HEADLINES
a pUBLICATION OF THE eAST bAY hEADACHE sUPPORt gROUP
a member of the American Council for Headache Education (ACHE) support group network

 VOLUME 6, ISSUE 4
JULY 2001

July 10th Meeting:  Headache Awareness Day

Declaring July 10 Headache Awareness Day, the East Bay Headache Support Group is planning a special meeting for that evening. Dr. Michael Stein, a Walnut Creek neurologist and medical advisor to the support group, will be leading a discussion on Headache Awareness. Many individuals have severe, disabling headaches; it is estimated that there are about 26 million Americans with head-ache. Yet only about half of these people have ever sought any sort of medical advice or help. Most of these individuals self-treat with over-the-counter medications; some take nothing. Headache awareness means learning about the problem—what causes headaches? What characteristics do headache sufferers have in common? Is it genetic? What environmental factors affect it? It also means learning about what treatment options are available.

Medications, biofeedback, dietary changes, chiropractic manipulations...what works for you? The East Bay Headache Support Group looks forward to your input and invites you to share your experiences with other headache sufferers.

Join us in the Ball Auditorium downstairs at John Muir Medical Center from 7:30 to 9:00 p.m. on Tuesday, July 10th. Bring your family and friends. For more information, call (925) 938-5252.

Triptan Use in Pregnancy

The safety of triptan use in early pregnancy was the subject of a report in the April 2001 issue of Headache. The authors used data from the Swedish Medical Birth Registry to identify 658 women who had taken sumatriptan during pregnancy, primarily during the first trimester. Compared to the average for the registry, the women taking triptan were slightly more likely to have preterm babies and/or babies of lower birth weight (under 2500 grams or about 5.5 lbs). However, these women were, on average, also older, and more of them were first-time mothers. There was no detectable increase in birth defects. The report provides additional evidence that triptan use during pregnancy does not present a high risk of abnormalities in the baby. The numbers of women involved are still relatively small, so the possibility of a small increase in the risk of specific birth defects has not been ruled out.  (Found on the website of the American Council for Headache Education, www.achenet.org.)

Have your headaches improved to the point where you can volunteer a little time and energy to the East Bay Headache Support Group?

* Though we have a dedicated group of volunteers, more are welcome to bring in new ideas and share the load of organizing meetings, mailing newsletters, etc. The Planning Committee meets one evening every other month in Walnut Creek.

* Consider writing a personal profile of your struggles and/or successes in dealing with your headaches and submit it for the next newsletter (can be anonymous).

* Contribute ideas for meeting topics and speakers.

**Call Leslie Davis at (925) 228-1084**

 Aching Heads May Get Patched By Robyn Suriano, Orlando Sentinel

ORLANDO, FL - Migraine sufferers might get rid of their headaches in the future by wearing a patch on their foreheads that delivers a small dose of anesthesia, according to researchers.

The method would be the first of its kind for migraines, and early tests showed that some patients got complete relief with few side effects.

More testing is needed, but researchers think the patch might become an option for the estimated 20 million Americans who suffer from the painful condition.

"It’s been under study for a long time, but the problem has always been delivery of the drug in a safe and controlled fashion," said Frederick Freitag, associate director of Diamond Headache Clinic in Chicago. "There have been patches on the market for many years for high blood pressure, motion sickness and other things, but never for migraines. It’s not an easy thing to do."

Freitag presented an early study on the approach at a conference of the American Society for Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics. He cautioned that only 40 patients were involved in the first experiment and larger groups are planned in the future to test the method more rigorously.

For the first study, some people were given an anesthesia called lidocaine in a cream that they rubbed on their foreheads at the start of a migraine. In future tests, the cream will be delivered through a Band-Aid-like patch.

Other patients received a non-medicinal cream—called a placebo—so their reactions could be compared with those of the others. None of them experienced relief.

But 7 of the 30 who got the drug were free of their pain within two hours, Freitag said. This shows enough promise to warrant further study. A lidocaine patch is on the market for other conditions, but it delivers its dose of anesthesia slowly during a day or more. The new patch must work quickly to halt a migraine’s potentially debilitating effects. "A slow kind of release doesn’t work for a migraine sufferer, who needs the medication delivered in the here and now," Freitag said.

Many medications are on the market to treat migraines, including some that can be taken orally, as shots, or even rectally. But they can have potentially serious side effects, and some people still do not get relief.

"There’s always room for more [treat-ments], because so many people suffer from migraines. What you have is never enough," said Ira Goodman, a neurologist and co-director of Orlando Regional Healthcare Memory Disorder Clinic.

Doctors do not know exactly what causes a migraine, but they think it is rooted in nerve cells in the brain that become overly sensitive. Once activated, these cells kick off a process that causes the tightening of the blood vessels in the brain and the painful headaches that follow.

(Excerpted from the March 9, 2001 issue of the Fresno Bee.)

Sleep and Headache

Too little or too much sleep can trigger migraine headaches. Improving sleep habits can improve the headaches.

Maintain a consistent sleep-wake schedule.
Get as many hours as you need to feel your best—for most adults, between 6-8 hours.
Don’t stay up late or sleep in on the weekends.
If you have a bad night, don’t nap or sleep late—keep to your normal pattern.
Limit your caffeine intake and check medications for caffeine if you have trouble falling asleep. Too much alcohol can also interfere with sleep.
Regular exercise (but not too late in the evening) can also help you relax and sleep well.

(Excerpted from the Winter 2000-2001 issue of Headache, newsletter of the American Council for Headache Education (ACHE).