Science of Migraine | Headache NewsBlog

Headache after COVID vaccination

By: Dr. Mauskop

04-04-2022

I recently saw a 32-year-old woman who never suffered from headaches until a year ago when she was given an injection of a COVID vaccine (J&J). Her headache started the day after vaccination and it has persisted unabated. Besides severe daily headaches, she developed profound fatigue, muscle aches, and brain fog, making her unable to work. Her headaches had all the features of chronic migraines and I recommended trying Botox injections along with a migraine medication that she has not yet tried.

I’ve seen a few dozen patients who developed less devastating headaches or whose preexisting migraines worsened after vaccination. Some developed a headache after the first or second shot and a few had it only after the booster. I am not suggesting that people should avoid the COVID vaccine. I’ve had three shots myself. I am writing about this because of a study just published by European researchers in the Journal of Headache and Pain – “Headache onset after vaccination against SARS-CoV-2: a systematic literature review and meta-analysis.”

They examined the results of 84 scientific reports that included 1.57 million participants, 94% of whom received Pfizer or Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccines. They discovered that vaccines were associated with a doubling of the risk of developing a headache within 7 days from the injection compared to people who received a placebo injection. They did not find a difference between the two different vaccine types. Some people developed a headache within the first 24 hours. In approximately one-third of the cases, headache had migraine-like features with pulsating quality, phonophobia, and photophobia. In 40 to 60% the headache was aggravated by physical activity, which is another migraine feature.

The majority of patients used some medication to treat their headaches. People reported that the most effective drug was aspirin, although the details about various treatments were not provided. We do know that in Europe doctors are much less likely to prescribe medications, including triptans. It is likely that early and aggressive treatment can prevent these headaches from becoming chronic and disabling.

Migraine World Summit is on again and it offers a wealth of information

By: Dr. Mauskop

24-02-2022

Alternative Therapies, Chronic migraine, Headaches, Migraine, Science of Migraine

I am happy to announce that you can attend the Migraine World Summit free of charge. It is back on March 16-24, 2022 for its 7th annual virtual event. As one of the former presenters, I can tell you that you may greatly benefit from learning about the latest research on how to best manage migraine.

Migraine World Summit is a 9-day event where 32 of the world’s leading experts on migraine and headache research are interviewed on topics voted on by real patients. These interviews are online and can be accessed from anywhere in the world, but are only available free during the 9-day event.

Get your ticket today at MigraineWorldSummit.com

Pandemic worsens headaches in children

By: Dr. Mauskop

06-01-2022

Alternative Therapies, Brain disorders, Chronic migraine, Pain, post-traumatic headache, Psychology of headaches, Science of Migraine

Worsening of headaches in children is one of many deleterious effects of the pandemic and measures to control it. A survey of children in a headache clinic at the Children’s National Hospital in Washington DC by Dr. DiSabella and his colleagues showed that 46% of children had worsening of their migraine headaches during the pandemic.

They also reported much higher rates of anxiety, depression, and stress. Two-thirds of children reported that they exercised less. This could be one of the contributing factors since exercise has been shown to reduce the frequency and the severity of headaches.

What this survey did not explore is the effect of family stress and the presence of child abuse. Reports of child abuse have actually declined during the pandemic because most of these reports come from teachers. Chronic migraines and chronic pain are much more common in patients with a history of being physically, emotionally, or physically abused. PTSD from other causes has a similar predisposing effect and many children and adults have been traumatized by the pandemic.

Some children (as well as adults) report improvement of their headaches during the pandemic. My patients tell me that because they do not have to commute, they have more time to exercise, meditate, cook healthy meals, and get more sleep. I see this in a small proportion of patients. A larger group did worse with additional factors being worsening of headaches due to COVID and in a very small number, COVID vaccines.

If you are having surgery and have had migraines, read this!

By: Dr. Mauskop

28-12-2021

Brain disorders, Chronic migraine, Migraine, Science of Migraine

There is a new and surprising connection between postoperative nausea and vomiting (PONV) and migraines. It offers a very effective treatment that will relieve the suffering of tens of thousands of patients.

Many migraine patients tell me that they develop a severe migraine following surgery. Possible reasons include the stress of the operation, fasting before surgery, the effect of anesthetic drugs, pain medicines given after surgery, an awkward head position, and caffeine withdrawal. But some patients report severe nausea and vomiting that occurs without a headache.

PONV affects about 30% of all patients undergoing surgery under general anesthesia. Some patients develop intractable vomiting that does not respond to typical nausea medications even though there are more than a dozen such medications. This often requires hospital admission when surgery is done in an ambulatory (outpatient) setting. Admissions for PONV are more common than for surgical or cardiovascular complications. Intractable PONV can cause opening of the sutured wound, aspiration pneumonia, bleeding, and other complications.

It appears that patients who suffer from migraines or have had migraines in the past are more prone to develop intractable PONV. I learned about this last month while participating in a headache conference in Zurich. Dr. Leander Sakellaris, a Swiss anesthesiologist and pain specialist, told me about his Masters degree thesis on this topic. He allowed me to share its full text – MasterThesis-PONV.

His thesis describes ways to reduce the risk of PONV. If possible, ask for surgery to be done under regional and not general anesthesia. Ask if total intravenous anesthesia is an option. Avoid nitrous oxide, etomidate, thiopental and after surgery, opioid drugs. Good hydration during the operation is also helpful. I would also add a request for an intravenous (IV) infusion of magnesium. IV magnesium is a standard procedure after open heart surgery because it prevents irregular heart beats (arrhythmias), but it is not given after other types of surgery. Magnesium is depleted by physical and emotional stress and surgery induces a major stress response.

The most fascinating part of Dr. Sakellaris’ thesis is the description of eight patients he has encountered in his practice. They all developed intractable PONV but did not have a headache. However, they all had a history of migraines or headaches suggestive of migraines. After they failed to respond to the usual nausea medications, Dr. Skellaris gave them either an injection of sumatriptan or intranasal zolmitriptan. They all had a prompt and dramatic relief of their vomiting and were able to go home.

This should not be very surprising because abdominal migraines and cyclic vomiting syndrome, conditions without a headache that are considered to be migraine variants, also respond to triptans.

Dr. Sakellaris made an important discovery that deserves to be widely disseminated. Forty million Americans suffer from migraines, millions of Americans undergo surgery under general anesthesia, of whom 30% suffer from PONV. It is very likely that many thousands of patients with PONV who do not respond to standard therapies could be helped by triptans.

If you suffer from migraines or have had them in the past and are having an operation, you may want to bring with you an injection of sumatriptan. Outpatient surgery clinics may not have it while hospitals may take a long time to get it to you. I would discuss this with your surgeon and the anesthesiologist before surgery.

Men with migraine and cluster headaches can also have hormonal issues

By: Dr. Mauskop

31-10-2021

Alternative Therapies, Brain disorders, Chronic migraine, Cluster headaches, Pain, Science of Migraine

The influence of estrogen on migraines in women is well established – women often experience migraines before or during menstruation and ovulation and their migraines usually subside during pregnancy and menopause.

According to a new study published this month by Dutch researchers, men who suffer from migraines often have a deficiency of male hormones.

Gisela Terwindt and her collaborators evaluated a possible deficiency of androgens or male hormones in 534 men with migraine and 437 men with cluster headaches. These men were compared to 152 healthy controls. Two validated questionnaires were used to measure androgen deficiency scores. The researchers controlled for age, weight (BMI), smoking, and lifetime depression. They also measured four sexual symptoms (beard growth, morning erections, libido, and sexual potency). These four symptoms have been shown to differentiate between hormonal deficiency from anxiety and depression. They did not perform blood tests to measure hormone levels.

Patients reported more severe symptoms of clinical androgen deficiency compared with controls. Both patient groups were more likely to suffer from any of the specific sexual symptoms compared to controls (18% migraine, 21% cluster headache, 7% controls).

The findings in men with cluster headaches are not surprising. Prior reports have documented low testosterone levels in this population. A small study by Dr. Mark Stillman suggested that those cluster patients who have low testosterone levels could benefit from hormone replacement therapy.

There are also reports of low testosterone levels in men with chronic migraines but the connection is less established.

This study may prompt me to pay more attention to sexual dysfunction in men with chronic migraines. I may also start checking testosterone levels in such patients.

Another review of The End of Migraines: 150 Ways to Stop Your Pain

By: Dr. Mauskop

22-08-2021

Chronic migraine, Migraine, Science of Migraine

It is gratifying to know that my colleagues consider my new book, The End of Migraines: 150 Ways to Stop Your Pain, to be useful for patients with migraines as well as doctors who treat them.

Dr. Uwe Reuter of Charité Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Germany has published a review in the latest issue of the journal of the International Headache Society, Cephalalgia. He concludes his review, “I am happy to encourage everybody who is interested in migraine to read this e-book.”

Dr. Allan Purdy published a review of my book in May in the journal of the American Headache Society, Headache. His review was much longer and so was the conclusion:
“I would recommend this book to anyone who has migraine or cares for people with migraine and wants a broad and sometimes detailed overview of the treatments. Available in the e-book format, it represents a lot of work for one person, but his passion, occasional humor, and historical perspectives are evident in this work. You don’t have to agree or accept everything the author says to enjoy and benefit from this “book,” and I know he would want people to be critical and skeptical where warranted. However, you will find more than you would usually need to know from this banquet of 150 ways to help your migraines! Enjoy, I did very much. Read it through once and save as reference.”

If you do read this book, please write a short review on Amazon.com.

Dividing migraines into chronic and episodic was a costly mistake

By: Dr. Mauskop

17-06-2021

Botox, Chronic migraine, Headaches, Migraine, Science of Migraine

The international classification of headache disorders lists many different types of migraines – migraine with aura, hemiplegic, retinal, chronic, and others. Chronic migraine is present if a person has a headache on 15 or more days each month. If the headache is present on fewer than 15 days, the condition is called episodic migraine.

The division into chronic and episodic migraine is not based on any scientific evidence. Research by Dr. Richard Lipton and his colleagues showed that patients often cycle from chronic into episodic migraines and back. This happens even without any treatment.

An international group of headache experts (some of whom participated in the decision to split migraines into chronic and episodic) just published a repudiation of this arbitrary designation.

They concluded: “Our data suggest that the use of a 15 headache day/month threshold to distinguish episodic and chronic migraine does not capture the burden of illness nor reflect the treatment needs of patients.”

One damaging aspect of having a category of chronic migraine as it applies to clinical practice is the fact that Botox is approved only for chronic migraines. I know from 25 years of experience injecting Botox that it works very well for some patients who have as few as four migraines a month. Unfortunately, insurance companies do not pay for Botox unless you have chronic migraine. This deprives many patients of this very effective and safe treatment.

The second very costly effect is on the research of new preventive drugs. The FDA requires a separate set of studies for chronic and episodic migraines. These additional trials of the four approved injectable CGRP monoclonal antibodies added many millions of dollars to the development costs. The trials showed good relief for both episodic and chronic migraine sufferers.

Hopefully, the next, fourth classification of headache disorders will eliminate the category of chronic migraines.

Dr. Allan Purdy’s review of my new book

By: Dr. Mauskop

02-06-2021

Alternative Therapies, Blocks, Botox, Chronic migraine, Headache medications, Headaches, injections, Migraine, post-traumatic headache, Psychology of headaches, Science of Migraine

A publication of the American Headache Society, Headache, The Journal of Head and Face Pain, has just published Dr. Allan Purdy’s most generous review of my new book, The End of Migraines: 150 Ways to Stop Your Pain.

I am very grateful to Dr. Purdy and to my many colleagues who wrote endorsements for this book.

Self-publishing allows me to set a low price of $3.95 for the ebook version. It also makes it easy for me to regularly update it. Self-publishing, however, means that, unlike my previous three books, this one does not have the promotional help of a big publisher. If you read the book, please write a review on Amazon and spread the word to other migraine sufferers.

Skipping breakfast, lack of greenery, and other factors that may predispose kids to headaches.

By: Dr. Mauskop

02-05-2021

Alternative Therapies, Chronic migraine, Headaches, Headaches in children, Science of Migraine

We know that physical emotional, and sexual abuse in childhood increases the risk of developing chronic pain and migraines later in life. Dutch researchers looked at several other potential predisposing factors. The results of their study were published in the May issue of the journal Pain.

This study was a part of the Dutch Prevention and Incidence of Asthma and Mite Allergy birth cohort study. It included 3,064 children who were evaluated at the ages of 11, 14, 17, and 20. The researchers assessed headache prevalence and incidence in girls and boys and explored associations with early life, environmental, lifestyle, health, and psychosocial factors.

From age 11 to 20 years, the prevalence of headaches increased from 9% to 20% in girls and remained in 6% to 8% range in boys. Eighty-eight percent of the girls and 76% of boys with headaches also reported at least one of the following at age 17: sleeping problems, asthma, hay fever, musculoskeletal complaints, fatigue, low mental health, or worrying. They also found that lower educational achievement, skipping breakfast on two or more days per week, and in boys, exposure to tobacco smoke in infancy, increased the risk of developing headaches. In girls, sleeping problems and musculoskeletal complaints were associated with a higher chance of having headaches. Interestingly, residential greenness reduced the chance of developing headaches.

The risk factors are usually divided into modifiable and non-modifiable. Sex, age, and genetic factors are some of the non-modifiable ones. The factors mentioned in the study, except for sex, are all theoretically modifiable. In practice, however, they are very difficult to fix. Eating breakfast every morning is probably the easiest to achieve for most families. But even that can be difficult for the very poor. Moving to suburbs for greener surroundings, improving educational opportunities, and avoiding second-hand smoke in infancy are even harder to achieve.

Dramatic weight loss with a diabetes drug; may help migraines and other neurological problems

By: Dr. Mauskop

01-04-2021

Alternative Therapies, Chronic migraine, Headaches, injections, Migraine, Science of Migraine

Weight loss in overweight migraine sufferers – including that produced by bariatric surgery – leads to a reduction in the frequency of migraine attacks. In a previous post and in my new book I mentioned the use of metformin, a diabetes drug that helps weight loss, in migraine patients.

A study published in the February 10 issue of The New England Journal of Medicine definitively confirmed that weekly injections of another diabetes drug, semaglutide (Ozempic) can lead to an average of 15% weight loss in obese individuals. Seventy percent of participants lost at least 10% of weight. This was a double-blind, placebo-controlled trial that included 1,961 participants. Individuals in both the placebo and the active group were counseled every four weeks to encourage maintenance of a reduced calory diet and increased physical activity. Semaglutide is very similar to dulaglutide (Trulicity).

Other drugs that are used for weight loss produce an average of 4% to 6% weight loss and tend to have more side effects. Nausea and diarrhea were the most common adverse events with semaglutide. They were typically transient and mild-to-moderate in severity and subsided with time. Only 4.5% of participants on semaglutide stopped taking the drug due to side effects.

Obesity is a risk factor not only for diabetes and increased frequency of migraines but also strokes, idiopathic intracranial hypertension (pseudotumor cerebri), obstructive sleep apnea, hypertension, and others.

This trial should lead to the FDA approval of semaglutide for weight loss in obese individuals without diabetes. Hopefully, the FDA approval will compel insurance companies to pay for it. The out-of-pocket cost of 4 pen-like syringes is $735.

Low cerebrospinal fluid pressure headache

By: Dr. Mauskop

13-03-2021

Brain disorders, Chronic migraine, Headaches, Science of Migraine

The headache of low cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) pressure can be very severe. Its main feature is that it gets worse on sitting or standing and improves upon lying down. Sometimes, this change is quick but occasionally the headache slowly gets worse as the day goes on and is mildest or absent upon awakening in the morning.

Low CSF pressure often results from the needle going in too far during an epidural steroid injection for low back pain or epidural anesthesia during delivery or surgery. This results in the spinal fluid leaking into the soft tissues of the back. The loss of fluid causes sagging of the brain which normally floats in a thin layer of CSF. Spinal fluid leaks usually seal on their own but sometimes require a “blood patch”– injecting the patient’s blood into the area of the leak. The injected blood clots and seals the leak.

If a CSF leak happens after a diagnostic spinal tap or an epidural procedure, it is better to have the blood patch sooner rather than later. I recommend doing it if the headache persists for more than a couple of days.

Rarely, a spinal fluid leak occurs spontaneously after straining or without an obvious trigger. This condition is called spontaneous intracranial hypotension (SIH). A review of scientific reports of SIH involving over 2,000 patients by a British physician Dr. Manjit Matharu and his colleagues provides a good description of this condition. Headache was present in 99% of patients. In 2% the headache did not change with the change of position and 1% had no headache but only other symptoms.

The five most common symptoms of SIH besides headaches, were nausea, neck pain or stiffness, tinnitus (ringing in the ears), dizziness, and hearing problems.

The diagnosis can be made by an MRI scan with an intravenous injection of gadolinium, which is a contrast dye. According to Dr. Matharu’s review, however, MRI was normal in 19% of patients. A spinal tap to measure the pressure can be a useful test, although it was normal in one-third of patients. This is explained by the fact that intracranial pressure often fluctuates. In some patients, a spinal tap can make headaches worse. Another test is an MRI of the spine to detect an accumulation of the leaking CSF. This test was helpful only in a little more than half of the patients. A more advanced test done when other tests are negative and a blood patch is ineffective is a digital subtraction myelogram. So even when SIH is suspected – and often it is not – it may be difficult to prove the diagnosis.

In 28% of patients, bed rest and hydration were sufficient to heal the leak. A single or repeated blood patch was effective in 64% of patients. When the site of the leak is not found, most specialists do a blind patch at the lumbar level. A larger volume of blood, 20-30 ml is more effective than smaller volumes. In a small proportion of patients, surgical repair of the leak is necessary and it is done by a neurosurgeon.

Postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS) and migraine

By: Dr. Mauskop

06-03-2021

Chronic migraine, Headaches, Migraine, Science of Migraine

The term postural orthostatic tachycardia means that the heart rate becomes very fast upon standing up. POTS is a disorder of the autonomic nervous system that is associated with abnormal blood flow regulation. Almost all patients with POTS suffer from migraines. POTS can present with a bewildering variety of additional symptoms besides headaches (see below). This is why the diagnosis is often missed. Unfortunately, there are very few effective treatments for POTS. Making the correct diagnosis, nevertheless, is very important. It explains the cause of symptoms that are often dismissed as psychological and in some patients, treatment can lead to a dramatic improvement.

This blog was prompted by a positive study of a drug, ivabradine, to treat POTS that was published by Dr. Pam Taub and her colleagues. Ivabradine (Corlanor) is approved by the FDA to treat heart failure, so its use for POTS is “off-label”. This means that insurance companies are not likely to cover an unapproved use of a drug that costs $500 a month. With additional trials confirming that ivabradine works and with a lot of persuasion by the doctor, insurers might cover it if other treatments fail. Currently, the drugs that are used to treat POTS include beta-blockers, midodrine, fludrocortisone, and others. Increased intake of salt and fluids, exercise, dietary changes, and correction of nutritional deficiencies such as vitamin B12 and magnesium cal also help.

Here is how the Cleveland Clinic website describes POTS:
POTS symptoms can be uncomfortable and frightening experiences. Patients with POTS usually suffer from two or more of the many symptoms listed below. Not all patients with POTS have all these symptoms.
High blood pressure/low blood pressure.
High/low heart rate; racing heart rate.
Chest pain.
Dizziness/lightheadedness especially in standing up, prolonged standing in one position, or long walks.
Fainting or near-fainting.
Exhaustion/fatigue.
Abdominal pain and bloating, nausea.
Temperature deregulation (hot or cold).
Nervous, jittery feeling.
Forgetfulness and trouble focusing (brain fog).
Blurred vision.
Headaches and body pain/aches (may feel flu-like); neck pain.
Insomnia and frequent awakenings from sleep, chest pain and racing heart rate during sleep, excessive sweating.
Shakiness/tremors especially with adrenaline surges.
Discoloration of feet and hands.
Exercise intolerance.
Excessive or lack of sweating.
Diarrhea and/or constipation.