Migraine case studies

So I feel like we have comprehensively covered pediatric migraine in my previous posts. Let’s look at a few case studies to see migraine management in action in primary care, looking at a variety of typical patients with migraine over the years, childhood to young adolescent to start. I will present 3 patients to consider … Continue reading Migraine case studies

When migraine turns chronic

So when does episodic migraine transform into chronic migraine? Well, it’s a matter of frequency. The International Headache Society defines chronic migraine as more than 15 headache days per month over a three month period of which more than eight are migrainous, in the absence of medication over use (2-3+ times per week). Often your … Continue reading When migraine turns chronic

Migraine medications to the rescue…..adjunct and combination therapies

There are 3 groups of medications that are used to treat a migraine attack: migraine abortives, analgesia, and adjuncts.  We have covered the migraine abortives (those medications specifically designed to stop the migraine attack) and analgesia (used to reduce pain) in the past 2 posts.   There are several medications that are used either in combination … Continue reading Migraine medications to the rescue…..adjunct and combination therapies

Stress and migraines

In the past several posts, I talked about the important lifestyle factors and strategies of hydration, diet, sleep and exercise. In this post I will discuss the effects of stress.  Again these are basic lifestyle strategies that are appropriate for all headaches, but can be particularly important to migraineurs. In fact, stress is at the … Continue reading Stress and migraines

All about the Migraine….part 2

So you have identified one of your patients as having migraine. Now decisions have to be made about management. Important points to consider are: frequency of migraine, intensity of pain and/or associated symptoms, triggers, and lifestyle factors.  Unless the patient is presenting with frequent or intractable migraine several times/week, the first things to review with … Continue reading All about the Migraine….part 2