Keep up with the doctors, patients, treatments—and results—from all our locations.
It’s almost summer, and while the hazy, lazy, sunny days bring a sense of well-being and enjoyment to so many people, for migraine sufferers it can be quite the opposite. If you’re one of the 14 million Americans who regularly contend with chronic headaches, you might be a little less happy about the arrival of the heat.
The allergy season is in full swing, and your daily sinus headache is ruining your spring. Is it really a sinus headache, however, or could you possibly be suffering from a migraine headache instead? It’s not unusual to confuse the two, according to Mark A. Zacharek, MD, residency program director for the department of otolaryngology and head and neck surgery at Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit.
Here’s how to tell the difference between a migraine and a sinus headache:
Spring is allergy season, and it’s here! While the new season brings warmer weather, spring rains and the peeking out of fresh flowers, it also affects our bodies in a number of different ways. If you experience seasonal allergies such as rhinitis as well as migraines, you could find the beauty of spring marred by an increase in headaches. Although the International Headache Society doesn’t officially recognize the term “seasonal migraine,” many sufferers use this to describe migraines that...
A 2014 Gallup poll shows that up to 33% of Americans have put off getting medical treatment because of the cost, and that’s not only for non-serious conditions. Whether you believe migraine headaches fall into the serious or non-serious category, it’s frightening to think that one in three sufferers could be going without help
Migraines have become so well known that many people simply categorize any severe headache as a “migraine.” This isn’t accurate, however, and there are a number of differences between migraines and other types of debilitating headaches. Cluster headaches, in particular, are very painful and have actually caused patients to commit suicide on occasion. How do you know whether that blinding pain in your head is a migraine or cluster headache? These comparisons will help you to determine what...
Few things can temporarily disable someone like a migraine headache. From visual disturbances, like blind spots or flashing lights, to physical weakness and difficulty communicating, migraine can debilitate its sufferers for hours – even days – at a time.
And with 1 billion people worldwide – including 18% of U.S. women and 6% of men – suffering from migraines, it’s more important than ever to understand the symptoms, triggers and treatment options for these chronic headaches.
How do you know if the physician who is treating your migraine condition is the right specialist for you?
In late 2014, the Montana State Board of Medical Examiners was busy prosecuting one of its members who was allegedly too generous when it came to prescribing narcotics to his patients, some of whom suffer from migraine headaches.
When medical researchers study the migraine condition, they often focus on systemic issues. Migraines are caused by vascular and neurochemical irregularities, but there is also a strong behavioral factor associated with migraine episodes.
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.
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.
