more on headaches
by Bill at 1/01/2005 01:55:00 PM
I was reading the most current issue of JAAPA and they had a POEM (patient oriented evidence based medicine) discussing the recent study on sinus headaches and migraines. They brought up some good issues on the study. Essentially their problem is that the study proves that there is overlap in the diagnostic criteria of the two types of HA, but not that people with "sinus headaches" might, would , could benefit from treatment with medications for "migraines". Since the diagnosis amd diagnostic criteria are tools by which treatment decisions are made, that is really the question. All they have really proved is that criteria are perhaps too vague. Also the study was not blind and it was supported by pharmaceutical companies that may have an interest in disgnosing more migraines. You can access the abstract here.
Wendy found an article recently on MSNBC about "Weekend Headache Syndrome" which is basically headaches caused by caffeine withdrawal, but also change in stress level, alcohol consumption, or sleeping habits. This article is brought to you by Relpax, so who knows if it is real or not, but there seems to be some medical literature on this as well.
Since I started practicing some of the recommendations in Heal Your Headache, (review) (this was the book the asserted that almost all headaches were caused by the migraine response) my weekend headaches have dropped off to almost nothing. I think it is due to not having caffeine ever, and making sure I wake up and go to sleep at the same time as on the weekdays.
Glad that it's working for you, the connection with caffeine and HAs is well established, I get caffeine withdrawl HAs if I forget to drink coffee in the morning. Even if I then drink coffee the HA persists, though it is a tension type HA that I can treat with high doses of ibuprofen. Sleep regularity has been prescribed for migraines for a long time, either too much or too little sleep can trigger a migriane.
» Post a Comment