Monthly
News Letter

Vol 1 - Issue 3 - Mar/Apr 1999 - Pg 2

Continued from Pg 1 col 2

Migraine Headaches
"Not just a bad headache"

Some Interesting Historical Facts and Famous People with Migraine!

Migraine headaches were identified as a unique condition as far back as the ancient Greeks, who described among other symptoms, the premonition of onset called the aura, the throbbing pain, nausea and vomiting, and acute sensitivity to light. The Greek physician Galen, 2500 years ago, gave the term hemicrania to this condition, which means half-headed or pain on one-half of the head. This is a key point in diagnosing migraine. In 1600 the British physician Thomas Willis gave us the term "megrims" or "migrums" and noted that no further progress had been made in treating this condition since the time of the ancient Greeks. Modern English has given us the word migraine from the original Greek hemicrania.

Some famous people who suffered with migraine include Thomas Jefferson, Sigmund Freud, Frederic Chopin, George Bernard Shaw, Virginia Woolf, Charles Darwin, Catherine the Great of Russia, Leo Tolstoy, and Lewis Carroll. Indeed Lewis Carroll, famous for his works "Alice in Wonderland" and "Through the Looking Glass", attributed some of his original drawings to the visual auras he experienced with migraine headaches.

Migraine headaches: a biological disorder of the central nervous system

Migraine headaches are a chronic health condition, just as diabetes, heart disease and arthritis are chronic health conditions, to name a few. They are present with other chronic health conditions, and one of my reasons for writing this article is that I have noticed that many of our Chronic Pain Support Group (CPSG) members with other chronic pain health conditions also list migraines as part of their health problems. As with these other chronic health conditions, migraine headaches cannot be cured; but they can be controlled through effective recognition of each individuals own migraine triggers, the use of medications as prescribed by a physician, and for some people alternative treatment options. This will be discussed further on in the article.

Migraines are a biological disorder of the central nervous system. They are very different from the much more common "tension or muscle tension" or "stress" headache; these headaches account for approximately 90% of all headaches and are usually easily treated by taking an Aspirin or Tylenol and some relaxation! Many people do not understand the difference in tension headaches and migraines, and often feel that the migraine sufferer should simply calm down, take a Tylenol and their "bad headache" will be gone in half an hour. Nothing could be farther from the truth, as anyone who has ever experienced a migraine attack knows. Unfortunately for migraine sufferers, no bandages are needed, no crutches are being used and what most people cannot see, they tend not to believe or understand. Public education and awareness of what migraines are all about is crucial in assisting the migraine sufferer to get the respect they deserve as someone suffering from a chronic health condition; this is especially important within the family and the impact it has there, and in the work place where the migraine sufferers job may very well be in jeopardy.

As a biological disorder of the central nervous system, migraines are caused by changes within the nervous system of the brain. This is where current research is focusing. It appears that the brain’s blood supply is influenced by these changes, and the most important research today is on a chemical the body uses for passing signals from one nerve to another, a neurotransmitter called serotonin. Although research is continuing, the diverse symptoms of migraine have long been associated with fluctuating levels of serotonin, including the dilation and swelling of certain blood vessels of the head. Therefore today, some of the most effective medications for migraine help correct these imbalances by "imitating" the action of serotonin, connecting with certain serotonin receptor sites at nerve endings and near the blood vessel walls, causing the blood vessels to constrict and bringing about pain relief. This is a simple version of a chain of events that brings about pain relief from migraines, and the medication involved here is called Sumatriptan, more commonly known under the brand name of Imitrex. Imitrex was the first of what are commonly called the "designer drugs" specifically for migraine, today we also have Naratriptan with the brand name of Amerge, and Zolmitriptan with the brand name of Zomig.

Migraines are an inherited condition in approximately 80% of all cases. This is important information in making the diagnosis. They can occur a couple of times a year or almost every day. Migraine attacks last from 4-72 hours, depending on whether they are treated or not and how successful the treatment is. Because the term "migraine" is unfortunately lightly used by people, for example in comments such as "I had such a bad headache last night, it must have been a migraine or something" an accurate diagnosis must be made, and that is made by a physician.

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Volunteers

Thank you to all our new CPS group volunteers. We have had several new chat moderators volunteer and receive training. Their help has been really needed with the group growing so rapidly. Please join me in thanking and congratulating these wonderful volunteers for their time. The new chat moderators are:

Doug
ShirleyD2
UNI
Fiona

Special thanks to Sam93
for taking on the responsibility of sending out the CPS Group welcome emails, and to
UNI for taking over the
Wednesday morning chat room and the
creation of our new CPS Calendar.

If there is something you would like to volunteer to do, (a poem for the news letter, research for news articles, or to host a new chat room for the group) please let me know via my e-mail.

CPS Group Report

Mar/Aprl Statistics

	Feb	Mar	Total	TTD*
Web Site Visits	2,860	3,547	6,407	10,769
New Messages	746	1,395	2,141	3,064
New Members	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
Avg Active Members**	58	71	N/A	N/A

N/A=Not Available or Not Applicable
*TTD="Total to Date" (since CPS opened on 12/08/1998)
**Daily Average of active CPS Group Members

There are many aspects of the the CPS Group, check out the list below to see other activities and web pages of our group.

Acknowledgements:

Bimsan Graphics

Web Diner Inc.

Holiday Clip Art

What's inside?

Delphi Changes
CPS Calendar
Migraines
Arthritis Research
Monthly Report
'Our Stories' Highlight

Our Stories This month,

the CPS Group is profiling Steve and Mimi, (aka I69 & UNI), the first husband and wife team to join our group. Although both of them have quite a lot of pain to deal with they have been very supportive to others in the group. Additionally, UNI has recently joined the ranks of CPS volunteers, she is now a moderator of our Wednesday morning chat, is the substitute moderator for our Friday morning chat and has taken on the responsibility of creating and updating the CPS Group Calendar.

Steve and Mimi will be married 15 years in May. Steve works for a Sewer Treatment Plant as a assistant operator, and works a 2nd job managing the plants for a major honeymoon resort in the Poconos. Due to her severe pain, Mimi was approved for SSD in 1989, and stays home with their two wonderful boys, Salvatore 11 and Nicholas 5. Mimi states that their sons are the joy of their lives and is what keeps them going.

Mimi's pain began on her 14th B-Day, she was lifting weights in gym class and heard a loud pop but did not feel any pain, so she lifted again and then fell to the ground in agony. Mimi had popped her knee cap out and back in again ripping everything. They put her in a cast for 6 months. She has had 13 operations on her left knee and 1 on the right knee from years of taking all the weight. Mimi also has endured 2 back operations. Her back problems were caused from an improper gait due to the original knee injury. Mimi contracted a post-op staph infection in her spinal cord after her first back operation. The infection wasn't discovered until a month later, therefore, extensive damage was done before it could be stopped. The 2nd surgery was to repair the the discs damaged by the staph. This 2nd surgery left Mimi with scar tissue wrapped around her nerves including siatica, the doctors also told her that the staph affected the discs in her spine.

Steve has been suffering with lumbar and cervical pain for more than 14 years. He was diagnosed with bulging discs and degenerative disc disease as a result of working for moving companies for 5 years. Steve had laser surgery in 1996 at the L45 level. This procedure has decreased the number of times a year his back goes 'out' and causes excruciating pain that requires total bed rest. However, the laser surgery did not provide much relief for Steve's daily pain. Additionally, Steve also suffers from extreme pain in the mid to upper region of his back that has not yet been diagnosed.

Mimi stated that the only bright side of being in so much pain is the wonderful people she has met in the CPS Group who have now become a part of their family. She states she loves them all and thanks them all for the concern and compassion shown to both her and Steve.

Continued from pg 2 col 1

Diagnosis of Migraine Headaches

There are no tests to easily diagnose migraine headaches. They are diagnosed by a physician, sometimes your family doctor, or sometimes you may be referred to a neurologist. Either way, the physician makes the diagnosis for the main part by listening to the patient and their description of their symptoms. It is therefore extremely important for the patient to be as thorough and clear as possible in describing their symptoms. It is also important for the patient to listen to family members who have headaches and try to get them to explain their symptoms, to give this information to the physician. In general as much information as you can possibly present to the physician will only assist the physician further in making an accurate diagnosis. For certain, with a hereditary rate at approximately 80%, you will be asked whether or not other members of your family have headaches, or migraines. For most people, this is fairly easy to answer, because if you have a family member with migraines it affects the family to a large extent, and you will already be well aware of it.

Physicians may also do some tests to rule out other rare causes of headaches, and some common neurological tests done in their office. For example in my own case, when a definite diagnosis was made back in 1982 (although it was basically a confirmation of what my physician suspected), I had blood tests, a head x-ray, a brain scan, and an EEG (electroencephalogram). These were done to rule out the very small 1-3% chance of a brain tumor or some other anomaly of the brain. No test will prove that you have migraines. Later on when I was referred to a neurologist for a second opinion on medications in 1989, he ordered a CT scan as a matter of again, ruling out any anomaly in the brain, but he told me beforehand he did not expect anything to turn up and fortunately it did not. In both cases, both physicians did an extensive family history of headaches/migraines; and in my family the history was extensive!

After the Diagnosis of Migraine Headaches is made

When the diagnosis of migraine headaches is made, depending on your symptoms, you will either have Classic or Common migraine headaches.

Classic migraine headaches account for 20% of migraine headaches; these are the headaches that are preceded by an aura, which is the term used to describe the warning signs of the head pain to come. Auras may include flashes of light, or patterns of color before the eyes, blurred vision or partial loss of sight, tingling or numbness in hands and/or around the mouth. The aura usually goes away after one hour as it moves into a full-blown migraine attack, which is the same as described below for a common migraine headache.

Common migraine headaches are the most common form of migraines and simply indicates that the person does not experience the aura described above in Classic migraine headaches. Although symptoms vary slightly from one person to another, Common migraine headaches will include a combination of these symptoms:

Throbbing, hammering or pulsing head pain which worsens with movement, and often feels like it is throbbing to the beat of your heartbeat
Pain is usually felt on one side of the head only, this can change from one migraine attack to another and sometimes in the same migraine attack
Nausea and vomiting
Heightened sensitivity to light, sound, and smell

More subtle symptoms also experienced by many during a migraine attack or prior to one include dizziness, yawning, trembling, food cravings, over-talkativeness or trouble with finding the right words, swelling or numbness in extremities, paleness and alteration in mood, up or down.

CPS Group Calendar

A new feature for the Chronic Pain Support Group is our Calendar. The calendar contains the chat schedule as well as member's birthdays, special events, and/or surgery dates.

Click on the URL below to view the monthly calendar. From the monthly view of the calendar, you can click on the day for each entry to view more detailed information. The calendar will be updated as events are added/changed so bookmark this URL (or add to favorites) .

http://calendar.yahoo.com/public/cps_group

For updates/additions to the calendar please send emails to cps_group@yahoo.com.

Please join me in thanking UNI for creating and maintaining this calendar. It will be a very useful tool in keeping all of us informed of CPS activities.

To Pg 1 ---- Guest Book ---- To pg 3

Migraine Headaches "Not just a bad headache"

Volunteers

CPS Group Report

CPS Group Calendar

Migraine Headaches
"Not just a bad headache"