The Headache Alternative

A Neurologist's Guide To Drug-free Relief

This comprehensive guide will be an essential aid for anyone who suffers from migraine or frequent headaches. It provides the best clinically proven alternative therapies for relieving the pain of headaches.

Alexander Mauskop, M.D., is the founder and medical director of the New York Headache Center. He is also a Professor of Clinical Neurology at the State University of New York Downstate Medical Center in Brooklyn, New York. A leading authority in the field of headache medicine, Dr. Mauskop has lectured widely throughout the world. The End of Migraine: 150 Ways to Stop Your Pain is a comprehensive resource based on Dr. Mauskop’s extensive experience in treating thousands of patients with migraine. In addition to scientific evidence, clinical observations, and practical suggestions, The End of Migraine describes and evaluates the immense amount of information available about every imaginable option that has been shown to impact the occurrence and treatment of migraines. The 150 approaches to ending migraine pain include non-pharmacologic treatments such as avoidance of triggers, diet, physical and behavioral measures, neuro-modulation, and various supplements. It also describes and ranks a wide range of acute and preventive prescription drugs, from the traditional to all of the latest innovations and treatments. The book is written in a clear, concise, and accessible style. Dr. Mauskop’s warm, reassuring voice enables the reader to feel that they are sitting with him, hearing his advice first-hand. Above all, readers of The End of Migraine: 150 Ways to Stop Your Pain will, perhaps for the first time, feel that they are not alone, because there is hope. The book is directed not only to those suffering from migraines but also to neurologists and other health care providers who treat migraine patients.

This practical and comprehensive title provides illuminating, evidence-based approaches in headache medicine for using traditional medical therapies in conjunction with alternative approaches to care. In all, the book details how multidisciplinary management and the combination of conventional and complementary medical services – integrative medicine – leads to superior patient outcomes: improved patient satisfaction, reduced stress, and more readily treatable, less serious illness. State-of-the-art and developed by experts in their fields, these 12 chapters present research and analysis of a wide range of non-pharmacologic interventions in headache care, seeking to inspire clinicians to formulate personalized headache treatment plans, and to work together by integrating their expertise in a multidisciplinary context to address patients’ unique conditions, needs, circumstances, and treatment. Chapter one provides an overview of integrative medicine and proposes a step-wise approach for incorporating integrative modalities into a headache practice. Chapter two focuses on the attention to be paid to relevant aspects of a patient’s medical history. The next four chapters discuss lifestyle factors that play a role in headache, including trigger identification, exercise, nutrition, and sleep. The scope of mind-body therapies such as acupuncture, yoga, and mindfulness is explored in chapter seven, and the psychology of pain is the subject of chapter eight. Chapter nine investigates the safety and efficacy of nutraceuticals, or pharmaceutical alternatives. The final three chapters review neuromodulation and interventional approaches to headache management. An invaluable and timely contribution to the clinical literature, Integrative Headache Medicine – An Evidence-Based Guide for Clinicians will be of great interest to neurologists, pain physicians, primary care clinicians, behavioral psychologists, psychiatrists, physical therapists, social workers, nutritionists and any other health professionals interested in delivering the highest quality care for headache patients.

M. WILKINSON Patients with frequent or daily headaches pose a very difficult problem for the physician who has to treat them, particularly as many patients think that there should be a medicine or medicines which give them instant relief. In the search for the compound which would meet this very natural desire, many drugs have been manufactured and the temptation for the physician is either to increase the dose of a drug which seems to be, at any rate, partially effective, or to add one or more drugs to those which the patient is already taking. Although there have been some references to the dangers of overdosage of drugs for migraine in the past, it was not until relatively recently that it was recognized that drugs given for the relief of headache, if taken injudiciously, may themselves cause headache. The first drugs to be implicated in this way were ergotamine and phenazone. In the case of ergotamine tartrate, the dangers of ergotism were well known as this was a disorder which had been known and written about for many years. In the treatment of headache, fully blown ergotism is rare and in recent years has usually been due to self-medication in doses much greater than those prescribed although there are a few recorded cases where toxic amounts have been given.

This comprehensive, practical title invites all clinicians to take a fresh look at the evaluation and management of chronic daily headache (CDH). Developed by a distinguished international panel of experts, the book examines key social and economic issues around CDH and clarifies the diagnosis of CDH disorders, providing an understanding of the underlying biological substrates, offering guidance on the use of diagnostic testing and additional consultations, and outlining treatment strategies with the greatest potential to alleviate the burden of these patients and to provide the highest quality of care. The book fully examines the constellation of symptoms that constitute chronic daily headache, while also discussing the role of behavioral medicine and the important elements involved in taking a good history. The major forms and biology of chronic daily headache are covered, as is the role of diagnostic testing and treatment. The risk factors that lead patients to transform episodic primary headache disorders into the chronic form are examined. Invasive and neuromodulatory techniques are also discussed. A section on the classification of these disorders rounds out this important contribution to the literature. Chronic Headache – A Comprehensive Guide to Evaluation and Management will be of great interest to neurologists, primary care physicians, nurse practitioners, physician assistants, medical students, and other clinicians with an interest in chronic daily headache.

Many people who suffer from headaches never consult a doctor, believing that no help is available, while others become frustrated and give up the search for relief. Fully revised and updated, this valuable book can save you time and trouble and help you stop the pain. It describes the full range of treatment options for migraines, cluster headaches, and tension headaches. It includes easy-to-understand information on the actions and side effects of hundreds of over-the-counter and prescription medications that prevent or abort headaches or dull the pain of a headache in progress. Special highlights: Details on the medications that have revolutionized migraine treatment Discussion of how hormones affect migraines Quick-reference guides to the medications that are most likely to work for your particular condition Helpful suggestions on how to describe your headache to your physician Hard-to-come-by information on headaches in children, teens, women, and people over fifty Alternative treatments, including herbs and acupuncture Self-help strategies such as relaxation techniques and biofeedback A national index of headache clinics and organizations

Based on the breakthrough understanding that virtually all headaches are forms of migraine--because migraine is not a specific type of headache, but the built-in mechanism that causes headaches of all kinds, along with neck stiffness, sinus congestion, dizziness, and other problems--Dr. Buchholz's Heal Your Headache puts headache sufferers back in control of their lives with a simple, transforming program: Step 1: Avoid the "Quick Fix." Too often painkillers only make matters worse because of the crippling complication known as rebound. Step 2: Reduce Your Triggers. The crux of the program: a migraine diet that eliminates the foods that push headache sufferers over the top. Step 3: Raise Your Threshold. When diet and other lifestyle changes aren't enough, preventive medication can help stay the course. That's it: in three steps turn your headache problems around.