Migraine Facts: Slow Down and Read This

Posted on May 17, 2014 by Angela A Stanton, Ph.D.

Migraine Facts

Originally posted on May 17, 2014 by Angela A. Stanton, Ph.D.
Revised on March 2, 2019 by Angela A. Stanton, Ph.D.

I posted this note in my FB migraine group, so you are all aware of a few important things when you start your recovery from migraines. Some of these points assume you are familiar with the book I am talking about so if you are not, please consider reading “Fighting The Migraine Epidemic: A Complete Guide: How To Treat & Prevent Migraines Without Medicine” (available e-book and paperback)

Assuming you read the book, please make sure you follow these guidelines: Continue reading →

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Medicare Screwed? Fraud? Just Another Day in California Medical System!

Posted on May 14, 2014 by Angela A Stanton, Ph.D.

A story for you that is hard to believe. It starts sad and then it becomes really ugly so stick with me until I get to the point. My mom died in April and of course, lots of malpractice, incompetence, ignoring power of attorney, wrong drugs without permission, etc. These stories for another day but I now want to introduce you to another subject.

My mother belonged to a large HMO through a major senior organization in Southern California–not giving names but I am sure you know what I am talking about. Few seniors do not belong to this HMO. After my mom died and I received all the medical records from all the hospitals, skilled nursing, etc.,  (for a lot of money mind you!) I started to suspect that something is not right.

Today I received a call from another woman who went through the same thing–with the same hospital in one case–with the same outcome: dead mother for no reason. She had something I did not have: Medicare summary copies of medicines and treatments her mother received so she could see that there was fraud. The hospitals charged Medicare for things her mother (blind and demented) could never do, medications she never got, etc.

She tried everything and though she could not break the system, she educated me on what so far she has learned. Well. Let me tell you this is not pretty!

On her urging I called the Senior Medicare Patrol in Orange County who dutifully will investigate all charges that were submitted by individuals to examine hospitals and medical providers in what they submitted to Medicare and then compare those with the data files of the patients to find discrepancies–sort of like a Medicare watchdog. Awesome. Great service! So after we talk, I called Medicare and gave them my mother’s information and asked them to send me the medicine and treatment records they have from the hospitals so I can compare what she got versus what was claimed on the medical records and then, like an autumn fly, I hit the hard wall of stupidity.

I call it ADA, short for “absolute dumb act,” on the part of both Medicare and also on the part of the California legislature.

First let’s look at Medicare’s dumb act: when someone dies, Medicare immediately purges all records so there is no chance in heaven or hell to find out what medications and treatments were claimed by hospitals or doctors and what the deceased actually received. This is an amazing opportunity for fraud and I bet your pants off that there is plenty of fraud as a result. There is just simply no way to check who received what and what was claimed–this is invitation to cheat as you like.

Dumb act two is even dumber: HMOs file to Medicare in “bulk” meaning that if they have 15 patients who receive morphine, they will bill Medicare for 15 doses of morphine but Medicare will have no clue who actually received that morphine–perhaps no one did! So in theory, any HMO hospital or medical center can claim any amount of any expense of any drug given to any patient for reimbursement that they have never ever given to anyone! 

Are you angry? You must be! It is your money these HMOs are taking! It is your tax dollars they are spending–no wonder our government is bankrupt! I will open my window and yell as “I am mad as hell and will not take it anymore!” until I can get the ears of someone who can help me change the system!

If you have information of any kind that is helpful so I can start breaking the system down, please send a note, email, comment, whatever. I want this ADA to end!

Angela

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Suicide: A High School Student Takes Her Life

Posted on May 8, 2014 by Angela A Stanton, Ph.D.

This story does not appear perhaps on the surface to have anything to do with clueless doctors but it does… Prozac? Really? How clueless is that! She was priceless.. her doctor is clueless.

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Parathyroids and How Tricky and Dangerous–and Misunderstood they are!

Posted on May 6, 2014 by Angela A Stanton, Ph.D.

A friend of mine wrote this very interesting and rather long and suffering turn of events that beneath hid a secret about parathyroids. This particular story fits both clueless doctors and also migraines. Clueless doctors because after years of suffering it is by the research of the patient that actually lead to her discovery and not the doctors and to migraines because that is one of the symptoms. So if you are reading this, know that it is not just a doctor critic but also full of useful information to you.

Symptoms may vary so you should look up the table on this link and also search other medical websites that may add additional symptoms and information.

My friend’s story:

Well having a persistent headache for about a month – tinnitus louder than ever and clashing with other sounds – throat tightened considerably, back hurt more than usual, walking more difficult – dizziness mostly and those waves of sensation that preclude fainting but catch myself, have paths, my walker & cane nearby and a spot in each room to quickly sit, if that ‘fizzly electric feeling’ suddenly comes on…

For no reason one day I reached to my throat and felt my right clavicle sticking out. No injury but weird – so I made an appointment and went to doctors, since I do have Sarcoidosis among other things, so I thought maybe a new one was growing since its been 12 yrs since the last one grew suddenly in my throat.

Doctor ordered an ultrasound and TSH instead of an X-Ray.

Friday I go to an Endocrinologist. Ultrasound was of the thyroid and they are enlarged and with large nodules – 2 in the right and 1 in the left. They didn’t bother scanning the Parathyroid nor ordered any other tests, just the referral to the Endocrinologist Surgical Clinic.

After the ultrasound my left shoulder began to hurt like a broken tooth and it spread up my neck and down below the left clavicle into my upper chest. My upper arm hurt too, so I went to my PCP. The ringing in my ears was louder, headache pinging higher and at a more painful pitch.

The doctor wanted me to go into the hospital trying to say as a precaution because my heart has attacked before and with left side pain, thought it best I be in for observation, I asked if they would do anything about the thyroid or parathyroid and she said no as that hospital didn’t have that kind of dept. I thought WTH? So she asked if she should call me an ambulance as she didn’t want me driving! I replied I only live a few blocks away and would need to get my car to my son and would have him take me to the hospital instead.

I went home, called the local hospitals and found none handle Endocrinology issues, thus getting the referral to one that does out of town. I took it easy over the weekend at home. There was nothing a hospital would have done anyway and I am more comfortable at home. Sure it hurt and at times scared me but had I been in the hospital they’d have done nothing anyway!!

So the left side pains passed – obviously the lymph nodes and they didn’t like being pushed around during the ultrasound and started some chain reaction but once they settled down the pain lessened and now I am careful not to touch them or push around my neck or shoulder at least until I see the Endocrinologist on Friday.

12 yrs ago I had a fast growing lump too and went through all that pre-cancer scare stuff and turned out to be a sarcoid (non-malignant, a sort of granuloma filled with too much calcium).

I have had to avoid calcium as I get these little balls of them all over under the skin. I also have a low Vitamin D for over 10 yrs. Now while waiting for my appointment I came across a symptom attached to high calcium or calcium issues and low Vitamin D and it points to the parathyroid!!

So I read a bit and was shocked to find that all the mysterious symptoms I have had for years actually may tie together afterall. It seems that many regular doctors miss it because often the patients calcium levels are within the average normal range, although they may not be normal for that patient!! I hate statistics~!

I read more to find that there are 2 Endocrinologist surgeons who also suspected a relationship between calcium abnormalities and low Vitamin D and they started keeping notes on all the Parathyroid Tumor surgeries they did since 1998 and found every one of them had low Vitamin D and something off with the calcium but not necessarily to the levels the med schools tell doctors to do something about it. Instead of finding why the patient is low on Vitamin D, they simply prescribe more of it like they did to me for the past 10 years.

All this time and its probably Parathyroid Tumor and many of them are only the size of a grain of rice so get overlooked by most medical pros~! Shocking that something so little can and does cause so many many things to go wrong all over the body~!

Good news is once its identified and removed, many damaged areas begin to be restored , like heart arrhythmia, tinnitus, light sensitivity, migraine & sinus headaches, GERD, IBS , osteoporosis, joint pain and so many other things…

While I have to go Friday and they need to rule out cancer, at least they found the ones growing in the thyroid and so the Endocrinologist doctors can and will also test and check the parathyroids (there are 4 of them) and so when I do get my surgery whether its for sarcoids or cancer, they can take care of that at the same time.

I had low thyroid for 2 yrs as a teen but then reached ‘low side of normal’ so went off the med and never had to go on it again… always low side of normal- Well it wasn’t normal for me and for 40 yrs since I went off medications I had gained double my body weight, had 8 miscarriages and issues with everything I mentioned above….

All this time and now at 60 I find out…. so unfair that it was overlooked for so long..

Anyway maybe they can fix it all now as my son displays same symptoms, so maybe while its so late for me it may not be for him as he was just diagnosed with low Vitamin D too~
so I suggest anyone who is told they have low Vitamin D, should get their parathyroid checked by a doctor who actually looks for parathyroid tumors since even some endocrinologists miss it~!

My life could have been sooo much better… but even now they say the bone pain ends in 4-6 hrs after surgery as the hormones secreted by the parathyroid are robbing calcium out of the bones and depositing it into the blood causing many other problems that once the sucker is taken out, the problems for the most part stop. I don’t know what it will be like to not have tinnitus or bone pain but I hope to find out.

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High Blood Pressure is Good For You; Did You Know that?

Posted on May 5, 2014 by Angela A Stanton, Ph.D.

I was stunned to watch 60-Minutes last night when they interviewed people who are over 90 years old. They have been followed for over 30 years since they joined what used to be called Leisure World close to San Diego. This group is an interesting group to study since the researchers (at UC Irvine) have their full records, including vitamin intake, illnesses, they test them regularly for dementia and other ailments and also place them into the MRI to see if the researchers can learn something from the elderly. Since they donate their brains to science, we also learn about their brains after they die.

I was amazed to see how some of these 90+ year-olds looked and moved like they were 50 years old and when asked, one 100+ year old said she actually feels like she is 50. She was the most active of them all, still walking fast without any aid, 3 miles a day except on Sunday, when it is only 2 miles. Admirable! But wait. The findings are stunning!

We all believe that being thin is healthy. Turns out the being thin is not so healthy when you get older! I am not talking obese but a little bit of extra here and there is actually healthy. So the next time you examine yourself in the mirror, consider your age before your waistline!

Another thing of surprise was the blood pressure! Most everywhere doctors tell you that your blood pressure should be 120/80 or less… may be so said 60-Minutes when you are young. But as you get older, it seems the ones who live to be 90+ have higher blood pressures than normal. Those who had normal BP died long time ago! So it seems that higher blood pressure–I don’t mean sick high–is better for you. This is also evident in the case of those who have migraines. It seems that most people with migraines have low blood pressures–I do too–and I have a hard time increasing my blood pressure to be higher. Blood pressure is probably genetic but one can tinker with that by adding more salt to the diet. I will make an effort to add more salt to increase my BP to be over 120/80 since lower BP means the brain gets less blood and that is not good for the brain!

So is our current “heart healthy” diet with low salt and low blood pressure good for us? It may be good for the heart but definitely not for the brain. So if you want to live to be a healthy 90+ and not have dementia, perhaps you should eat more salty foods than the doctor recommends and stop taking all those blood pressure medications that lower your blood pressure to be 120/80 or less. (Do not just stop please! Get your doctor’s advice on how to lower your dose if you wish to lower it! It can have catastrophic consequences if you just stop taking your heart medicine!)

Drinking alcohol and/or coffee also turned out to be good! 1-3 coffees a day and/or up to 2 glasses of any alcohol–not just red wine but any alcohol–showed to be a good thing! But the most interesting of them all–in addition to the blood pressure–was the lack of importance of the vitamins we take. It really did not matter if they took vitamins or not and what kind, all or just one or any at all. It seemed that those who lived to be healthy 90+ did not care for vitamins. They cared for social activities, dances, fun, good food, good drink, and who cares about blood pressure?!

The MRI results were also interesting because they showed that what we consider as accumulation of matter (plaques) in the brain, that has long been associated with Alzheimer’s, has in fact nothing to do with it. They found these plaques in the brains of people who had absolutely no Alzheimer’s or dementia of any kind and also discovered people who had Alzheimer’s or other types of dementia who lacked these plaques completely.  Thus the feared brain plaques seem independent of Alzheimer’s or other types of dementia and may mean something we have not yet figured out or mean nothing, only broken down cells that clear out slower as a result of age.

Congratulation 60-Minutes for the fantastic segment and congratulation for all 90+ participants. AND a big congratulation to those who read this article and will be healthy 90+ as a result of stopping to listen to those doctors who still believe in the importance of low blood pressure in older age and in the importance of vitamins! Finally a report that proves that we do not need to be medicated to death to live!

Comments and questions are welcome!

Angela

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Are the Rats too Scared to Get the Right Research and Dose?

Posted on May 5, 2014 by Angela A Stanton, Ph.D.

I just had my husband read up a most interesting story from the most recent Economist (May 3rd, 2014)–a  most unlikely source for a scientific article–that came down on me like a rock! And it will on you as well. The title of the article does not tell you what it is about and it sounds silly too–not sure why they gave this title… but cute nonetheless albeit says nothing of the topic. The title is: Sex, writhes and videotape.

So why is this article interesting? It is not about sex and not about video taping animals having sex. Rather it discovered something critical for us to know about. The original research was published in Nature Methods by Jeffrey Mogil of McGill University in Montreal and his colleagues. So why is this article important to us you say?

This article is about how our research on animals has mislead us for years! And we did not know until now. This basically means we need to redo every single research. Why? As it turns out, lab rats fear male experimenters and kick into a “fight-or-flight” mode, initiating diarrhea and other things, one if which is key: less sensitivity to pain! 

If the researchers are women, the rats do not have the same fear, have no panic attacks, do not run for their lives, and their pain sensors remain what it normally would be.

This all sounds great but what is its importance? If you are taking a medication for a headache and the dose of that medicine was established for you based on the research of a male researchers, there is a good chance you will be overdosed! In fact, in recent studies, a couple of sleeping aid pharmaceuticals have already had to make adjustment to dosages since the dose for men represented a 45% overdose for women. But these doses may have still been established by male researchers that would mean that even the men are overdosed and women still also are. We just don’t know.

Based on this discovery of lab rat fear, it is questionable if we really have any medicine in the market today that is safe in dose! Think about its implications! And this is all because lab rats are more scared from men than women. It is both ridiculous and scary! It also teaches us a great lesson: rats can tell who is male and female.. in fact they can tell so from a T-Shirt put close to their cages… There is something about male researchers that intimidates lab rats!

Next time you buy your bottle of pain reliever, look to see if the researcher was male or female…

Any questions and suggestions are welcome!

Angela

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Migraine drug removed from use by the European Medicines Agency. Make sure you are not on it even in the US!

Posted on May 2, 2014 by Angela A Stanton, Ph.D.

New info that just came to me through another migraine group on Facebook that I participate in.

The European Medicines Agency now restricts a medicine often used to treat migraines (medicines in the ergot family drug) because it causes fibrosis. If you are on a drug in this family, make sure you make an appointment with your doctor and have them remove this drug from the list. This drug constricts blood vessels in your brain to increase blood pressure. I talk a ton in the upcoming book about how to increase your blood pressure naturally; no medicine is needed. In fact in the book I even provide you with drawings for some and on my website with more. For now, observe the article   and if you want to find out if your drug falls into this category, visit the US drug website to find related drugs–they are on the right side of the page. Note the red crossing of “discontinued” on the drug at the US site. This particular drug thus is no longer FDA approved so if you are on it, please immediately report the violation to the FDA and also talk to your doctor showing all the articles I am linking you to. Find more information on this drug on Wikipedia.

The original blog post can be found by clicking this link.

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The Pharmaceutical Industry’s Confession

Posted on May 2, 2014 by Angela A Stanton, Ph.D.

Watch this video and see why you need to stop your medications and start paying attention to your lives without them! The Fighting the Migraine Epidemic book soon to hit bookshelves is exactly based upon the the same principles. Watch this and enjoy the knowledge that your migraines can be treated without medicines! The Book “Fighting the Migraine Epidemic; How to Treat and Prevent Migraines Without Medicines. An Insider’s View” by Angela A. Stanton, Ph.D. will be out in a few days. I will post a link to it so you can see what you need to do to avoid all medicines, all supplements, and all therapies. Just focus on healing your brain by your own self with balancing the chemicals it received by how you eat what you eat. All food triggers will also become non-triggers if you balance the chemicals that cause the trigger. The book explains how to. No need for pharmaceuticals, no need for doctors. You can take care of your own pain and get rid of them. No need to waste your money or time! Watch the video! One of the drugs she refers to is depression drugs–serotonin–same as what is prescribed for migraines. So pay attention please to what she says! Ask any questions you have from me and I will be glad to respond!

You will find the original blog post on this here.

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Why you should Never trust your doctor!

Posted on May 2, 2014 by Angela A Stanton, Ph.D.
You are not going to like what I will say here: if you are sick, please take all medical books with you to your doctor and if they don’t listen to you, walk out and get another doctor! My mom has been completely misdiagnosed and from the first moment (2 days ago) on I have been fighting with all doctors. Last night I diagnosed my mom with serotonin syndrome–too much serotonin in the brain that can kill in a very bad way by suffocation. I recognized the symptoms, called the nurse with all symptoms, all cure, and gave her 1 hour to get it all done. With all family visiting her all day, no one caught it. No doctors–there were several yesterday visiting her–caught any of the symptoms either. They just kept on fightign me as if they knew better. They did not know better!
Luckily the doctors this time (late last night) did not fight me. They did as told and my mom is OK! I don’t yet know if there is any damage to any part of her body–including her brain. Yet to be seen. But today her blood pressure is back to normal and is walking again. So the good news is that she is back to body-normal. The bad news is that I am not on the hospital’s payroll and they will hear about this! If not by a lawsuit, then by a book!
So prepare yourselves please if and when your loved ones are sick. Get a book on medicine that you think you can understand enough to look up the symptoms and chase your doctors into a corner until they listen to you. If they did not act immediately as I ordered (and again, I am not a doctor in that place and I am just a research doc and not a patient care doc!), my mom may not be alive for another day! This is very serious so please those of you who have questions about drugs, check for yourself online or ask me and always have a relative with you with some knowledge or a medical book in hand–it can also work as an intimidation factor. Just go for it! Your life!
You will find the original blog post by clicking here.
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Quote from Dr. Sanjay Gupta: “The food we eat is medicine” and how does that connect to migraines?

Posted on May 2, 2014 by Angela A Stanton, Ph.D.

I have found an amazing salad–I must admit it is extremely yummy and I had it before–on the web, posted by a person who’s name I only can see as “Ali.” The link to that page is if you click here. Then come back here and lets have a discussion why this salad may cause serious migraine for those who are sensitive to it and even potentially cause trouble who are not migraineurs.

We are having an awesome discussion on the subject already on my Facebook page, which is not necessarily available to you so I am posting here some of the comments to initiate a discussion and also another link to an article from Wikipedia about one element in this salad. But there are more than one problems in this salad.

Opinions vary on what is good or bad but chemistry is a fact and not an opinion. Thus talking about a salad and its potential harmful effects are important. I had someone ask me the other day: well green leafy vegetables are good for you. Yes, indeed. Some green leafy vegetables are good for you and others may hurt you. Quantity also matter and how much you eat of it also matters. Most importantly what you eat it with matters as well.

But back to the spinach salad. Comments were as follows:

  • Histamine – great answer–not for migraineurs but in general. This salad has a lot of ingredients in it that many people find they will have some form of allergic reaction to even if not a full blown runny nose. If I have a histamine reaction to a food I eat, I start coughing, for example. I know people who start getting an itch inside their throat or ears. Some may get stomach cramps, etc. Thus sensitivity initiated by histamines does not mean “full blown allergy of swelling lips and tongue” but general signs of discomfort. A friend who is not a migraineur always gets a mild headache from this salad but always thought it was her lack of adding protein.
  • Protein. Protein is an important and necessary element in your food since that drives a lot of the metabolic energy in our bodies. Go a day without protein and watch yourself slower walk than a snail. You may also have other side effect.
  • Another commenter said “alkaline or acidity” – Ph balance is a very important part of the digestion system especially for those who have digestive issues but it is not a migraine trigger itself. This salad is not necessarily a bad one in terms of its acid content–depending on the ripeness of the fruits.
  • One commenter noted something important: spinach. Spinach is the #1 offender in this salad for a migraineur. Upon my asking why, she gave me the word: Tyramine. Tyramine is a very interesting chemical that is contained in many foods, spinach being one of them (Gorgonzola and Blue cheese–in this salad) also contain it. This chemical has a lot of migraine causing potential that you can read on Wikipedia and also elsewhere like on WebMD (not my favorite place to head for advice by the way but this time they got it right).

But there are other issues with this salad in addition to the ones already listed. Please comment on what you think it is and why. Let’s have a discussion!

You can find the original article by clicking here.

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