13 ms·

New drug offers hope to those with severe migraines

95 points by petethomas 9y ago

aviv 9y ago
There has always been hope. Water fasting. Frustrating how something so simple and effective is kept hidden from the public.
- ybrah 9y ago
  It helped me cure my cancer too. Highly recommend
- orthecreedence 9y ago
  Is this a joke? I get migraines and one of the most obvious triggers is not eating for long periods of time.
  - aviv 9y ago
    You are suffering needlessly my friend. The first 3 days will be tough but you will change your life in ways you currently don't think are possible.
kazinator 9y ago
> When investigators infused CGRP into people prone to migraines, they got headaches. When they gave the molecule to people who do not get migraines, it usually did not instigate one. Ah, I remember seeing the CGRP acronym all over this paper: https://open.library.ubc.ca/cIRcle/collections/ubctheses/24/items/1.0224000 https://open.library.ubc.ca/cIRcle/collections/ubctheses/24/... (The role of monosodium glutamate in headache, [2013]) "Glutamate can induce vasodilation by several different mechanisms. The excitatory neurotransmitter can activate sensory fibres, which results in the release of the potent vasodilatior CGRP (Messlinger et al. 1995)." [1.9.6]
- jlebrech 8y ago
  i'm really happy there's a white paper on this, when I try to explain how i came up with msg being the cause I'm told there's no evidence and i'm just an anecdote. when I was younger I experimented to find the migraine trigger, we suspected msg quite quickly by checking all the ingredients (back before it was masked by just calling it 'natural flavour' or boullion) I usually happens 1-2 days after ingesting it as an ingredient.
  - kazinator 8y ago
    The nice thing above Melissa O'Brien's above paper is that, a serious pharmaceutical researcher, she takes it for granted that MSG causing headaches is real. Like there is no question any more. It's a tour de force. A nice highlight in the paper is when she explains how she thinned the skull bones of rats, in order to directly observe the change in flow in brain blood vessels caused by glutamate, without the disruption of actually drilling through the bone. A real life Amy Farrah Fowler, man! :) Most of the prior MSG research was largely conducted by shills hired to defend the food industry. They made serious mistakes like: instead of randomly sampling, specifically recruiting people with self-reported sensitivities: that's a good way to gather a motley crue of tin-foil-hat hypochondriacs. If you recruit that way, then for every person with an actual sensitivity, you will get 100 others who just feed on mass hysterias. And those people will predictably claim that they have a headache from a placebo. It's a ploy designed to lump the real sufferers into the same group as a bunch of flakes and make them the object of ridicule. Another pattern is the blatant dismissal of edge results. Oh, only 3 more people had headaches on the real thing than the placebo out of a whopping hundred. That's just noise! Yes, fuck the several people who are actually sensitive to CGRP and/or have that genetic feature that makes them slow to clear glutamate (discussed above paper).
pkaye 9y ago
Side effect may include headaches, stomach aches, nausea...
- bkev 9y ago
  So, a friend of mine who’s a pharmacologist explained that one to me. When drug test subjects take medication, they’re expected to note any side-effects they suffer from, and that often includes what they’re taking the drug to fix in the first place. So for example, someone might take headache medication to mitigate it, but might still be suffering from that headache after taking the pill. Cause and effect get turned around.
  - Cthulhu_ 9y ago
    Might it also be they notice headaches and such more often because they're paying more attention than usual on anything they might feel? I mean I'm sure I get slight headaches I can easily ignore from time to time.
  - refurb 8y ago
    If you've ever looked at clinical trial data, you can see the list of symptoms reported in the placebo arm. It's actually quite interesting. These patient received no drug, but will complain about a whole list of symptoms. As a result, drugs with very few side effects will still have a list of "this drug may cause" that aren't drug related at all. However, the FDA still requires those to be listed. In such lists you often see contradictory side effects like constipation and diarrhea, sleepiness and nervousness and non-specific complaints.
ekianjo 9y ago
I have seen the clinical results for one drug of the same class for migraines and efficacy wise its not spectacular. we are talking about reducing the frequency of severe migraines episodes but not making them go away entirely. Injectables are expensive too and will not encourage patients to try them out. Net, its a niche market.
- binarymax 9y ago
  Not sure if you've ever had migraines, but I have. Luckily I don't get them often but I know those that do (once every couple weeks, lasting for 2-3 days). Reducing the frequency is a godsend.
  - gHosts 9y ago
    I use to get about 2 a week.... then I went very low carb diet (keto) for weightloss.... and found the migraines massively reduced in frequency and intensity.... Dug around and found that this is a commonly reported side benefit of a ketogenic diet. Sounds off the wall until you realize Keto diets were originally used for managing childhood epilepsy.
    - jlebrech 8y ago
      I would avoid anything with masked ingredients, for example "flavourings" or "natural flavourings" if they don't tell you what's in the flavouring it could be anything.
- godzillabrennus 9y ago
  That’s a shame. Seems like there is some evidence from folks who experiment with LSD that it can cure migraines. Maybe we will see a clinical trial for that in our lifetime.
  - kcmastrpc 9y ago
    There's an entire class of drugs which shuts down migraines by dilating blood vessels in the brain. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triptan https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triptan - it's not a coincidence that these drugs target the 5-HT1B and 1D family of receptors (LSD targets 5-HT1A as an agonist, and it's thought to cause some of the stimulant effects of LSD) LSD doesn't "cure" migraines, there will never be a trial. It will stop migraines, but so will triptans, and you know, without the side-effect of wiggin' nuts.
ape4 9y ago
Generic name is Erenumab
mchannon 9y ago
FACT: Most Americans have a Magnesium deficiency (hypomagnesia). FACT: Magnesium deficiency can result in migraines, among a host of other symptoms that seem to be exploding right now. FACT: As with a calcium deficiency (most Americans actually don't have a shortage of calcium), you can't tell if you're deficient with a blood test. FACT: Eating plenty of greens and nuts is of limited effectiveness, due to the shrinking quantities of minerals in these foods. I'm willing to grant that not all migraines are caused by magnesium deficiency, just as soon as skeptics who get migraines show me they're supplementing to rule it out. I predict in 50 years we'll look at migraines the same way we look at goiters today.
- azeotropic 9y ago
  I tried supplementing with magnesium, and the severity (but not the frequency) of migraine attacks definitely decreased. Ultimately I gave up on Mg because of the gastrointestinal side effects. Butterburr extract has a couple of clinical trials as a preventative, but I didn't find that it did anything for me. Chlorpheniramine maleate (the antihistamine) worked as a preventative, reducing both severity and frequency of attacks, but I didn't like the side effects (it's also an SNRI) and discontinuation was ugly.
- perl4ever 9y ago
  I wonder if there might be something in cerebrospinal fluid that doesn't show up in blood tests. I read an article recently about a doctor who discovered that many of her patients with treatment-refractory major depression had clear metabolic abnormalities that showed when looking at cerebrospinal fluid and addressing them made dramatic improvements. I don't think "magnesium deficiency" really constitutes an explanation in itself. One of my parents and my sibling have had migraines, but I don't. If you blame it on magnesium, then it only moves the question to why does one person have a deficiency and another not? It's certainly not because I go to great lengths to have a balanced diet or take supplements.
orthecreedence 9y ago
Maybe most people who get migraines know this already, but I've been taking feverfew extract daily for a few years now and it has reduced my migraines by about 80%. I used to get a few a week, now I get one about ever 2 months. It really has helped me live my life much more fully. Migraines are truly awful.
- xab9 9y ago
  God, that shit sure tastes bitter :D But I'm trying the same nowdays, hope it's going to help.
mdip 9y ago
This is very cool as far as I'm concerned. I suffered from migraines for about 17 years and due to sensitivities, I couldn't take most of the usual remedies (triptans). Migraine is one of those things that is frustratingly misunderstood -- they're not just "bad headaches"[0], they come with all kinds of other, fun, symptoms and at least in my case, lasted between one and three days with light and sound sensitivity[1] and nausea to boot. I could expect to get them in the fall and spring about once a week. I, literally, wrote a Visual Studio extension to enhance text on my screen when viewed at the lowest contrast/brightness setting and purchased a laptop after carefully reviewing the quality of the display and any hints I could find about how dark the screen could be made to go (Asus ended up being excellent at the time). That said, I haven't had been hit with migraine symptoms for two years. If you're living with this condition and treatment for it has failed, I strongly recommend changing doctors, and if you haven't gone beyond your GP, do yourself a favor and go to a practice that specializes in headaches. There are more than a few older, lesser-known medicines that successfully treat migraine off-label. In my case, it's a low dose of Depakote[2] -- which is available in generic form. Outside of my deductible, it's under a buck a month, inside it, it's under $10. When it was prescribed to me, there were no references on any of the typical places (WebMD, drugs, et. al) about it being used to treat Migraine. But when I searched on the medication, there were plenty of anecdotal reports from patients stating that the medication -- which was prescribed for bipolar, usually (another off-label use, it's an old medication that was originally prescribed for seizures) -- had resulted in elimination of migraine or a dramatic reduction in the pain[3]. When I last looked, the major sites had it listed as an off-label use. The best part about the medication (well, other than it working) for me is that my body responds very well to it -- I've had nothing in the way of negative side-effects, though there were a few, surprising, positive ones. Anything dealing with the brain is tricky -- the medications, including the one I'm taking, have odd and downright scary side-effects. And there's usually a page full of them. The cause of migraine isn't particularly understood, either. Considering how different symptoms are for this affliction among those who have it, it wouldn't surprise me if it's found out to be a large collection of different maladies one day. [0] Well, for me, they certainly were bad headaches, too. [1] Sensitivity is the best word - with light, it was anything bright and cold, but with sound it didn't have to be loud. The worst pain would come from nearly any noise emanating from a mobile phone or tablet speaker at any volume level. It would electrify the pain in my head. [2] Which, it turns out, might have additional benefits: https://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/09/opinion/return-to-the-teenage-brain.html https://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/09/opinion/return-to-the-tee... [3] I'd consider it "eliminated" in me. I get them extremely rarely, and when I do, I can't entirely be sure it's even migraine based on the symptoms ... I still have sensitivities to light/sound but instead of it feeling like the pain was turned up well past 11, I just feel a sort of pressure/head-annoyance that's difficult to describe. Honestly, I'd rather deal with that every day than get a migraine headache even once in a year and I joke (without laughing) that I haven't had one in so long that if I got one, I'd probably have to lay in bed for 3 days. It's been a few years now, though, so my concern about that happening is diminished quite a bit.
kuwze 9y ago
I don't like folksy remedies but I have anecdotal evidence that headaches/migraines may be caused by a lack of salt. Here is some research to back that idea up[0][1]. [0]: http://sci-hub.tw/10.1111/head.12792 http://sci-hub.tw/10.1111/head.12792 [1]: https://www.newscientist.com/article/2101015-does-eating-more-salt-prevent-migraines-and-severe-headaches/ https://www.newscientist.com/article/2101015-does-eating-mor...
- joshgel 9y ago
  Salt is one of the bodies most hormonally regulated substances after maybe glucose. The electrolytes Na and Cl are routinely and easily measured on basic blood chemistry panels. My patients with migraines don't have low salt. cant say I'm a migraine researcher or know what causes migraines but this doesn't seem like a reasonable hypothesis.
  - kuwze 9y ago
    Hey man I am way out of my depth here, but the study really speaks for itself: > Our analysis population was 8819 adults in the 1999–2004 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) with reliable data on diet and headache history. Compare that to Aimovig: > The 12-week trial, presented this week at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Neurology, involved 246 patients suffering four to 14 migraine headaches a month who had tried two to four preventive treatments that either did not work for them or had intolerable side effects. [0] [0]: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-amgen-migraines-aimovig/amgens-aimovig-halved-migraine-days-in-30-percent-of-trial-patients-idUSKBN1HO348 https://www.reuters.com/article/us-amgen-migraines-aimovig/a...
    - aodin 9y ago
      You're comparing a survey (NHANES), which is a questionnaire completed by volunteers, to an active treatment medical study with a placebo control group. Comparing the N count between these two is essentially apples to oranges. As to the results of the salt intake survey (Pogoda et al.), it is describing a correlation, not a causation. The actual relationship between salt intake and migraines could also be inverted, or completely independent.
positr0n 9y ago
While people are offering anecdotes about their migraines: 1. If I don't eat sugar my migraine incidence goes from 8-12/month to ~1/month. 2. Excedrin works for me every time. The longer I wait to take it the longer it takes to work though. If I take it as soon as I feel a migraine coming on it will never progress to a painful stage. Before I discovered Excedrin I would have to go to sleep to end it, and occasionally throw up from the pain. Note: My doctor said that Excedrin is a "perfect" drug for drug companies because caffeine is a trigger for many people, so they will take Excedrin and it will work, but then the caffeine will cause them to have another headache tomorrow and need it again. This doesn't happen to me though.
- learc83 9y ago
  If you want Excedrin without the caffeine you can just take a 500mg of acetaminophen and 500 mg of aspirin.
  - ky738 9y ago
    can i replace aspirin with something else?
    - jonknee 9y ago
      Well sure, but then you won't have an Excedrin equivalent.
    - deleted 9y ago
      [deleted]
    - jjeaff 9y ago
      Ibuprofen, like aspirin is a nsaid. So it should have similar effect when combined with acetomeniphin (Tylenol). In fact, acetomeniphin, ibuprofen is also commonly prescribed together. And some studies have shown it to be as or more effective than opiods like oxycodone for certain types of pain.
- TheSpiceIsLife 9y ago
  Replace the caffeine with Diphenylmethylsulfinylacetamide?(Modafinil)
freshyill 9y ago
I’ve had migraines, both ocular and the “real” kind, so I know how bad they can be. I wouldn’t say they were anywhere near frequent enough to take a preventative drug for it. I’ve also worked with multiple people who’ve had chronic attendance problems, and migraines were one of their many go-to excuses. I know that sounds bad, but at least two of the people I’ve worked with would frequently use migraines as their excuse for coming in late, yet they never once got one while at work. Stolen cars, sick pets, the bus never showed up, etc. It was constantly something, more than once a week. If they were real, and I’m just being judgmental and seeing patterns that aren’t there, then I’m glad they’ll get relief. If not, it’s one less excuse.
- txcwpalpha 9y ago
  >I’ve had migraines, both ocular and the “real” kind, so I know how bad they can be. I wouldn’t say they were anywhere near frequent enough to take a preventative drug for it. These two sentences contradict each other. If you never had to consider taking a preventative for your migraines, then no, you do not know how bad they can be. Migraines are much more than just "ow my head hurts today, I should take the day easy". For some, they are debilitating to the point of sometimes making it impossible to do basic tasks like washing the dishes, reading, or sometimes even watching TV. Sometimes during a migraine you literally cannot do anything other than sit in darkness and wallow in misery, hoping that maybe it will ease up for long enough for you to fall asleep. Any kind of professional work is out of the question during a migraine. Not getting a migraine while at work isn't uncommon, as sometimes having something to focus on (like work) can help stave off whatever triggers the migraines. Migraines also aren't something that just suddenly happens; people who suffer from chronic migraines often get warning signs that one is coming on 12-24 hours in advance, and they can take just as long to develop as well. If someone was already at work, it's unlikely that a migraine would progress to the point of being debilitating before the workday was over. This is probably why your coworkers usually call in sick, but never leave in the middle of the workday. They typically will know before the workday even begins if it will be a migraine-filled day or not. Chronic migraines can lead to depression, which can cause a downward spiral of deteriorating health/diet, which can in turn cause more migraines, and more depression. Often time migraines can lead to thoughts of suicide because of how badly it hurts, and how badly it impacts life as a whole. I understand it's frustrating if your coworkers bail often, and shame on them if they are faking their "migraines" and just using it as an excuse. But as someone who has an SO who suffers from severe migraines 15-20 days per month, and still forces herself to go to work most days even through severe, debilitating pain and depression precisely because she has coworkers with judgmental attitudes like yours, I find your analysis insulting.
drdeadringer 9y ago
I inherited migraines through paternal lineage, at least x2 generations back behind me. My personal deal has turned out to be overall environmentally triggered -- specific foods, specific smells, overwhelming tyrannical stress, a pinch of "still have to figure it out", and like this. Sometimes it got Real Bad, like "last night made me doubt that my physical brain matter can't directly feel pain even though I believe medical science" or "sleeping next to the toilet as though I were an end-stage alcoholic on a bender" type of Bad. Visual auras, trouble speaking and actually understanding native language as if intoxicated or suffering dementia, finger numbness, loss of fine motor control... all clear signs//symptoms for me. Thankfully I've been able to mitigate triggering variables for myself. Apparently my father has not; his situation is worse than mine and I hope this drug offers some options.
EvangelicalPig 9y ago
I used to get severe migraines from flickering lights and most computer screens starting on September 5th or 6th 2011. I was born with optic nerve hypoplasia (and nystagmus in my right eye) but don't recall EVER having any problem prior to this. For years I went through the roundabout of doctors offering treatments that didn't really help (Botox) or give unhelpful advice ("just avoid triggers"). It wasn't a problem before this, dammit. I eventually dropped out of school, stopped using computers for days at a time and spent over 95% of my time for over 5 years sleeping being very depressed and suicidal. It got to the point where my eyesight was degenerative and my doctor suggested I try topiramate (risk of optic nerve damage and my eyesight was already bad and getting worse by the day). I tried valproic acid and it made my vision blurry for a week, but I recovered upon stopping the drug. In early 2017 I got a medical cannabis prescription from a doctor who acknowledged that other treatments didn't work for me and it made an immediate difference. I don't really get migraines anymore and I'm a much happier person in general whose started going to university and I've made some hilarious stoner friends as a result, so that's funny too. What's odd is my eyesight has improved to the point where I don't need as strong as a glasses prescription. The glasses I got last December are now too strong for me so I am happy about that. I'm still not 100% yet, but even a year and a half in I'm still "recovering" from everyday migraines for over half a decade. I'm blessed to live in Canada and not a place where medical cannabis is illegal. Even in legal US states (Washington, Colorado, et al) there is still the hypocrisy of the federal government acknowledging that cannabis has medical benefits, while still causing vexing legal problems for users. Be well everyone. Feel free to ask any questions.
- eganist 9y ago
  > What's odd is my eyesight has improved to the point where I don't need as strong as a glasses prescription. This comment's tone, the commenter's new-ness, and extraneous details unrelated to the original thread like this anecdote above all reek of a lead generation effort for an existing business. We're all generally pro- on this, so this comment just comes off a bit shilly for me :/
  - facetube 8y ago
    I don't think it's the right drug, but I think there's merit to that drug target. I was prescribed a very expensive synthetic CB1 agonist for migraine nausea (nabilone) by my primary care MD, and the effect was instantaneous and miraculous. Killed the nausea outright, took a solid 80% off of the pain (it was doing the morphine-type "I can feel it but it doesn't hurt" thing), and there was no euphoria/high or noticeable drug craving or reinforcement that I could detect. The bad news: it's $50 per milligram (almost $1500 for 10 days worth), Schedule 2 (the same schedule as fentanyl, cocaine, and methamphetamine), and technically approved by the FDA only for nausea caused by chemotherapy. The first FDA approval date for the drug was 1985. I'd previously tried so many prescribed anti-migraine drugs I couldn't even list them all here in the time I have. The side effects were as debilitating as the migraines themselves in some cases. Some were just wildly inappropriate (e.g. a resident wanted to write opiates). Anyway, I fought with an insurance company for seven days on a $20k/year policy and they still wouldn't cover it. Given the experience of trying to do this the right way, I'm utterly unsurprised that people in intense pain end up trying to DIY it.
thomasfedb 9y ago
Looks like the drug works (better than placebo), although there's a significant effect from placebo (about 50% as much as the drug) also. Always fascinating how strong placebo effects can be, perhaps that also explains some of the anecdotal fixes discussed here. https://jamanetwork.com/data/Journals/JAMA/937048/joi180039t2.png https://jamanetwork.com/data/Journals/JAMA/937048/joi180039t... https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/2681193 https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/2681193
deleted 9y ago
[deleted]
cududa 9y ago
I hope this truly is a breakthrough and does more good than harm. As a child I had near daily migraines. In 2002 I entered into an earlier CGRP blocker study to extremely ill effect. I took two pills morning and night. After two days I woke up completely blind. I was lucky it only lasted for three days (I was instructed to immediately discontinue use of the drug, preventing any long term damage). The trial was called off shortly after - if memory serves, out of ~100+ participants in my age group, about five had the same symptoms. As the article mentions, there’s a risk around toxicity. The approved distribution, dosage, and delivery seems to be an entirely different process from 15+ years ago, so here’s to the best. But, there’s really not a single measurement of residual peptide buildup throughout the entire study. I worry about long term buildup of proinflammatory mediators that could eventually strike back fast and hard with long term ocular nerve damage; a similar effect as the earlier drug iterations of a higher toxicity.
yeastaway 9y ago
I used to get ocular migraines a couple of times a year, but I haven't one in over four years since getting on a wheat and yeast-free diet. I started the diet to try and fix an autoimmune disease. It worked perfectly and also got rid of migraines as a bonus. I spent some time trying to find out why and I think the reason is simple, although I'm nowhere close to being a biologist. It might work like this: 1) Migraines and are known to be caused by inflammation. 2) Yeast is known to cause an inflammatory response in humans via innate immune system (dectin-1, mannose receptors). 3) Yeast beta-glucans (that trigger immune response via dectin-1) can pass through the intestines. Therefore, eating yeast contributes to migraines.
flatfilefan 9y ago
Writing this hoping it will help someone, so being really sloppy on argumentation. Just take the following as my personal experience anecdote. If that new (or any) drug works for you - great. But consider that there are no nerves that are responsible for the pain feeling in the brain itself. So we must conclude that the pain is psychological and should be treated that way. For me the treatment was a routine to pull out my (silly) fears from being consciously or unconsciously suppressed and verbalize them. Once those fears were verbalized the headache would go away. So in my case the headache was a signal of an important thinking to be done that I have blocked away. Verbalizing was initially easier by just writing down all thoughts even most silly on a piece of paper. Later I could do it in my head. Maybe it’s a different thing in your case, still chances are you can find an exit “backtracking through the entrance into your condition”, so to say. The challenging part is to get the insight as to what your deadend looks like.
- Broken_Hippo 9y ago
  I know this is helpful, please read through to the end. I think there is danger in the original thought: That the pain is psychological. This most definitely isn't always the case and tends to make folks not take the pain seriously. This is a major problem for women: They are already sometimes told the pain is all in their head with migraines, especially if PMS and hormones are triggers. And besides, we know that brain tumors can make folks have migraine-type headaches. Blood pressure can cause headaches. And so on. I'd much rather it state that psychological issues can be a contributor: We can't presume the pain itself is psychological. That said, it'd be silly to think that things like stress never affect it. This is especially true if you get cluster headaches or if stress is one of your triggers. My mother is like this: She gets cluster headaches that persist for months. Part of her treatment is to take an anti-anxiety medication. Granted, this does not stop the headaches, just makes them slightly less frequent or at least gives them less intensity on a daily basis.
  - flatfilefan 8y ago
    By all means go and try to get to the root cause if there is one. However taking your example with the blood pressure let me tell you another story of mine. So I had been diagnosed with a constantly high blood pressure and prescribed medication. It was a good thing because I have for first time in many years realized what normal blood pressure feels like. And it felt good! My doctor is a good one though and she told me that the medication is not a solution to my problem as there is no clinical reason to it. I had to find a way to control my blood pressure without the pills. And I have found the solution - a power nap. I just have to have some 15-60 minutes siesta after 4 hours of work. The thing is, nobody and nothing was forcing me to have a high blood pressure, it was me myself. See? It's easier said than done, you might say. But I have done it and now I'm telling you about it. And it's not easy to convince you :-)
throwawayqdhd 9y ago
I don't know how it works for others, but my migraines are closely linked to my diet. Certain types of foods, especially anything related to dairy or fermented things, somehow seems to trigger day-long migraines. Simply eliminating these from my diet has helped cut down migraines from 2-3/month to 1 in 3 months
- my_first_acct 9y ago
  Sounds like you are sensitive to tyramine (google tyramine migraine for more info).
  - Bombthecat 9y ago
    Wow! This might be my case ( whole I think I'm lucky enough that it is not a real big issue.) I remember drinking despados ( some kind of tequila and beer drink.) And having a huge headache the day after. And getting them once in a while. I connected it somehow to the beer and stopped drinking it. That might be the cause... I need to keep an eye on that. Thanks for the tip :)
- jlebrech 8y ago
  I would keep a log of all the food eaten during the day, and maybe take photos of ingredients lists. Then afterwards you can find an ingredient you might think is the culprit. The ingredient may also take a few days to affect you, so you have to allow for that.
jlebrech 8y ago
I just avoid migraine triggers
mrhappyunhappy 8y ago
Sent the link to my mom who has been suffering from migraines for 5 years. She tried every drug imaginable with very limited improvements. At one point she spoke about ending her life because it was unbearable. She’d get migraines 3 or more times per week, some lasting for 3 hours and some for 3 days. She would frequently call me saying she’s probably going to die now, that’s how bad it was. She saw many neurologists, including the one at Mayo Clinic mentioned in the article, to no avail. Part of me wished for her to go into peace and quiet because I knew it would end her suffering but the other part didn’t want to lose her. She is still kicking alive and well and finished her nursing degree at 55... I don’t know how she did and still does it but I know I will likely never meet a stronger person. I have had maybe a handful migraines my whole life and when they do come around I can’t imagine living with that. If for some reason this is a genetic condition that comes with age, I can’t say for certain that I would choose to live if I were affected.
- jlebrech 8y ago
  it could be food related, she needs to eat blander food, or at least know every ingredient she eats. For me it's Monosodium Glutamate and Aspartame that give me migraines, they are also 2 different kinds of migraine. The aspartame migraines happens after drinking a LOT of diet soda, I don't do think diet soda anymore.
  - mrhappyunhappy 8y ago
    Pretty sure she doesn’t ingest any aspertame or msg. I am not around to help her keep a food log but she does cook a lot by herself and I’m pretty sure she’s tried keeping the food very basic, free of salt, sugar, msg etc..
    - jlebrech 8y ago
      does she put anything that has a barcode into her food, ie. anything like stock cubes etc.
Rotdhizon 8y ago
I don't think I qualify for saying I get severe migraines daily, but I get them way more frequently than I should. Ever since I was a kid I would get them at least 15-20 days out of the month. Not debilitating headaches like some people get, but still pretty bad in that I had to be inactive for a few hours a day while I remained in bed and got rid of it. I didn't know it was unusual until I was having a conversation with a friend one day and he mentioned that he only gets them maybe once a month, if that. Then I talked to a few other people and they conveyed the same message, headaches are uncommon for the average person. I went to the doctor as a kid countless times to get help for it but they could never find anything wrong. While my headaches still continue into my early 20s, I don't think I am bad off enough to drop this kind of cash on a medication. Normal shelf medicine for headaches does work fine for me, it just sucks that it's basically an every other day thing.
benzesandbetter 8y ago
For me, Picamilon and changing to an alkaline diet stopped my migraines. The only thing which will still trigger them is if I have prolonged exposure to chemical vapors, such as enamel paint, or certain cleaning chemicals. Fortunately, I can recognize those and get out of the immediate area before I get enough exposure to trigger a migraine.
fapjacks 8y ago
For what it's worth, both my dad and my best friend have had dramatic reductions in their migraine frequency after they started using kratom on a regular basis.

95 points by petethomas 9y ago

aviv 9y ago

There has always been hope. Water fasting. Frustrating how something so simple and effective is kept hidden from the public.

ybrah 9y ago
It helped me cure my cancer too. Highly recommend
orthecreedence 9y ago
Is this a joke? I get migraines and one of the most obvious triggers is not eating for long periods of time.
- aviv 9y ago
  You are suffering needlessly my friend. The first 3 days will be tough but you will change your life in ways you currently don't think are possible.

kazinator 9y ago

> When investigators infused CGRP into people prone to migraines, they got headaches. When they gave the molecule to people who do not get migraines, it usually did not instigate one. Ah, I remember seeing the CGRP acronym all over this paper: https://open.library.ubc.ca/cIRcle/collections/ubctheses/24/items/1.0224000 https://open.library.ubc.ca/cIRcle/collections/ubctheses/24/... (The role of monosodium glutamate in headache, [2013]) "Glutamate can induce vasodilation by several different mechanisms. The excitatory neurotransmitter can activate sensory fibres, which results in the release of the potent vasodilatior CGRP (Messlinger et al. 1995)." [1.9.6]

jlebrech 8y ago
i'm really happy there's a white paper on this, when I try to explain how i came up with msg being the cause I'm told there's no evidence and i'm just an anecdote. when I was younger I experimented to find the migraine trigger, we suspected msg quite quickly by checking all the ingredients (back before it was masked by just calling it 'natural flavour' or boullion) I usually happens 1-2 days after ingesting it as an ingredient.
- kazinator 8y ago
  The nice thing above Melissa O'Brien's above paper is that, a serious pharmaceutical researcher, she takes it for granted that MSG causing headaches is real. Like there is no question any more. It's a tour de force. A nice highlight in the paper is when she explains how she thinned the skull bones of rats, in order to directly observe the change in flow in brain blood vessels caused by glutamate, without the disruption of actually drilling through the bone. A real life Amy Farrah Fowler, man! :) Most of the prior MSG research was largely conducted by shills hired to defend the food industry. They made serious mistakes like: instead of randomly sampling, specifically recruiting people with self-reported sensitivities: that's a good way to gather a motley crue of tin-foil-hat hypochondriacs. If you recruit that way, then for every person with an actual sensitivity, you will get 100 others who just feed on mass hysterias. And those people will predictably claim that they have a headache from a placebo. It's a ploy designed to lump the real sufferers into the same group as a bunch of flakes and make them the object of ridicule. Another pattern is the blatant dismissal of edge results. Oh, only 3 more people had headaches on the real thing than the placebo out of a whopping hundred. That's just noise! Yes, fuck the several people who are actually sensitive to CGRP and/or have that genetic feature that makes them slow to clear glutamate (discussed above paper).

pkaye 9y ago

Side effect may include headaches, stomach aches, nausea...

bkev 9y ago
So, a friend of mine who’s a pharmacologist explained that one to me. When drug test subjects take medication, they’re expected to note any side-effects they suffer from, and that often includes what they’re taking the drug to fix in the first place. So for example, someone might take headache medication to mitigate it, but might still be suffering from that headache after taking the pill. Cause and effect get turned around.
- Cthulhu_ 9y ago
  Might it also be they notice headaches and such more often because they're paying more attention than usual on anything they might feel? I mean I'm sure I get slight headaches I can easily ignore from time to time.
- refurb 8y ago
  If you've ever looked at clinical trial data, you can see the list of symptoms reported in the placebo arm. It's actually quite interesting. These patient received no drug, but will complain about a whole list of symptoms. As a result, drugs with very few side effects will still have a list of "this drug may cause" that aren't drug related at all. However, the FDA still requires those to be listed. In such lists you often see contradictory side effects like constipation and diarrhea, sleepiness and nervousness and non-specific complaints.

ekianjo 9y ago

I have seen the clinical results for one drug of the same class for migraines and efficacy wise its not spectacular. we are talking about reducing the frequency of severe migraines episodes but not making them go away entirely. Injectables are expensive too and will not encourage patients to try them out. Net, its a niche market.

binarymax 9y ago
Not sure if you've ever had migraines, but I have. Luckily I don't get them often but I know those that do (once every couple weeks, lasting for 2-3 days). Reducing the frequency is a godsend.
- gHosts 9y ago
  I use to get about 2 a week.... then I went very low carb diet (keto) for weightloss.... and found the migraines massively reduced in frequency and intensity.... Dug around and found that this is a commonly reported side benefit of a ketogenic diet. Sounds off the wall until you realize Keto diets were originally used for managing childhood epilepsy.
  - jlebrech 8y ago
    I would avoid anything with masked ingredients, for example "flavourings" or "natural flavourings" if they don't tell you what's in the flavouring it could be anything.
godzillabrennus 9y ago
That’s a shame. Seems like there is some evidence from folks who experiment with LSD that it can cure migraines. Maybe we will see a clinical trial for that in our lifetime.
- kcmastrpc 9y ago
  There's an entire class of drugs which shuts down migraines by dilating blood vessels in the brain. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triptan https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triptan - it's not a coincidence that these drugs target the 5-HT1B and 1D family of receptors (LSD targets 5-HT1A as an agonist, and it's thought to cause some of the stimulant effects of LSD) LSD doesn't "cure" migraines, there will never be a trial. It will stop migraines, but so will triptans, and you know, without the side-effect of wiggin' nuts.

ape4 9y ago

Generic name is Erenumab

mchannon 9y ago

FACT: Most Americans have a Magnesium deficiency (hypomagnesia). FACT: Magnesium deficiency can result in migraines, among a host of other symptoms that seem to be exploding right now. FACT: As with a calcium deficiency (most Americans actually don't have a shortage of calcium), you can't tell if you're deficient with a blood test. FACT: Eating plenty of greens and nuts is of limited effectiveness, due to the shrinking quantities of minerals in these foods. I'm willing to grant that not all migraines are caused by magnesium deficiency, just as soon as skeptics who get migraines show me they're supplementing to rule it out. I predict in 50 years we'll look at migraines the same way we look at goiters today.

azeotropic 9y ago
I tried supplementing with magnesium, and the severity (but not the frequency) of migraine attacks definitely decreased. Ultimately I gave up on Mg because of the gastrointestinal side effects. Butterburr extract has a couple of clinical trials as a preventative, but I didn't find that it did anything for me. Chlorpheniramine maleate (the antihistamine) worked as a preventative, reducing both severity and frequency of attacks, but I didn't like the side effects (it's also an SNRI) and discontinuation was ugly.
perl4ever 9y ago
I wonder if there might be something in cerebrospinal fluid that doesn't show up in blood tests. I read an article recently about a doctor who discovered that many of her patients with treatment-refractory major depression had clear metabolic abnormalities that showed when looking at cerebrospinal fluid and addressing them made dramatic improvements. I don't think "magnesium deficiency" really constitutes an explanation in itself. One of my parents and my sibling have had migraines, but I don't. If you blame it on magnesium, then it only moves the question to why does one person have a deficiency and another not? It's certainly not because I go to great lengths to have a balanced diet or take supplements.

orthecreedence 9y ago

Maybe most people who get migraines know this already, but I've been taking feverfew extract daily for a few years now and it has reduced my migraines by about 80%. I used to get a few a week, now I get one about ever 2 months. It really has helped me live my life much more fully. Migraines are truly awful.

xab9 9y ago
God, that shit sure tastes bitter :D But I'm trying the same nowdays, hope it's going to help.

mdip 9y ago

This is very cool as far as I'm concerned. I suffered from migraines for about 17 years and due to sensitivities, I couldn't take most of the usual remedies (triptans). Migraine is one of those things that is frustratingly misunderstood -- they're not just "bad headaches"[0], they come with all kinds of other, fun, symptoms and at least in my case, lasted between one and three days with light and sound sensitivity[1] and nausea to boot. I could expect to get them in the fall and spring about once a week. I, literally, wrote a Visual Studio extension to enhance text on my screen when viewed at the lowest contrast/brightness setting and purchased a laptop after carefully reviewing the quality of the display and any hints I could find about how dark the screen could be made to go (Asus ended up being excellent at the time). That said, I haven't had been hit with migraine symptoms for two years. If you're living with this condition and treatment for it has failed, I strongly recommend changing doctors, and if you haven't gone beyond your GP, do yourself a favor and go to a practice that specializes in headaches. There are more than a few older, lesser-known medicines that successfully treat migraine off-label. In my case, it's a low dose of Depakote[2] -- which is available in generic form. Outside of my deductible, it's under a buck a month, inside it, it's under $10. When it was prescribed to me, there were no references on any of the typical places (WebMD, drugs, et. al) about it being used to treat Migraine. But when I searched on the medication, there were plenty of anecdotal reports from patients stating that the medication -- which was prescribed for bipolar, usually (another off-label use, it's an old medication that was originally prescribed for seizures) -- had resulted in elimination of migraine or a dramatic reduction in the pain[3]. When I last looked, the major sites had it listed as an off-label use. The best part about the medication (well, other than it working) for me is that my body responds very well to it -- I've had nothing in the way of negative side-effects, though there were a few, surprising, positive ones. Anything dealing with the brain is tricky -- the medications, including the one I'm taking, have odd and downright scary side-effects. And there's usually a page full of them. The cause of migraine isn't particularly understood, either. Considering how different symptoms are for this affliction among those who have it, it wouldn't surprise me if it's found out to be a large collection of different maladies one day. [0] Well, for me, they certainly were bad headaches, too. [1] Sensitivity is the best word - with light, it was anything bright and cold, but with sound it didn't have to be loud. The worst pain would come from nearly any noise emanating from a mobile phone or tablet speaker at any volume level. It would electrify the pain in my head. [2] Which, it turns out, might have additional benefits: https://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/09/opinion/return-to-the-teenage-brain.html https://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/09/opinion/return-to-the-tee... [3] I'd consider it "eliminated" in me. I get them extremely rarely, and when I do, I can't entirely be sure it's even migraine based on the symptoms ... I still have sensitivities to light/sound but instead of it feeling like the pain was turned up well past 11, I just feel a sort of pressure/head-annoyance that's difficult to describe. Honestly, I'd rather deal with that every day than get a migraine headache even once in a year and I joke (without laughing) that I haven't had one in so long that if I got one, I'd probably have to lay in bed for 3 days. It's been a few years now, though, so my concern about that happening is diminished quite a bit.

kuwze 9y ago

I don't like folksy remedies but I have anecdotal evidence that headaches/migraines may be caused by a lack of salt. Here is some research to back that idea up[0][1]. [0]: http://sci-hub.tw/10.1111/head.12792 http://sci-hub.tw/10.1111/head.12792 [1]: https://www.newscientist.com/article/2101015-does-eating-more-salt-prevent-migraines-and-severe-headaches/ https://www.newscientist.com/article/2101015-does-eating-mor...

joshgel 9y ago
Salt is one of the bodies most hormonally regulated substances after maybe glucose. The electrolytes Na and Cl are routinely and easily measured on basic blood chemistry panels. My patients with migraines don't have low salt. cant say I'm a migraine researcher or know what causes migraines but this doesn't seem like a reasonable hypothesis.
- kuwze 9y ago
  Hey man I am way out of my depth here, but the study really speaks for itself: > Our analysis population was 8819 adults in the 1999–2004 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) with reliable data on diet and headache history. Compare that to Aimovig: > The 12-week trial, presented this week at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Neurology, involved 246 patients suffering four to 14 migraine headaches a month who had tried two to four preventive treatments that either did not work for them or had intolerable side effects. [0] [0]: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-amgen-migraines-aimovig/amgens-aimovig-halved-migraine-days-in-30-percent-of-trial-patients-idUSKBN1HO348 https://www.reuters.com/article/us-amgen-migraines-aimovig/a...
  - aodin 9y ago
    You're comparing a survey (NHANES), which is a questionnaire completed by volunteers, to an active treatment medical study with a placebo control group. Comparing the N count between these two is essentially apples to oranges. As to the results of the salt intake survey (Pogoda et al.), it is describing a correlation, not a causation. The actual relationship between salt intake and migraines could also be inverted, or completely independent.

positr0n 9y ago

While people are offering anecdotes about their migraines: 1. If I don't eat sugar my migraine incidence goes from 8-12/month to ~1/month. 2. Excedrin works for me every time. The longer I wait to take it the longer it takes to work though. If I take it as soon as I feel a migraine coming on it will never progress to a painful stage. Before I discovered Excedrin I would have to go to sleep to end it, and occasionally throw up from the pain. Note: My doctor said that Excedrin is a "perfect" drug for drug companies because caffeine is a trigger for many people, so they will take Excedrin and it will work, but then the caffeine will cause them to have another headache tomorrow and need it again. This doesn't happen to me though.

learc83 9y ago
If you want Excedrin without the caffeine you can just take a 500mg of acetaminophen and 500 mg of aspirin.
- ky738 9y ago
  can i replace aspirin with something else?
  - jonknee 9y ago
    Well sure, but then you won't have an Excedrin equivalent.
  - deleted 9y ago
    [deleted]
  - jjeaff 9y ago
    Ibuprofen, like aspirin is a nsaid. So it should have similar effect when combined with acetomeniphin (Tylenol). In fact, acetomeniphin, ibuprofen is also commonly prescribed together. And some studies have shown it to be as or more effective than opiods like oxycodone for certain types of pain.
TheSpiceIsLife 9y ago
Replace the caffeine with Diphenylmethylsulfinylacetamide?(Modafinil)

freshyill 9y ago

I’ve had migraines, both ocular and the “real” kind, so I know how bad they can be. I wouldn’t say they were anywhere near frequent enough to take a preventative drug for it. I’ve also worked with multiple people who’ve had chronic attendance problems, and migraines were one of their many go-to excuses. I know that sounds bad, but at least two of the people I’ve worked with would frequently use migraines as their excuse for coming in late, yet they never once got one while at work. Stolen cars, sick pets, the bus never showed up, etc. It was constantly something, more than once a week. If they were real, and I’m just being judgmental and seeing patterns that aren’t there, then I’m glad they’ll get relief. If not, it’s one less excuse.

txcwpalpha 9y ago
>I’ve had migraines, both ocular and the “real” kind, so I know how bad they can be. I wouldn’t say they were anywhere near frequent enough to take a preventative drug for it. These two sentences contradict each other. If you never had to consider taking a preventative for your migraines, then no, you do not know how bad they can be. Migraines are much more than just "ow my head hurts today, I should take the day easy". For some, they are debilitating to the point of sometimes making it impossible to do basic tasks like washing the dishes, reading, or sometimes even watching TV. Sometimes during a migraine you literally cannot do anything other than sit in darkness and wallow in misery, hoping that maybe it will ease up for long enough for you to fall asleep. Any kind of professional work is out of the question during a migraine. Not getting a migraine while at work isn't uncommon, as sometimes having something to focus on (like work) can help stave off whatever triggers the migraines. Migraines also aren't something that just suddenly happens; people who suffer from chronic migraines often get warning signs that one is coming on 12-24 hours in advance, and they can take just as long to develop as well. If someone was already at work, it's unlikely that a migraine would progress to the point of being debilitating before the workday was over. This is probably why your coworkers usually call in sick, but never leave in the middle of the workday. They typically will know before the workday even begins if it will be a migraine-filled day or not. Chronic migraines can lead to depression, which can cause a downward spiral of deteriorating health/diet, which can in turn cause more migraines, and more depression. Often time migraines can lead to thoughts of suicide because of how badly it hurts, and how badly it impacts life as a whole. I understand it's frustrating if your coworkers bail often, and shame on them if they are faking their "migraines" and just using it as an excuse. But as someone who has an SO who suffers from severe migraines 15-20 days per month, and still forces herself to go to work most days even through severe, debilitating pain and depression precisely because she has coworkers with judgmental attitudes like yours, I find your analysis insulting.

drdeadringer 9y ago

I inherited migraines through paternal lineage, at least x2 generations back behind me. My personal deal has turned out to be overall environmentally triggered -- specific foods, specific smells, overwhelming tyrannical stress, a pinch of "still have to figure it out", and like this. Sometimes it got Real Bad, like "last night made me doubt that my physical brain matter can't directly feel pain even though I believe medical science" or "sleeping next to the toilet as though I were an end-stage alcoholic on a bender" type of Bad. Visual auras, trouble speaking and actually understanding native language as if intoxicated or suffering dementia, finger numbness, loss of fine motor control... all clear signs//symptoms for me. Thankfully I've been able to mitigate triggering variables for myself. Apparently my father has not; his situation is worse than mine and I hope this drug offers some options.

EvangelicalPig 9y ago

I used to get severe migraines from flickering lights and most computer screens starting on September 5th or 6th 2011. I was born with optic nerve hypoplasia (and nystagmus in my right eye) but don't recall EVER having any problem prior to this. For years I went through the roundabout of doctors offering treatments that didn't really help (Botox) or give unhelpful advice ("just avoid triggers"). It wasn't a problem before this, dammit. I eventually dropped out of school, stopped using computers for days at a time and spent over 95% of my time for over 5 years sleeping being very depressed and suicidal. It got to the point where my eyesight was degenerative and my doctor suggested I try topiramate (risk of optic nerve damage and my eyesight was already bad and getting worse by the day). I tried valproic acid and it made my vision blurry for a week, but I recovered upon stopping the drug. In early 2017 I got a medical cannabis prescription from a doctor who acknowledged that other treatments didn't work for me and it made an immediate difference. I don't really get migraines anymore and I'm a much happier person in general whose started going to university and I've made some hilarious stoner friends as a result, so that's funny too. What's odd is my eyesight has improved to the point where I don't need as strong as a glasses prescription. The glasses I got last December are now too strong for me so I am happy about that. I'm still not 100% yet, but even a year and a half in I'm still "recovering" from everyday migraines for over half a decade. I'm blessed to live in Canada and not a place where medical cannabis is illegal. Even in legal US states (Washington, Colorado, et al) there is still the hypocrisy of the federal government acknowledging that cannabis has medical benefits, while still causing vexing legal problems for users. Be well everyone. Feel free to ask any questions.

eganist 9y ago
> What's odd is my eyesight has improved to the point where I don't need as strong as a glasses prescription. This comment's tone, the commenter's new-ness, and extraneous details unrelated to the original thread like this anecdote above all reek of a lead generation effort for an existing business. We're all generally pro- on this, so this comment just comes off a bit shilly for me :/
- facetube 8y ago
  I don't think it's the right drug, but I think there's merit to that drug target. I was prescribed a very expensive synthetic CB1 agonist for migraine nausea (nabilone) by my primary care MD, and the effect was instantaneous and miraculous. Killed the nausea outright, took a solid 80% off of the pain (it was doing the morphine-type "I can feel it but it doesn't hurt" thing), and there was no euphoria/high or noticeable drug craving or reinforcement that I could detect. The bad news: it's $50 per milligram (almost $1500 for 10 days worth), Schedule 2 (the same schedule as fentanyl, cocaine, and methamphetamine), and technically approved by the FDA only for nausea caused by chemotherapy. The first FDA approval date for the drug was 1985. I'd previously tried so many prescribed anti-migraine drugs I couldn't even list them all here in the time I have. The side effects were as debilitating as the migraines themselves in some cases. Some were just wildly inappropriate (e.g. a resident wanted to write opiates). Anyway, I fought with an insurance company for seven days on a $20k/year policy and they still wouldn't cover it. Given the experience of trying to do this the right way, I'm utterly unsurprised that people in intense pain end up trying to DIY it.

thomasfedb 9y ago

Looks like the drug works (better than placebo), although there's a significant effect from placebo (about 50% as much as the drug) also. Always fascinating how strong placebo effects can be, perhaps that also explains some of the anecdotal fixes discussed here. https://jamanetwork.com/data/Journals/JAMA/937048/joi180039t2.png https://jamanetwork.com/data/Journals/JAMA/937048/joi180039t... https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/2681193 https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/2681193

deleted 9y ago

[deleted]

cududa 9y ago

I hope this truly is a breakthrough and does more good than harm. As a child I had near daily migraines. In 2002 I entered into an earlier CGRP blocker study to extremely ill effect. I took two pills morning and night. After two days I woke up completely blind. I was lucky it only lasted for three days (I was instructed to immediately discontinue use of the drug, preventing any long term damage). The trial was called off shortly after - if memory serves, out of ~100+ participants in my age group, about five had the same symptoms. As the article mentions, there’s a risk around toxicity. The approved distribution, dosage, and delivery seems to be an entirely different process from 15+ years ago, so here’s to the best. But, there’s really not a single measurement of residual peptide buildup throughout the entire study. I worry about long term buildup of proinflammatory mediators that could eventually strike back fast and hard with long term ocular nerve damage; a similar effect as the earlier drug iterations of a higher toxicity.

yeastaway 9y ago

I used to get ocular migraines a couple of times a year, but I haven't one in over four years since getting on a wheat and yeast-free diet. I started the diet to try and fix an autoimmune disease. It worked perfectly and also got rid of migraines as a bonus. I spent some time trying to find out why and I think the reason is simple, although I'm nowhere close to being a biologist. It might work like this: 1) Migraines and are known to be caused by inflammation. 2) Yeast is known to cause an inflammatory response in humans via innate immune system (dectin-1, mannose receptors). 3) Yeast beta-glucans (that trigger immune response via dectin-1) can pass through the intestines. Therefore, eating yeast contributes to migraines.

flatfilefan 9y ago

Writing this hoping it will help someone, so being really sloppy on argumentation. Just take the following as my personal experience anecdote. If that new (or any) drug works for you - great. But consider that there are no nerves that are responsible for the pain feeling in the brain itself. So we must conclude that the pain is psychological and should be treated that way. For me the treatment was a routine to pull out my (silly) fears from being consciously or unconsciously suppressed and verbalize them. Once those fears were verbalized the headache would go away. So in my case the headache was a signal of an important thinking to be done that I have blocked away. Verbalizing was initially easier by just writing down all thoughts even most silly on a piece of paper. Later I could do it in my head. Maybe it’s a different thing in your case, still chances are you can find an exit “backtracking through the entrance into your condition”, so to say. The challenging part is to get the insight as to what your deadend looks like.

Broken_Hippo 9y ago
I know this is helpful, please read through to the end. I think there is danger in the original thought: That the pain is psychological. This most definitely isn't always the case and tends to make folks not take the pain seriously. This is a major problem for women: They are already sometimes told the pain is all in their head with migraines, especially if PMS and hormones are triggers. And besides, we know that brain tumors can make folks have migraine-type headaches. Blood pressure can cause headaches. And so on. I'd much rather it state that psychological issues can be a contributor: We can't presume the pain itself is psychological. That said, it'd be silly to think that things like stress never affect it. This is especially true if you get cluster headaches or if stress is one of your triggers. My mother is like this: She gets cluster headaches that persist for months. Part of her treatment is to take an anti-anxiety medication. Granted, this does not stop the headaches, just makes them slightly less frequent or at least gives them less intensity on a daily basis.
- flatfilefan 8y ago
  By all means go and try to get to the root cause if there is one. However taking your example with the blood pressure let me tell you another story of mine. So I had been diagnosed with a constantly high blood pressure and prescribed medication. It was a good thing because I have for first time in many years realized what normal blood pressure feels like. And it felt good! My doctor is a good one though and she told me that the medication is not a solution to my problem as there is no clinical reason to it. I had to find a way to control my blood pressure without the pills. And I have found the solution - a power nap. I just have to have some 15-60 minutes siesta after 4 hours of work. The thing is, nobody and nothing was forcing me to have a high blood pressure, it was me myself. See? It's easier said than done, you might say. But I have done it and now I'm telling you about it. And it's not easy to convince you :-)

throwawayqdhd 9y ago

I don't know how it works for others, but my migraines are closely linked to my diet. Certain types of foods, especially anything related to dairy or fermented things, somehow seems to trigger day-long migraines. Simply eliminating these from my diet has helped cut down migraines from 2-3/month to 1 in 3 months

my_first_acct 9y ago
Sounds like you are sensitive to tyramine (google tyramine migraine for more info).
- Bombthecat 9y ago
  Wow! This might be my case ( whole I think I'm lucky enough that it is not a real big issue.) I remember drinking despados ( some kind of tequila and beer drink.) And having a huge headache the day after. And getting them once in a while. I connected it somehow to the beer and stopped drinking it. That might be the cause... I need to keep an eye on that. Thanks for the tip :)
jlebrech 8y ago
I would keep a log of all the food eaten during the day, and maybe take photos of ingredients lists. Then afterwards you can find an ingredient you might think is the culprit. The ingredient may also take a few days to affect you, so you have to allow for that.

jlebrech 8y ago

I just avoid migraine triggers

mrhappyunhappy 8y ago

Sent the link to my mom who has been suffering from migraines for 5 years. She tried every drug imaginable with very limited improvements. At one point she spoke about ending her life because it was unbearable. She’d get migraines 3 or more times per week, some lasting for 3 hours and some for 3 days. She would frequently call me saying she’s probably going to die now, that’s how bad it was. She saw many neurologists, including the one at Mayo Clinic mentioned in the article, to no avail. Part of me wished for her to go into peace and quiet because I knew it would end her suffering but the other part didn’t want to lose her. She is still kicking alive and well and finished her nursing degree at 55... I don’t know how she did and still does it but I know I will likely never meet a stronger person. I have had maybe a handful migraines my whole life and when they do come around I can’t imagine living with that. If for some reason this is a genetic condition that comes with age, I can’t say for certain that I would choose to live if I were affected.

jlebrech 8y ago
it could be food related, she needs to eat blander food, or at least know every ingredient she eats. For me it's Monosodium Glutamate and Aspartame that give me migraines, they are also 2 different kinds of migraine. The aspartame migraines happens after drinking a LOT of diet soda, I don't do think diet soda anymore.
- mrhappyunhappy 8y ago
  Pretty sure she doesn’t ingest any aspertame or msg. I am not around to help her keep a food log but she does cook a lot by herself and I’m pretty sure she’s tried keeping the food very basic, free of salt, sugar, msg etc..
  - jlebrech 8y ago
    does she put anything that has a barcode into her food, ie. anything like stock cubes etc.

Rotdhizon 8y ago

I don't think I qualify for saying I get severe migraines daily, but I get them way more frequently than I should. Ever since I was a kid I would get them at least 15-20 days out of the month. Not debilitating headaches like some people get, but still pretty bad in that I had to be inactive for a few hours a day while I remained in bed and got rid of it. I didn't know it was unusual until I was having a conversation with a friend one day and he mentioned that he only gets them maybe once a month, if that. Then I talked to a few other people and they conveyed the same message, headaches are uncommon for the average person. I went to the doctor as a kid countless times to get help for it but they could never find anything wrong. While my headaches still continue into my early 20s, I don't think I am bad off enough to drop this kind of cash on a medication. Normal shelf medicine for headaches does work fine for me, it just sucks that it's basically an every other day thing.

benzesandbetter 8y ago

For me, Picamilon and changing to an alkaline diet stopped my migraines. The only thing which will still trigger them is if I have prolonged exposure to chemical vapors, such as enamel paint, or certain cleaning chemicals. Fortunately, I can recognize those and get out of the immediate area before I get enough exposure to trigger a migraine.

fapjacks 8y ago

For what it's worth, both my dad and my best friend have had dramatic reductions in their migraine frequency after they started using kratom on a regular basis.