Another “Sure Fire” Remedy

Dr. Morton Hyson unveiled his new Migraine and headache treatment on February 9th at the Annual Practicing Physician’s Approach to the Difficult Headache Patient conference. His system proportedly resolves a Migraine (head pain and other symptoms) in minutes (read his research. The average time for relief was 40 minutes) instead of the hours some triptans take.

His system is described as

the only treatment to address simultaneously headache pain, nausea and light sensitivity.

As many of us know, this statement is false. Many of the triptans, such as Maxalt®, IMITREX, TREXIMET, and ZOMIG, also relieve the Migraineur of nausea, photosensitivity, and phonosensitivity.

You may be wondering what is this therapeutic, side-effect free, medical marvel. Well…it is a form-fitting face mask and a topical analgesic cream that is applied to the forehead and temples.

The press release included a link to Dr. Hyson’s website, which is little more than claims, pictures of smiling women, and testimonials. Oh, BTW, the cost is $57.00 for 10 applications or $100.00 for 30. Yikes!

Here is yet another promise of relief that doesn’t do much other than line the hawker’s pocket. Steer clear of this one.

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Headache on the Hill

The second  Headache on the Hill will be held in Washington, DC next Monday and Tuesday, February 23rd and 24th. The long-term goal of AHDA is to have the National Institutes of Health increase its spending for research for Migraine and other headache disorders. This event’s purpose is

to educate members of Congress and their staff about the problem of NIH underfinding of headache research and to suggest remedies.

In addition,

we intend to make specific progammatic requests of Congress during HOH that should have lasting benefits but that will require relatively modest short-term increases in NIH expenditures.

This particular HOH is important because we have a new president and a Democratic Congress who promise action an a variety of legislative actions.
What can you do to help? Join AHDA’s mailing list and you will receive legislative alerts when it is appropriate to contact your Congressman.

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Pain Does Not a Migraine Make

photo courtesy of All About Migraine

So often the image of a Migraine is a woman, like the one to the left, rubbing her head and with her brow knit in severe pain. I had a Migraine today. It was different from the usual “Where is the nearest cave so I can die in peace?” type Migraines. In fact, if I had told someone that I had a Migraine, I am not sure how believable I would have sounded. It was different because my head didn’t hurt that much.

 However, I couldn’t work. I couldn’t focus on what I was doing. I was lethargic; all I wanted to do was curl up in a chair with a cup of tea and be a vegetable for a while. Oh, even though I swore I would not take a triptan unless my pain exceeded a 5, I succumbed to both the triptan and my awaiting chair.

All this got me thinking. Migraineurs rightly say that Migraine is NOT a bad headache, but when I ran a search for Migraine images nearly all of them emphasized the head pain. I am wondering if the image of Migraine as being “just a bad headache” would change if Migraineurs, doctors, and drug companies would emphasize some of the other common symptoms. Just a thought; what do you think?

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