Tag: HealthTalk

News & Research, Resources, Treatment

Recognizing & Treating Children’s Migraines

Kerrie Smyres

Up to 10% of school-age children have migraine. Think a child or teenager that you love might be one of them? Listen to Children’s Migraines: How to Recognize and Treat Them, today’s HealthTalk webcast, to learn more.

The hour-long show starts at 7 p.m. EST tonight, Wednesday, July 18. About 10 minutes before the webcast, go to the program’s description page and look for a link that says “Join the Program.” If you miss the live show, it will be available archived by the end of the week.

A. David Rothner, MD, and Donald W. Lewis, MD, will be guests on the show. Their impressive bios are available on the webcast program page.

Coping, Society

Working With Migraines & Headaches

Kerrie Smyres

Working with migraines or a headache disorder — any misunderstood chronic illness, really — can be grueling and humiliating. If you’re lucky, co-workers who lack compassion and are resentful is the worst you’ll face. Often, though, supervisors and higher ups don’t understand the severity of your illness, your performance suffers and you’re a major topic of gossip.

Migraines in the Workplace is the subject of Wednesday’s HealthTalk webcast. With headache specialist Christina Peterson the expert guest, you’ll learn how to educate your coworkers and protect yourself legally. Migraine sufferer Cynthia M. will also participate in the discussion.

The program starts at 7 p.m. EST Wednesday, May 16. Starting about 10 minutes before the webcast, go to the program’s description page and look for a link that says “Join the Program.”

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!

Patient Education, Resources, Treatment

Building Your Migraine Treatment Plan — A HealthTalk Webcast Tomorrow

Kerrie Smyres

A drawback of all the available treatments is that patients can be overwhelmed. Designing a personal headache treatment plan will help keep you and your doctor on the best path for you. It will help you choose the medicines that are most likely to reduce your most troublesome symptoms, can integrate alternative or complementary treatments and may even ease the stress if you have to go to the ER.

HealthTalk is producing a webcast called Building Your Migraine Treatment Plan with headache specialist Robert P. Cowan. He will answer patients’ questions during part of the show. You can submit your questions in advance or during the live webcast.

The program starts at 7 p.m. EST tomorrow — Wednesday, March 21. Starting about 10 minutes before the webcast, go to the program’s description page and look for a link that says “Join the Program.”

For more about treatment plans, see the ACHE article, Headache Medicines: Which One is Right for You?

You can also check out the two previous webcasts: What Makes a Migraine a Migraine? and Why Do Women Get More Migraines Than Men? I haven’t listened to the first one, but the second one has terrific information for women and men. Dr. Christina Peterson was one of the specialists on the show. I’ve been waiting for a transcript to write about it, but it’s so great that I should dive in anyway.

Patient Education

Tonight: Live Webcast on Women & Migraine

Kerrie Smyres

Why Do Women Get More Migraines Than Men? is the topic of tonight’s HealthTalk-hosted webcast. Headache specialists Christina Peterson and Dawn Marcus will discuss this sex disparity and treatments that are particularly helpful for women.

Listener questions will be answered, but you have to register in advance to submit a question (I have no idea how late they’ll will take questions). Registration is not required to listen to the program.

The broadcast starts at 7 p.m. EST (4 p.m. PST). Starting about 10 minutes before the webcast, go to the program’s description page and look for a link that says “Join the Program.”

Sorry for the late notice!