Dihydroergotamine, or DHE, is a medication that is given by injection and it works for many people. MAP Pharmaceuticals has developed an inhaled version of DHE, called Levadex. This past may, a Phase III study showed that Levadex was effective in many patients.

The study involved 798 patients. Two hours after taking either Levadex or placebo, 58.7% of the patients who took Levadex reported pain relief compared with 34.5% who had the placebo. Forty-six percent of patients who took Levadex had relief from photophobia, or difficulty with lights, compared with 27.2% who took placebos. Finally, 67.1% of patients who took Levadex reported that their nausea went away, compared with 58.7% of those who took placebos.

Let’s see what the FDA thinks now.

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Post from: Blisstree

If Approved, Inhaled Drug May Help Migraine

I’m skeptical. However, I still wanted to report on this unique study, published in Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery.

Researchers tested the idea that migraines are caused when a person’s trigeminal nerve branches are irritated. Thus, the treatment would involve removing these muscles, an easy and permanent fix.

The study was double-blind and placebo-controlled. The researchers, a plastic surgeon and two neurologists, found three common trigger sites and randomly assigned 75 patients to real or fake surgeries that would deactivate the migraines triggers. The operation is similar to a traditional forehead lift.

The results: One year after the surgeries, 57% of patients in the real surgery group said they had complete elimination of migraines, but only 4% in the fake surgery group reported the same.

Personally, I have to wonder if the patients in the sham surgery group knew they didn’t really get the operation. However, I’m no scientist, so judge for yourself!

Would you consider plastic surgery for migraine headache relief?

(Image via flickr Migraine Chick)

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Plastic Surgery for 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 were, and the researchers focused on the number of cigarettes smoked.

The researchers looked t 361 medical students, their history of migraine and smoking habits, if they were smokers. Sixteen percent of the students had migraines. When looking at the percentage of people who had migraines and who smoked, the researchers found that there were more smokers in the migraine group (29%) than in the the general group (20% of all the students together).

The researchers also found that the migraines most often set in after five cigarettes were smoked within one day.

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Images: Courtesy of PhotoXpress.com

Post from: Blisstree

Smoking May Cause Migraines

According to findings of a study recently published in the journal Cephalalgia,

• 12 of the 17 astronauts (71 per cent) reported 21 headache episodes during the space missions – nine during launch, nine during the stay at the space station, one during activities outside the space station and two during landing. None of the astronauts had a history of recurrent headache on earth.
• Five astronauts reported headaches during one of the time frames, six during two time frames and one during four time frames.
• Headache severity ranged from mild to severe, with 29 per cent reporting mild intensity, 65 per cent reporting moderate intensity and six per cent reporting severe intensity.
• Only two of the headaches, during launch, matched the international criteria for migraine and the remainder were tension-type or non-specific headaches.
• In 77 per cent of the episodes the astronauts described their headache as “exploding” and, or, “heavy feeling”.
• Launch headaches lasted for an average of 5.6 hours and space station headaches for an average of 1.6 hours.
• When each headache was assessed, 76 per cent demonstrated no association with the main symptoms of space motion sickness, such as nausea, vomiting or vertigo.

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Images: Stock.xchng

Post from: Blisstree

Space Headaches Affect Astronauts

According to the Ithica Journal, pregnant women who have migraines “are 15 times more likely than other women to suffer a stroke, twice as likely to have heart disease and three times more likely to have blood clots and other vascular problems during pregnancy.”

The study also found that women over 35 were more likely to experience migraines. The condition was also present in white more often than in other ethnic or racial groups.

Image from sxc.

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Danger of Migraines During Pregnancy

Post from: Blisstree

National Invisible Chronic Illness Week Is September 10th Through The 16th.

The procedure to implant the device in the heart takes about 45 minutes and uses a catheter to thread the implant via a vein in the groin up to the heart.

Scientists don’t know why the PFO hole plays a role in triggering migraines, but they speculate that when the blood bypasses the lungs, and instead is shunted directly from the right to the left chamber of the heart, impurities that would have been filtered out by the lungs remain in the blood.

“Something — either tiny blood clots or chemicals — is being delivered to the brain that increases the likelihood someone will have migraines,” says [Dr. Jonathan] Lipton.

Clinical trials to test cardiac implants for sealing PFO defects, such as the STARFlex System, are currently recruiting. Non-implant methods are also being investigated, including one clinical trial of the Cierra PFx Closure System. Visit ClinicalTrials.gov to find out more about the inclusion and exclusion criteria.

Los Angeles Times, July 31, 2006

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Hole in Heart Can Cause Migraines