A Publication of the East Bay Headache Support Group
A Member of the Americal Council for Headache Education (ACHE) Support Group Network  

VoLUME 10, ISSUE 2  
MARCH 2005

March 8th Meeting: Are Your Hormones Giving You Headaches?

The East Bay Headache Support Group is once again pleased to have Dr. Sondra Altman, a gynecologist, as its guest speaker.  Over the past 15  years Dr. Altman's Walnut Creek private practice has evolved into a specialty of menopause, hormones and the problems they create.  And she personally suffers from menstrual migraines, which gives her an added perspective on this common problem for women.

Though Dr. Altman will be talking about female hormones and the role they play in triggering headaches in women, we encourage men to attend also to learn along with their partner about the major role hormones play in a woman's life.

Dr. Altman is an entertaining speaker, and shares her medical knowledge with a sense of humor.  Bring your questions about this complex topic and join us in the Ball Auditorium downstairs at John Muir Medical Center from 7:30 to 9:00 pm on Tuesday, March 8.  Call Leslie Davis at 925-685-8775 for more information.

Future Meetings:

May 10, 2005:  Janeece Dagen, LMFT

“Dealing with Frustrations”

Your significant other/caregiver is always welcome, but especially bring him/her to this meeting.

July 12, 2005:  Duncan Macdonald

“Relieving Headaches With Acupuncture”

Editor’s Note:  Following is a slightly condensed version of an Emergency Room Treatment Form created by the National Headache Foundation (http://www.headaches.org).  If sometimes you have to visit an emergency room to get relief from your migraine or cluster headaches, this form signed by your doctor and carried in your wallet could make the process easier.

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Physician-Provided Emergency Room Treatment Form

 

This form is being provided to assist you in treating my patient who is a diagnosed __________ headache sufferer.

My patient sometimes experiences ______ headaches so severe he/she requires emergency treatment.  ______ headache is a chronic, recurring neurological disease which is treatable.  My patient is not a “drug seeker” or substance abuser.  My patient uses the prescription(s) listed below to provide abortive and/or preventive treatment for ______ headache.  Unfortunately, some ______ headache episodes may require treatment beyond the current prescribed regimen.  My patient may need pain relief medications to treat this episode.

Patient Diagnosis and Treatment Information

Patient Name_________________ Date of Birth_________

Date of diagnosis______________

Date of last visit_______________

Current abortive medication(s)________________________

Current preventive medication(s)______________________

Other pain medications______________________________

Prescription(s) proven ineffective for my patient’s headache treatment_________________________________________

Medication allergies________________________________

For my patient’s emergency treatment, I suggest the following medication(s)

__________________________________

 

Thank you for reviewing this important information and treating my patient.  My patient has a legitimate headache condition and is not visiting the emergency room to obtain narcotics or other medications under false pretenses.

__________________________________      ___________

Doctor’s Signature                                      Date

__________________________________      _________

Patient                                                            Date

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What Are Eye Migraines?

They’re commonly called eye migraines, but they’re actually a group of different types of migraine, including ocular migraines (or occular), ophthalmic migraines, a type of silent or acephalgic migraine, and even ophthalmoplegic migraines.  Confused?  Don’t worry, you’ll see it all clearly in a moment (oops, sorry!)…

First, you need to remember that pain is only one possible symptom of migraine.  Other symptoms include nausea, congestion, and visual symptoms.  Silent migraine or acephalgic migraine is migraine without the headache.

Silent migraine:

If this is you, you may be getting strange visual disturbances, usually lasting less than an hour, but no headache.  You likely have a type of migraine, which needs to be treated in basically the same way as any other type of migraine.  However, you do need to make sure you see a good doctor so that she can rule out other problems that can do permanent damage.

Ocular migraines:

Ocular or retinal migraines are quite rare.  You get partial (retinal) or complete (ocular) blindness, usually in just one eye.  This disturbance lasts less than an hour.  The headache (often a dull ache behind the affected eye) usually happens afterwards, but can happen before or even during (our bodies are so unpredictable!).  This type of migraine varies with which artery is being hit.

Once again, it’s a good idea to see a doctor or ophthalmologist to make sure there isn’t something else going on.

Ophthalmic migraine:

Ophthalmic migraine has the same symptoms as the ocular migraines mentioned above, but occur at the height of the migraine, and most often occur in young men.  Sometimes as time progresses the migraine sufferer will lose the headache and end up with an ophthalmic migraine which is a silent migraine (are you getting the hang of this now?).  These are much more common eye migraines. 

Ophthalmoplegic migraine:

These have been called a rare type of migraine, though researchers now believe it’s not technically a migraine at all.  The headache is usually severe, and is accompanied by weakness in one or more of the eye muscles.  Because of the decreased eye movement, you may experience temporary (less than 2 hours) double vision, drooping eyelid, or dilated pupil.  Most often this problem is diagnosed in children.

It is very important to have a thorough examination if you suspect you may have ophthalmoplegic migraine.  Dr. Seymour Diamond writes in Conquering Your Migraine, “Double vision and muscle weakness may be caused by an aneurysm or it may have another organic origin...the individual should undergo a thorough examination and appropriate testing to rule out conditions other than ophthalmoplegic migraine.”

Basilar migraines:

Basilar migraines are not strictly just “eye migraines,” but the eye symptoms are often quite obvious and severe.  These symptoms include a visual aura but also eye twitching, a graying out visually or even temporary partial blindness, vertigo, dizziness and more.  This type of migraine is rare, but has some concerns of its own.  On the Internet, go to http://www.relieve-migraine.headache.com for more information about basilar migraines and the unique problems that come with them.

If you suffer eye migraines, your doctor may recommend to you some of the common migraine treatments mentioned on this site, so take a look around, and all the best with your fight against migraine and headache!

By James Cottrill.  Found on the Internet at http://www.relieve-migraine-headache.com

Head Pain at Work?  Check the Lighting.

A change in lighting could be the key.  If you find that you have more headaches/migraines while at work, it may be the office lighting.  Traditional office lighting generally presents three potential headache and migraine triggers:


·             Glare on computer screens from any overhead lighting.

·             Glare from overhead incandescent lighting.

·             Flicker from fluorescent lighting.

Let’s take a look at these three issues:

Glare on a computer screen from overhead lighting may be the easiest to address.  There are several approaches you can take:


·             Reposition the monitor so the light hits it more indirectly.

·             Attach a glare screen to your monitor.

·             Put a hood over your monitor to keep light from hitting it from above and from the sides.

·             Depending on which lights are on the various switches, turn off the lights over your work area.

·             If other methods haven’t worked, and you can’t turn off only the lights in your own work area, talk to your supervisor or other
              appropriate person about having the bulbs or tubes in your work area removed.

 
Glare from incandescent light bulbs can often be handled in a number of ways:

·             Try repositioning yourself to sit at different angles from the light.
·             Incandescent bulbs should never be left bare, but always covered by a fixture.

Unfortunately, the problem with fluorescent lighting is different and more difficult to address.  Although generally imperceptible to the human eye, fluorescent lighting has a flicker.  It’s the flicker itself that’s actually a migraine trigger.  Thus, it doesn’t matter what kind of fixture houses the tubes.  People who are sensitive to that flicker will have a problem with it.  The best solution is to remove it from your immediate work area.  Sit down and discuss the problem with your supervisor or other appropriate person.  If whomever is in charge of maintenance has a problem with leaving a fixture empty, suggest that they simply replace the tubes in your work area with burned out tubes.

Opthalmologist Scott Strickler, M.D., “shed some light” on this subject from the angle of eye strain also.  He explained that incandescent lighting is actually better work lighting.  Fluorescent lighting is good to wash a large area in light, but provides very poor task lighting.  He suggested that workers in offices with fluorescent lighting also need desktop task lighting for working with papers, books, etc.  As for problematic fluorescent lighting?  “Turn them off or disable the tubes.  It’s so simple that I can’t imagine an employer objecting.”

Take a good look at your headache/migraine diary.  If you’re experiencing more headaches at work, take a look at the lighting to see if that could be a trigger.  Remember, trigger identification and management is part of good care.

By Teri Robert, Your Guide to Headaches/Migraine.  Found on the Internet at www.headaches.about.com

Lifting the Burden

Headache disorders are real, common, and affect men, women and children everywhere in the world.  They are often disabling and burdensome. 

Lifting the Burden is the Global Campaign to reduce the burden of headache worldwide.

Lifting the Burden seeks to understand the scope and scale of the burden attributable to headache in all parts of the world, and put in place projects to alleviate it region by region.

The Background

80% of people with migraine and many of those with tension-type headache and other headache disorders experience limitations in their working ability and their activities of daily living.  Many make lifestyle compromises to reduce their susceptibility to headache and suffer continuous damage to their quality of life.

The cost to employers, healthcare systems and communities is huge.  Despite this, health-service providers, healthcare professionals and the public still perceive headache disorders as minor or trivial complaints.

In 2001, the World Health Report recognized migraine as one of 20 leading causes of years lived with disability.

The Campaign

The Global Campaign creates the climate and opportunity for organizations, corporations and individuals to be aware of the burden of headache world-wide and to effect positive and needed change.

Lifting the Burden will gather evidence of prevalence and incidence along with consequential disability and burden of the major headache disorders.

Lifting the Burden will seek support to put in place viable regional solutions to meet local needs.

The foundations are already laid.  But there is still much to do.  Get involved!  Sign up to be part of the solution.

To read more about The Campaign, and The Lancet article written by neurologist Dr. Timothy Steiner, on behalf of the World Headache Alliance, go to http://www.l-t-b.org/pages/3/index.htm

The Partners

As a cooperative enterprise, Lifting the Burden will bring the need to allocate resources to study and alleviate the burden of headache to the attention of governments and other resource providers.

World Headache Alliance (WHA),

International Headache Society (IHS), European Headache Federation (EHF) and the World Health Organization (WHO) are working together to reduce the burden of headache worldwide and improve the quality of the lives of those affected.

World Headache Alliance (WHA)  The global cooperative of non-medical headache organizations, WHA is an international non-governmental organization, established in 1997, that represents the concerns and interests of people with headache disorders around the world.

International Headache Society (IHS) The global scientific society for professionals concerned with headache disorders.  IHS is an international non-governmental organization, established in 1981, with a mission to work with others to reduce the world burden of headache.

European Headache Federation (EHF) - The alliance of professional European headache societies.  EHF is an international non-governmental organization, established in 1992, that is concerned with the treatment of headache disorders in Europe.

World Health Organization (WHO)  The international body concerned with issues of public health.  In cooperation with WHA, IHS and EHF, WHO will provide global expertise and contacts to assist the international headache organizations drive Lifting the Burden in both developed and developing countries, finding viable solutions in each area.

Found on the Web site of the American Council for Headache Education (ACHE) at www.achenet.org

The intention of the East Bay Headache Support Group is to provide information and resources.  It does not provide medical advice, which should be obtained directly from a physician.