For as long as I can remember, I have considered myself a headachy person. At some point the headaches progressed to migraine. Fortunately, for most of my life I had infrequent episodic migraine (EM). An attack would start, I’d treat it with ibuprofen and I was better in an hour. I sought treatment when I began losing a few days per month to terrible attacks that didn’t respond to over-the-counter (OTC) remedies. Over time, my frequency of attacks increased and I “chronified” while under the care of my well-intentioned primary care physicians.
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Painful stiff neck with your migraine attacks?
A stiff, painful neck is common when it comes to migraine. I have had neck pain along with migraine for as long as I can remember. It took me a long time to realize, and believe, that the stiff, painful neck was actually a symptom related to migraine. It was not a separate underlying condition for me. However, cervical neck dysfunction can co-occur with migraine which can make the diagnosis more difficult.
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Online Migraine Treatment? Is The Neura Health App An Option?
Access to a headache specialist or a doctor trained specifically to treat headache disorders can be hard to find. Several states have no headache specialists and others have only one. For people with migraine and other headache disorders in these states, significant travel as well as insurance battles have to ensue before seeing someone that can help manage their symptoms.
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Sleep Apnea Headache and Migraine – What You Need to Know
A few months ago, I had to admit to myself that I probably have sleep apnea headache. I cringe each time I think about it as I really don’t want to do a sleep study and worst of all, I don’t want to deal with a CPAP machine. In know, I know. There are other options but all I can envision is the sexiness of it all. So, thank you for listening to my pathetic confession. Yes, I’m a writer for Migraine Strong and I’ve always known that the answer to the question, can sleep apnea cause headaches and migraine. I have responded to hundreds of social media threads about…
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Finding A Headache Specialist Or These 5 Best Options
‘You really need to see a headache specialist!’ If you've had chronic migraine for any length of time, you've heard some version of this. It’s a true statement. However, when the number of headache specialists in the United States is a whopping 707 to treat approximately four million chronic migraine patients…scheduling to see one of these specialists can feel like scoring slightly better odds than spotting a unicorn.
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Is the Migraine World Summit 2021 Worth Your Time?
It’s that time again! We are Migraine World Summit enthusiasts and can’t wait for them to confirm the dates. We expect the dates to be in the middle of March and will update this when it’s officially announced. It’s a simple and powerful mission statement: To reduce the global burden of migraine. Since 2016, the Migraine World Summit (MWS or Summit) has brought together dozens of leading migraine experts, doctors and specialists from around the world. They are interviewed to help answer the most difficult questions for those with migraine in desperate need of relief. Best of all, there is no charge for this tremendous event. Register now so you can…
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Exploring Different Types of Migraine and Headaches – Compare Your Symptoms
There are many different types of migraine or headache disorders. The list of different types of migraine and headache disorders is below with their typical symptoms as well. Because many of them overlap, or for the overachievers who have multiple different types of headache, it’s best to get diagnosed by a headache specialist.
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Prednisone for Migraine Explained – 5 Questions & Answers You Need to Know.
A steroid taper is commonly prescribed by headache specialists in certain circumstances to break a prolonged migraine cycle. Are you wondering if a course of prednisone for migraine is something you should ask your doctor about? This is written from the patient and patient-advocate perspective and is not medical advice. The goal is to help inform you so that you may work with your doctors. Specific questions about medications and whether they are right for you can only be addressed by your doctors. 1. What is Prednisone? Prednisone is a medication in a group of drugs called corticosteroids or steroids, for short. Prescribed steroids are man-made medications that are similar…
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Allay Lamp – The Green Light For Migraine – Six Month Update
When Allay gifted me their green light for migraine to review six months ago, I didn’t think it would become one of my favorite tools in my toolkit. In these past months, I have been successfully using it as a preventive and abortive treatment. When I first wrote about the Allay Lamp, I explained how the narrow band of green light in the lamp worked. It was a novel item I had added to my migraine toolkit. But it has been six months now and my love of the Allay Lamp is still going strong. I thought I would write an update on how the lamp and I have been doing.…
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Migraine Preventive Medications: Comprehensive Guide
While over 1 billion people world wide have migraine, only a small percentage of them use migraine preventive medications to control their migraine attacks. A migraine preventive medication is considered and offered when people with migraine meet certain criteria: Four or more attacks per month or eight head pain days – Can include severe throbbing pain or a pulsing sensation, usually on one side of the head. It is often accompanied by nausea, vomiting, and sensitivity to light and sound. Migraine attacks typically last for 4-72 hours, and the pain can be so severe that it interferes with daily activities. Vestibular migraine attacks might not have head pain, but will include…
