Burning Mouth Syndrome This is defined as a burning pain affecting the mouth or tongue, occurring daily for at least 2 hours a day, over more than 3 months, for which a medical or dental cause cannot be found. It …

Rare Headaches Read more »

Hypnic Headache is also called “alarm clock” headache in that it wakes patients out of sleep, usually at a consistent time each night. A new report shows that the average age of headache onset is 62 years and that 8 …

How To Treat Hypnic Headache Read more »

We know that people with migraine are hypersensitive and hypervigilant to painful stimuli. Unlike most adults, they are unable to inhibit pain sensation by shifting their attention away from the pain. These observations have been confirmed in new studies that …

Migraineurs have atypical brain processing of pain Read more »

Children with migraine often come up against barriers, the most important being their parents. Children have a right not to suffer when treatment is available, but frequently, parents are resistant to have their child use prescribed medication. Children further tend …

Migraine in Children Read more »

Education is the most important measure. Short-acting drugs such as butalbital and most opioids are of higher risk for habituation than longer-acting drugs such as ibuprofen or naproxen. The first step is to stop the medication. Generally, this can be …

Treatment of Medication-Overuse Headaches Read more »

Non-modifiable risk factors are older age, female gender, Caucasian ethnicity, low educational level, low socioeconomic status, and genetic factors. Modifiable risk factors are obesity, snoring, head or neck injury, comorbid depression, stressful life events or major life changes. Only about …

Risk Factors Determining Progression From Episodic To Chronic Migraine Read more »

Not all patients with episodic migraine require preventive medication. The decision should be based both on disability from headache as well as frequency of headaches. For example, a person with a 2- or 3-day disabling headache once a month, not …

Preventive Treatment of Migraine Read more »

CGRP is a neurotransmitter, elevated during attacks of migraine. Injecting CGRP in a migraine patient between attacks reliably triggers an attack. Several monoclonal antibodies targeting CGRP itself or its receptor are in clinical trials. They are given either by subcutaneous …

Migraine Medications in the Pipeline Read more »

Chronic migraine patients often overuse acute medications, and this can lead to medication-overuse headaches. In individual patients, however, it is difficult to determine if medication overuse is the cause of or a response to frequent headaches. Barbiturate-containing analgesics or opioids …

Medication-Overuse Headaches Read more »

A transcranial magnetic stimulation device, available by prescription, may be effective in patients with migraine with aura though not in patients with migraine without aura. It should not be used in patients with a history of epilepsy. It is hair …

Devices to Treat Migraine Read more »