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One of the most memorable legislative achievements during the administration of former President George H. W. Bush was the passing and enactment of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990. When Democratic Senator Tom Harkin of Iowa introduced the bill before Congress, he actually used sign language in certain parts for the benefit of his brother, who lives with a hearing disability. This important law essentially prohibits the discrimination of Americans based on their disabilities.
For quite a few people who live with chronic migraine conditions, the holiday season if not only filled with cheer but also with dread at the thought of encountering environmental and nutritional triggers that could ruin the time they are supposed to enjoy with their loved ones.
On the popular television sitcom, The Big Bang Theory, a recent episode dealt with a physiological issue that affects millions of people around the world, but not most of them are barely aware of it. One very interesting aspect of The Big Bang Theory is the way it cleverly makes fun of scientific topics, particularly those dealing with physics, but a recent episode actually dealt with an anatomic condition that is known to be a trigger of migraine attacks.
When does a migraine condition turn into a chronic disease? Although physicians often refer to chronic illnesses as those that persist for more than 12 months, migraine conditions tend to be a little different. For example, a woman who regularly suffers three migraine episodes per year that collectively last a couple of hours can be considered as a chronic migraine patient, but her quality of life is decidedly better than that of a patient who suffers one episode each week.
Some of the most influential writers in history were besieged by their migraine conditions even as they penned their masterpieces. We are talking about Adeline Virginia Stephen Woolf, Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche, Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, and Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, better known as Lewis Carroll. To a certain extent, the migraines suffered by these notable authors had a profound effect on their literary canon, which in turn contributed to the betterment of society through entertainment,...
In the chronicles of the history of medicine, meditation comes before medication. Long before conventional Western medicine and the scientific method became the de facto form of health care, ancient health practitioners relied on the powers of meditation to treat conditions such as migraines.
Some migraine specialists believe that most of their patients are not aware that they suffer from sleep breathing disorders. These are patients who tend to blame their migraines whenever they don't get a good night's sleep or when they feel restless and anxious. Sleep apnea is a condition that causes a temporary cessation of breathing when patients are in a soporific state; the most severe cases are obstructive and result in harsh snoring and gasping for air that may interrupt sleep several...
Women are from Venus, men are from Mars and migraines come from the darkest reaches of human neurochemistry. Medical research studies that date back to the previous century indicate that women are far more likely to suffer from migraines than men, and women who give birth to baby girls are more likely to pass on their chronic cephalalgia condition to their daughters.
If you suffer from migraines and live in places such as South Florida, coastal Georgia, the North Carolina Outer Banks, or along the Gulf of Mexico, you are probably familiar with going through more headache episodes during the Atlantic Hurricane Season. For many migraine patients, this usually happens when a tropical storm approaches, particularly once dark clouds have already rolled in and the humidity is so concentrated that you can almost taste it. By the time thunder strikes, you know that...
