available preventive and abortive medications, including some of the newer ones, like Lyrica and Cymbalta. (These websites describe the drugs, but don’t talk specifically about headache. They are both prescribed off-label (read comments at this link) as Topamax was for a long time.)

The National Headache Foundation‘s podcasts: The Condition of Migraine, Symptoms and Triggers, Migraine Treatments, Latest Migraine News and Information. It’s good stuff, particularly the one on migraine treatments (not surprising, huh?).

The American Council for Headache Education has a collection of articles on treatment (the second heading on the page). They cover a wide range of topics, but some of the articles are old. If something catches your eye, I recommend doing some further research on the topic. I’m happy to answer questions when I can.

The World Headache Alliance also covers various treatments. Most topics are supported by recent research. Non-Pharmacological Therapies. The Treatments section covers a huge variety of topics. They include studies that contradict each other, which is good to get both sides. Check out the news section, too.

Sorry for such a link-heavy post!

Diet, Triggers

Soy Sauce as Migraine Treatment?

Kerrie Smyres

Soy sauce is one of the foods I’ve long avoided. Even though legumes are a problem for me, it’s not the soy that I’m worried about, but the fermentation.

It was with trepidation that I tried a new Thai restaurant this weekend. While I love Thai food, it’s always a little stressful for me to eat it. I’m convinced that curry is one of my triggers (this may be a false association, but I’m not willing to test it), and most other dishes have either soy sauce or legumes.

Phad Thai sans peanuts is my fallback, but this restaurant’s version was overflowing with legumes. So I threw caution to the wind and got noodles dripping with soy sauce.

Amazingly enough, I felt fine afterward. Perfectly fine! To top it off, that was the first night in weeks that I didn’t had a migraine in the night. I was so cheery when I woke up yesterday morning. I can’t believe what a difference it makes to not have a migraine every night.

Alas, the effects didn’t hold. I had a short migraine yesterday afternoon and am still battling one that came on last night.

Calling it a treatment is tounge-in-cheek of course, but I’m amused by
the coincidence. Knowing that soy sauce isn’t an
absolute trigger for me has let me daydream about all the dishes I’ve wanted to make but nixed because of this one ingredient.

Meds & Supplements, News & Research, Society, Treatment, Triggers

This Time Last Year, April 9-14 & 2-8

Kerrie Smyres

Year_reviewApril 9 to 14

Broadway Play Examines Issues of Illness
An insightful and moving New York Times article describes the blurred lines between wellness and illness shown in the play Well. An excerpt: “‘. . . [W]henever the cause of an illness is mysterious, it’s assumed to come from psychological problems or a moral weakness? And once science finally figures out the medical root of the illness, that assumption disappears.'”

Partnering With Your Health Care Provider
Recognizing your relationship with your health care providers as a partnership is a way to feel empowered and get the most useful information from your doctor.

Too Much Sleep as Headache Trigger
Sleeping in can relieve a migraine for me, but sleeping late without a migraine can trigger one.

Lyrica Aids Sleep
In addition to its role as a chronic pain reliever, Lyrica (pregabalin) may also be an effective sleep aid for people with chronic pain. In turn, better sleep may also help relieve chronic pain

Trapped
For the last few years, we’ve gotten season tickets to the theater. . . . I’m filled with anxiety in the days before each show. What if my headache is bad? What if I’m stuck next to someone wearing too much perfume? What if…?

April 2 to April 8

Inconclusive
X-rays showed that the leads of my occipital nerve stimulator hadn’t slipped significantly, but they would certainly slip more.

A Waiting Game
After meeting with my pain specialist and neurosurgeon left me with the simple decision that I should wait and see.

High Frequency & Severity of Migraine in Teens
A nationwide study of 18,714 adolescents found that headaches are causing a lot of disability for kids 12 to 19 years. Researchers found that adolescents’ migraines often go from one or two times a month to 10 to 15 times a month within a couple years.

Trexima Study Presented at AAN Meeting
I first ask the question I posed last week: If the treatment that most accurately compares to Trexima is Imitrex taken simultaneously with naproxen, why wasn’t the combination studied?
My comments about the patent was based on misunderstanding how the process works. See my latest Trexima post for an accurate explanation how it works.

Triggers

The Nutty Lady at the Coffeehouse

Kerrie Smyres

That’s me. I bounce from one table to the next as new people sit down. Once I even shifted all my stuff to a new table, started to sit in the chair and then moved everything back to one seat over from where I just was. It’s not like I just moved my latte back and forth. I also have a computer, iPod, water bottle, bag and sweater.

I needed to escape from someone’s perfume. It’s a sickeningly sweet floral-ish scent, which would be disgusting even if it weren’t a headache trigger. I’m having a good day; there’s no way I would wreck it in the otherwise lovely coffeehouse.

The perfume is being overpowered by garlic sauteed in butter. That smells fabulous, but the cloying scent has already done its damage. And the woman across from me just put on lotion. . .

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