A few weeks ago I received a pre-publication copy of The Migraine Brain, by Dr Carolyn Bernstein and Elaine McArdle.
I found this book interesting and easy reading, but packed full of useful information.
As well as explaining the mechanisms and chemistry that lead to migraines occurring, it helps migraine sufferers devise their own tailored plan which will reduce the impact that migraine has on their own life, and family life.
As well as covering the latest drugs specifically for treating migraine, it is sympathetic to a complementary approach with a definite emphasis on users taking control of their illness wherever possible.
The book takes an interactive approach so that sufferers can take quizzes, complete questionnaires and understand just WHY they should change their lifestyles.
Male migraines
Although three times as many woman suffer migraines than men, this book is unusual in that it contains a chapter devoted to men and migraines.
Of course, female migraine are treated extensively in a chapter explaining the role female hormones play in triggering attacks, coping with migraines in pregnancy, how to treat migraine after the menopause.
Dr Carolyn Bernstein is an assistant professor of neurology at Harvard Medical School and runs her own clinic, The Women’s Headache Centre. Elaine McArdle is an award winning journalist. Both are migraine sufferers.
I highly recommend this book to all readers. Whether you favour an orthodox or a complementary approach you are sure to find something helpful.
Thanks today to Charlie from http://www.persephones.co.uk for an interesting note in a forum of the professional body we both belong to. Charlie says:
“I came across a study done on MSG (monosodium glutamate) and HVP (hydrolysed vegetable protein) a while back when I was trying to find out exactly what HVP is. I was pretty shocked to discover that a whole range of flavors used in health foods and vegetarian alternatives actually contain high amounts of MSG, which is a potent neurotoxin, but are listed under different names so we don’t realize what it is we’re eating.
“More shocking still is the lack of awareness of the people in health food stores selling this stuff buy the lorry load, and people supposedly knowledgeable about their health, yet eating tonnes of this stuff.”
This is particularly relevant to migraine and headache sufferers as glutamate and aspartate are migraine triggers for many people.
Click here for the MSG study Charlie discovered, and for those of you who would like more information on MSG, check out this page. (But be warned, it’s pretty scary reading.)
Recently I wrote here for you about the health benefits of Chlorella that I had been researching. I use this as a very affordable multi-purpose supplement.
I was very excited about the product’s use in detoxification, because I was writing a new ebook for a client. At the time I was unable to give you a free copy as I had granted the supplier a period of exclusivity, but that is now over, and I’m pleased to offer you a completely free download of the ebook, which will tell you more Chlorella, and why it can help to treat a wide range of sub-optimal health conditions, including migraine, that largely arise because of our modern lifestyle. Click here to read testimonials from satisfied customers.
To remind you of the some of the advantages:
It is an excellent antioxidant and a source of magnesium and fibre for people not getting enough leafy green vegetables. Also a rich source of B vitamins, minerals and phytonutrients.
The focus of my ebook is on the specific ways Chlorella can help with detox and environmental toxins. This will be of interest to many of my readers who have had a Hair Analysis to check for heavy metal toxicity.
To tie in with my earlier posts on the vegetarian diet, it is a rich vegan source of iron and B12 – nutrients which can so often be in short supply for vegetarians.
It is also a “complete protein”:- one containing all the essential amino acids from which the building blocks of the human body are composed.
I personally use Chlorella as a supplement / superfood to promote my overall well-being and health by detoxification. This is particulary relevant for migraine sufferers. However it can also help with:
Weight loss
Pre-pregnancy health
Anaemia
Detox – including heavy metal detox
Managing type-2 diabetes
Naturally reducing blood pressure and cholesterol
Boosting the immune system and raising energy levels
In March 2010 I was contacted via this blog and asked to review a new book, The Migraine Brain, by Dr Carolyn Bernstein and Elaine McArdle.
The accompanying pre-publication material explains how this book helps prevent and treat your migraine:
Collates the latest research on why you get a migraine
Explains how the brain chemistry of migraine sufferers differs, and why migraines occur
Interactive approach with quizzes, graphics and fun facts
Encourages you to take charge of your own illness and helps you develop a customized wellness plan
Separate chapter for men and migraine
Chapter on the role of female hormones in triggering migraine attacks, including migraines in pregnancy and migraine after the menopause
Discusses new migraine drugs together with alternative therapies
Having completed my review of The Migraine Brain, I am pleased to give this book my recommendation. You learn more about it from the Amazon link below.
Who is Dr Carolyn Bernstein?
Dr Carolyn Bernstein is an assistant professor of neurology at Harvard Medical School, and has founded her own clinic. Co-author Elain McArdle is an award-winning journalist. Both are migraine sufferers.
Here’s a potential migraine treatment I hadn’t come across before – botox, better known for its use as an anti-wrinkle treatment.
Dr. Maria Alvarez, a major and a staff neurologist at the Wilford Hall military medical center, said patients who suffer from migraines had reported relief after treatment with botox in the affected areas of the head. “Last year, we had 150 patients and their headaches were reduced in their severity,” Dr. Alvarez said in an interview.
What is particularly encouraging is that in some patients the effects apparently last longer than 9 months, whereas relief due to a “placebo” effect is unlikely to last for so long.
The treatment is not FDA approved, and scientifically controlled studies are needed on a significant number of patients before firm conclusions can be reached – so don’t try this one at home!
We’re already a few days into the new year; I hope you had a migraine-free holiday and send my good wishes to you for the year ahead.
A new year is often time to recap and evaluate where we are in areas of our life that we want to improve. If you are now determined to make changes, you may find here a new approach for migraines treatment.
This is a quick summary of the main areas where complementary therapy, and especially a nutritional approach to migraine can help. I shall be covering each in blog posts over the next few months, but if you don’t want to wait, you can download my natural migraine relief ebook right away.
Food intolerance is a major cause of migraine but you would be wrong to just think that chocolate, cheese and red wine cause the problems. For some people, migraines are triggered by foods commonly believed to be healthy.
Maintaining a steady blood sugar level is vital is you want to stop migraines.
A deficiency or imbalance of vitamins and minerals is important.
So is avoiding toxic minerals.
Hair Mineral Analysis is a simple and cost-effective way to get eliminate guess-work from choosing your supplements. It reports on nutrient as well as toxic minerals.
Because your brain mainly consists of fatty material, check that you eat plenty of good fats, and avoid eating bad fats.
Something as common as constipation can cause a problem if circulating toxins aren’t being eliminated quickly enough. Be sure to keep the correct balance of ‘good’ to ‘bad’ bacteria in your intestine. Check out this special offer for a free sample of a natural constipation remedy on my healthy eating blog. The offer has been extended. (It’s NOT a laxative!)
Acid / alkaline imbalance should be watched. People often imagine that over-acidity is the problem and are surprised when their supplement recommendation includes hydrochloric acid! Learn why.
Following on from under or over-acidity we must consider correct digestion and absorption of food, without which you will never obtain maximum benefit from your food, however well you eat.
If stress is a migraine trigger for you but you can’t do anything to calm a stressful life-style, are you making the simple dietary adjustments that can lessen the impact of stress?
Hormonal health is something else to consider, especially for women. Your liver works hard to remove old hormones, so must be kept in peak condition.
Because there are non-dietary migraine triggers, remember that many other complementary therapies offer solutions.
Are you taking too many over-the-counter painkillers? This could actually increase the number of headaches you experience. Check with your GP or pharmacist.
This quick summary shows some of the many different topics you can consider in your search for a drug-free approach to beating your migraines. Tackle them one by one and you should find relief.
For immediate delivery of an ebook with detail about these topics and including recommendations for other natural, alternative approaches to treat and prevent migraine, visit my website:
I have been asked if I use a supplement to support the healthy lifestyle that migraine sufferers (and everyone) should aim for.
Yes I certainly do, because I have seen so much evidence showing that even fruit and vegetables and other “healthy” food today is nowhere near as nutritious as it was in, say, the 1950s.
Also the chemical load is so much higher in the modern world, that we are in danger of overloading our body’s natural detox mechanisms.
One school of thought is that this may be a cause of migraine headaches, so more and more people are looking for detox remedies and supplements that will support the body’s detoxification systems.
Chlorella is the supplement I have used for several years now. More specifically, I use Yaeyama Chlorella which is a strain of Chlorella Vulgaris thought to be superior because it is more nutrient dense.
If you decide to buy some Chlorella, I suggest you visit my supplier’s online store.
First, you will want to know a little more about Chlorella, and why you might choose to use it. The nutritional profile and health benefits are on my supplier’s website, where you can also watch a short video to learn mor. Supplementing with Chlorella can be beneficial in treating a wide range of health problems brought about by our modern lifestyle. But don’t just take my word for it, check out these Chlorella user testimonials.
To support my migraine clients I am currently researching an ebook on the specific ways Chlorella can help with detoxification of environmental toxins. I know this will be of interest to many of my readers who have had a Hair Analysis to check for heavy metal toxicity. As I research my ebook and study this remarkable supplement the more applications I discover. When the ebook is ready for release I will make it available as free information here, so keep checking back.
If you have used Chlorella for migraine (or any other health condition) and found it helped you, please post your story here to encourage others.
What do parties and migraine have in common? You will probably jump to one of two conclusions (alcohol or late nights) and while you could be correct there is another common link, according to food intolerance specialists YorkTest Laboratories.
Apparently as the party season approaches there is an increase in the number of patients suffering from the symptoms of food intolerance – such as arthritis, IBS and bloating. This could be because people are eating foods to which they are intolerant without knowing the ingredients, or because they are consuming larger amounts of a particular food than usual. Often it can be a previously unsuspected intolerance that is suddenly triggered.
Being aware of any susceptibility to an intolerance could prevent much inconvenience and discomfort. Research in conjunction with scientists at York University shows that chronic inflammatory disease is linked with food intolerance and simply becoming aware of problem foods and excluding them from the diet can bring relief.
It’s well known that there are links between migraine and food intolerances and there are many methods of testing; my preferred method is described in this article on food intolerances and migraine.
Prevention is better than cure, so if you’d like to take a low cost test to check if you have a food intolerance probably the best price is available from Amazon. Click here and go to the bottom of the page that opens for an ordering link.
If the test identifies that you have an intolerance you can look at alternative methods of finding out the particular foods implicated and how to avoid them in future.
Sometimes it’s so hot and sticky at night (well OK, not that often in the UK) that you can feel a migraine threatening because of the heat. Here’s my secret weapon.
This is a ‘device’ I use myself and can personally endorse both the product and the customer service from the company.
My migraines are largely under control now, but when I get the occasional one I have a secret weapon that makes it easier to keep a cool head at night. The Chillow® is a “personal cooling solution” that doesn’t use electricity or refrigeration and it’s brilliant – for times when I have a migraine, or any other time when it’s too hot to sleep comfortably. For example: hot flushes, night sweats, eczema, fevers, headaches, sunburn, muscle/joint pain, sporting injuries and many other conditions.
The Chillow is a unique pad, only two centimetres thick, and needs activating just once by filling it with tap water, which is then fully absorbed into the patented foam core. Once activated it will keep on working, so it’s always ready for use when needed. Unlike gel and ice packs, Chillow does not need refrigeration and is always cool not cold, dry not wet, soft not hard.
The science behind the technology is simple, functional, versatile, enjoyable, unique, maintenance free. It depends on combining specialist materials, fluids and the laws of thermodynamics to create a dry, powerless, thermo-regulating and memory foam effect.
This combination of the right materials and an ingenious design means the Chillow stays at room temperature, which is always cooler than your body. It absorbs heat from your body and releases it into the air around you, whilst remaining pleasantly cool against the skin. So it provides comfort without power, pollution, moisture or maintenance.
Being cold OR hot is uncomfortable so an attractive feature of the Chillow is that while it keeps the user cool, it never makes them cold because it acts as a heat sink and radiator all in one.
Chillow absorbs heat, and then radiates it away from the user continuously, much like a radiator in a car, which works to keep a car’s engine cool by using water to help dissipate heat to the air. Hot fluid enters the radiator, loses its heat and the cooled water travels back through the system to begin the process again.
Likewise, the Chillow continually absorbs body heat and discharges the absorbed heat back to the surrounding environment. It consistently feels cool as the consumer is always warmer than the product. Unlike most other cooling products this technology is refreshing – not overly cold, wet or uncomfortable.
Before I’m happy to recommend a product I look for features such as quality, design, reliability, and durability. All of which Chillow offers. Another important point in their sale message is that there are no hidden or additional costs. After you have purchased your Chillow – you don’t need anything but tap water for it to work.
To keep it ready for use, without having to guess when your next migraine – or unpredictable summer heat-wave – will strike, just leave it in a cool place. Chillow is always ready to consistently deliver cooling, soothing comfort when you need it.
I’m delighted with my purchase and whole-heartedly recommend it to you.
If you found this post interesting please subscribe to my free monthly, Health and Well-being Newsletter. You’ll received a free migraine mini-course revealing some little known dietary triggers for migraine.
