Headaches

Migraine surgery for improved functioning

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Research has shown that surgical treatment for migraine helps reduce headache frequency and severity and also leads to improvements in everyday functioning and coping ability. Migraine headache patients are known to experience disability and often have difficulty performing at work and/or school. Surgery can be an effective treatment option for patients with chronic, severe migraine headaches who do not respond to other treatments. Migraine surgery procedures target trigger sites linked to headache patterns. Image by Владимир Берзин from Pixabay Questionnaires are often used to help better understand treatments in the medical realm. Such questionnaires, while they have been used for other pain syndromes, have not been applied to migraine surgery. The study evaluated the performance of the Pain Self Efficacy Questionnaire (PSEQ) in those who had migraine surgery. The PSEQ has been used in patients with a wide range of … Read more

Was Wisdom Teeth Removal Performed Without Consent that Lead to Trigeminal Nerve Damage, Migraines, and Dizziness?

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An Illinois woman has filed a lawsuit against her dentist and dentist assistant in October, 2019, alleging that four wisdom teeth were extracted without informed consent. Just before the surgery occurring in September 2017, the woman alleges that she spoke with the dental assistant about concerns with going forward with the extraction. However, the surgery proceeded and the woman was given general anesthesia. The woman’s boyfriend at the time of the surgery signed of on the informed consent form although there was no legal right to do so. The dentist was not aware that the woman had nerves that were too close to the wisdom tooth and thus should have required a more complex procedure. The suit says the dentist used an “overly aggressive, improper technique” and “negligently and carelessly failed to properly inform the plaintiff of all the risks.” … Read more

Why is Pain in the Face and Head Worse than the Rest of the Body?

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Researchers have found why pain from the head and face can be more disruptive, and emotionally draining than pain in other parts of the body. The researchers found that sensory neurons from the head and face are wired directly into the brain’s principal emotional signaling hubs, while sensory neurons from elsewhere in the body are connected only indirectly to this hub. People consistently rate pain of the head and face as more disruptive and emotionally draining than pain in other parts of the body. The results may help lead toward more effective treatments for pain mediated by the craniofacial nerve, including chronic headaches and neuropathic face pain. Usually doctors focus on treating the sensation of pain, but this work demonstrates that doctors need to also treat the emotional aspects of pain. Pain signals from the head and face compared to those … Read more

Opioids Overused For Migraine Headache Treatment

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A new study that attempted to find racial disparities in the treatment of migraine headaches found no differences and instead found that opioids are often overused for migraine headache treatment. As has been discussed on this blog and site before, the prescribing habits of opioids are under scrutiny for wisdom teeth surgery. See for example the article http://blog.teethremoval.com/what-can-a-surgeon-do-to-prevent-opioid-abuse/ and the article http://blog.teethremoval.com/painkiller-overdose-in-michigan-are-wisdom-teeth-extractions-contributing/. Now it appears that the prescribing habits of opiods for migraines should also be under scrutiny. Existing research shows that African-Americans experience more frequent and severe migraine headaches than non-Hispanic whites. Researchers at the University of Michigan set out to explore if there was any evidence of racial disparities in treatment practices for migraines. However, instead of finding any disparities, they found opioids were being prescribed as frequently as medications that are more effective for migraine headaches. In the study, results from … Read more

Terror Attack Survivors More Prone to Headaches

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Researchers have shown that survivors of a terror attack have an increased risk of frequent migraine and tension headaches developing after the attack. Therefore there are potential physical effects of violent incidents in addition to the better known psychological effects. The researchers studied the responses teenage survivors of the largest mass killing in Norway that occurred in 2011. In the attack, a lone gunman opened fire at a youth summer camp on Utøya Island, killing 69 people and severely wounding 33. All survivors experienced terror, some lost friends, and some risked drowning as they tried to escape the island. The study shows that a single highly stressful event such as a terror attack may lead to ongoing suffering with frequent migraines and other headaches. All 358 teenage survivors of the incident were invited to participate in the study. A total of 213 … Read more