If you’re a smoker and you get migraines, a study that appeared in the most recent issue of  the Journal of Headache and Pain may be of interest to you. Researchers from the Spanish Foundation for Science and Technology found that smokers had more migraine attacks than non-smoking migraineurs and that as few as five cigarettes per day triggered migraines.
Interestingly, not much has been studied about cigarettes and migraines. Some researchers believed that smoking could work to ease migraine pain if smokers found smoking to be relaxing. But this study used medical students as their subjects, who knew what migraines …read more

Here’s a brief but interesting Reuters article: Exercise unlikely to curb migraine pain: experts.
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I’m sure that most people who live with any type of chronic pain will agree that the best thing – other than a cure – is education. Education for those who are living with chronic pain, for those who live with and love those with pain, and those who treat them.
In an attempt to help people who live with migraines and other types of debilitating headaches, Lifting The Burden, the World Health Organization’s Global Campaign to Reduce the Burden of Headache Worldwide, has produced a series of five patient leaflets:
- What is migraine? – What is tension-type headache? – What …read more

While still in the early stages (only at Phase II, one more phase is needed), a combination of rizatriptan (Maxalt), a migraine medication already in use, and acetaminophen, commonly sold as Tylenol.
The study’s results were published in the July issue of the journal Headache. There were four groups of patients: those who were randomized (assigned to) either receive the drug combination, acetaminophen plus placebo (sugar pill), rizatriptan plus placebo, or placebos only. The patients nor the doctors knew who was taking which. The results found that up to 90% of the patients who had an acute migraine found relief …read more

Imagine having the power to zap your migraine pain away. According to a press release issued by the Ohio State University Medical Center, Portable device effective in zapping away migraine pain, it just may be possible.
In previous tests in the university, patients used the machines with good success, but the machines were too big for home use, so the researchers developed a smaller, more portable machine for home use. For the treatment to work, the people with migraines must have an aura, a sensation that tells them that a migraine is about to start. With this type of warning, …read more

For those of you who get migraines, do you find that traveling makes them worse?
I just returned from a conference that wasn’t very far; it was a 2 and a half hour flight each way, but traveling is tiring, I find. I think in my case, it’s the dryness and the dehydration that comes with flying and sleeping in hotel rooms. It’s not from over imbibing (although I might as well have considering how my head has been feeling since Sunday!), but it started as a low level headache that is now morphing into a migraine.
It’s tough because whether you …read more