I take medications quite often to treat my headaches. Is this a problem?
Overusing headache medication is a frequent issue and can become a problem in many patients. It may overtime make headaches worse and the medication which you are taking may be less effective in controlling your pain. The term for this condition is called ‘medication overuse…
What is a prophylactic treatment?
Prophylactic or preventive medications are not the same as acute migraine medications. The acute medications are used to treat individual migraine attacks, and are only taken when the migraine attacks occur. Preventive medications are taken every day to prevent some of the migraine attacks from…
How can I determine if I need a prophylactic treatment?
Preventive medication is not necessary for every migraine sufferer. There are certain situations where your doctor would consider recommending a preventive medication, such situations are: You are having headaches that have a significant impact on your life at home or at work despite appropriate use…
How can I choose a good prophylactic for my situation?
Deciding on what type of preventive medication to start depends on many factors. The choice of preventive medication needs to be tailored to meet each person’s individual needs. Before deciding on a preventive medication, it is important to discuss your other medical problems with your…
My migraines have become more frequent….should I just stop my preventive treatment?
Migraine comes in cycles of good and bad periods. Sometimes there is an obvious reason (less sleep, more stress, a new medication, hormonal changes….) but sometimes it is not that clear why migraines keep coming at an increased pace. If your migraine frequency is rising…
Why do women get more migraines?
Prior to puberty, migraine occurs in about 2-4% of children, with boys being more affected than girls. This changes at the onset of puberty, when migraine becomes more common in females than males. In fact, girls are more likely to have their first migraine during…
My child has headaches… should I be worried?
Headaches are very common in children. In fact, over 50% of children will experience headaches during their childhood or adolescence1. The vast majority of headaches are benign, meaning that there is no underlying disease causing the headache. Children also often get headaches in the context…
Is it possible to have more than one type of headache?
It is possible to have more than one headache type. There more than 200 types of headaches as categorized by the International Headache Society. It is important to realize that people with primary headache disorders, like migraine, can also have secondary headaches as well. It…
What is medication overuse?
Acute medications are those medications that you take at the time the headache is occurring. People who have frequent headaches, who take acute medications on a regular basis, could be making their headaches worse, leading to more headaches. These headaches are known as medication overuse…
I have bruxism. Could it explain my headaches?
Bruxism is repetitive stereotypical teeth grinding and clenching. If occurring during sleep, it is associated with sleep arousal activity. Diagnosis is often based on reported history of tooth-grinding sounds during sleep, morning jaw muscle pain and stiffness, masseter muscle enlargement and teeth wear/damage. Bruxism may…
Is Migraine a Vascular Headache?
For many years, people have tried to understand where the pain of a migraine headache comes from, and what causes it. Over time, our understanding of migraine and what causes migraine attacks has improved, although there are still many things about migraine that are unknown….
What is the placebo effect?
Placebo comes from the latin word meaning «to please». A placebo is an inactive treatment (sugar pill) given to patients in medical studies to compare them to patients receiving the active treatment. Why are placebos important? For centuries, medicine has been plagued by worthless treatments…
