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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aAngryBlackLady

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

aAngryBlackLady.

This story is more than clueless but is extremely appropriate. This is typical for our medical system today: WHY is never asked.

In case you are wondering, AngryBlackLady is an MD… just to add to your fuel of understanding…

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Are you Sure you are Having Migraines? Awesome Summary

Posted on May 1, 2014 by Angela A Stanton, Ph.D.

The below list is not my creation but I found it posted in one of the many migraine groups on Facebook as a pdf. This is a collection of all possible migraine types and headache types, all possible symptoms and prodrome types as well. I found it extremely helpful and perhaps you will too. Perhaps you should print this list, circle your symptoms, and show your doctor. I was not able to upload the pdf here only copy-pasted the contents. It was originally compiled by Kristina Heller Richard and Tracy Pidd Smith

1. Migraine
1.1 Migraines Without Aura (MWOA)
1.2 Migraine with Aura (MWA)
• Typical aura with migraine headache
• Typical aura with non-migraine headache
• Typical aura without headache “Acephalgic Migraine”
• Familial Hemiplegic migraine (FHM)
• Sporadic Hemiplegic migraine(SHM)
• Basilar-type migraine(BTM)
1.3 Childhood periodic syndromes that are commonly precursors of migraine
• Cyclical vomiting
• Abdominal migraine
• Benign paroxysmal vertigo of childhood
1.4 Retinal migraine
1.5 Complications of migraine
• Chronic migraine
• Status migrainous
• Persistent aura without infarction
• Migrainous infarction
• Migraine-triggered seizures
1.6 Probable migraine
• Probable Migraine w/o aura
• Probable Migraine w/ aura
• Probable Chronic Migraine
2. Tension-type headache ~
2.1 Infrequent episodic tension-type headache
• Infrequent episodic tension-type headache associated with pericranial tenderness
• Infrequent episodic tension-type headache not associated with pericranial tenderness
2.2 Frequent episodic tension-type headache
• Frequent episodic tension-type headache associated with pericranial tenderness
• Frequent episodic tension-type headache not associated with pericranial tenderness
2.3 Chronic tension-type headache
• Chronic tension-type headache associated with pericranial tenderness
• Chronic tension-type headache not associated with pericranial tenderness
2.4 Probable tension-type headache
• Probable infrequent episodic tension-type headache
• Probable frequent episodic tension-type headache
• Cluster headache and other trigeminal autonomic cephalalgias, Probable chronic tension-type
headache
3. Cluster headache and other trigeminal autonomic cephalalgias
3.1 Cluster headache
• Episodic cluster headache
• Chronic cluster headache
3.2 Paroxysmal hemicrania
• Episodic paroxysmal hemicrania
• Chronic paroxysmal hemicrania (CPH)
3.3 Short-lasting unilateral neuralgiform headache attacks with conjunctival injection and tearing
(SUNCT)
3.4 Probable trigeminal autonomic cephalalgia
• Probable cluster headache
• Probable paroxysmal hemicrania
• Probable SUNCT
4. Other primary headaches
4.1 Primary stabbing headache
4.2 Primary cough headache
4.3 Primary exertional headache
4.4 Primary headache associated with sexual activity
• Pre-orgasmic headache
• Orgasmic headache
4.5 Hypnic headache
4.6 Primary thunderclap headache
4.7 Hemicrania continua
4.8 New daily-persistent headache (NDPH)
5. Headache attributed to head and/or neck trauma
5.1 Acute post-traumatic headache
• Acute post-traumatic headache attributed to moderate or severe head injury
• Acute post-traumatic headache attributed to mild head injury
5.2 Chronic post-traumatic headache
• Chronic post-traumatic headache attributed to moderate or severe head injury
• Chronic post-traumatic headache attributed to mild head injury
5.3 Acute headache attributed to whiplash injury
5.4 Chronic headache attributed to whiplash injury
5.5 Headache attributed to traumatic intracranial haematoma
• Chronic post-traumatic headache attributed to moderate or severe head injury
• Chronic post-traumatic headache attributed to mild head injury
5.6 Headache attributed to other head and/or neck
• Acute headache attributed to other head and/or neck trauma
• Chronic headache attributed to other head and/or neck trauma
5.7 Post-craniotomy headache
• Acute post-craniotomy headache
• Chronic post-craniotomy headache
6. Headache attributed to cranial or cervical vascular disorder
6.1 Headache attributed to ischemic stroke or transient ischemic attack
• Headache attributed to ischemic stroke (cerebral infarction)
• Headache attributed to transient ischemic attack (TIA)
6.2 Headache attributed to non-traumatic intracranial hemorrhage
• Headache attributed to intracerebral hemorrhage
• Headache attributed to subarachnoid haemorrhage (SAH)
6.3 Headache attributed to unruptured vascular malformation
• Headache attributed to saccular aneurysm
• Headache attributed to arteriovenous malformation (AVM)
• Headache attributed to dural arteriovenous fistula
• Headache attributed to cavernous angioma
• Headache attributed to encephalotrigeminal or leptomeningeal angiomatosis (Sturge Weber
syndrome
6.4 Headache attributed to arteritis
• Headache attributed to giant cell arteritis (GCA)
• Headache attributed to primary central nervous system (CNS) angiitis
• Headache attributed to secondary central nervous system (CNS) angiitis
6.5 Carotid or vertebral artery pain
• Headache or facial or neck pain attributed to arterial dissection
• Post-endarterectomy headache
• Carotid angioplasty headache
• Headache attributed to intracranial endovascular procedures
• Angiography headache
6.6 Headache attributed to cerebral venous thrombosis (CVT)
6.7 Headache attributed to other intracranial vascular disorder
• Cerebral Autosomal Dominant Arteriopathy with Subcortical Infarcts and Leukoencephalopathy
(CADASIL)
• Mitochondrial Encephalopathy, Lactic Acidosis and Stroke-like episodes (MELAS)
• Headache attributed to benign angiopathy of the central nervous system
• Headache attributed to pituitary apoplexy
7. Headache attributed to non-vascular intracranial disorder
7.1 Headache attributed to high cerebrospinal fluid pressure
• Headache attributed to idiopathic intracranial hypertension (IIH)
• Headache attributed to intracranial hypertension secondary to hydrocephalus
7.2 Headache attributed to low cerebrospinal fluid pressure
• Post-dural puncture headache
• CSF fistula headache
• Headache attributed to spontaneous (or idiopathic) low CSF pressure
7.3 Headache attributed to non-infectious inflammatory disease
• Headache attributed to neurosarcoidosis
• Headache attributed to aseptic (non-infectious) meningitis
• Headache attributed to other non-infectious inflammatory disease
• Headache attributed to lymphocytic hypophysitis
7.4 Headache attributed to intracranial neoplasm
• Headache attributed to increased intracranial pressure or hydrocephalus caused by neoplasm
• Headache attributed directly to neoplasm
• Headache attributed to carcinomatous meningitis
• Headache attributed to hypothalamic or pituitary hyper- or hyposecretion
7.5 Headache attributed to intrathecal injection
7.6 Headache attributed to epileptic seizure
• Hemicrania epileptica
• Post-seizure headache
7.7 Headache attributed to Chiari malformation type I
7.8 Syndrome of transient Headache and Neurological Deficits with cerebrospinal fluid Lymphocytosis
(HaNDL)
7.9 Headache attributed to other non-vascular intracranial disorder
8. Headache attributed to a substance or its withdrawal
8.1 Headache induced by acute substance use or exposure
• Nitric oxide (NO) donor-induced headache
• Phosphodiesterase (PDE) inhibitor-induced headache
• Carbon monoxide-induced headache
• Alcohol-induced headache
• Immediate alcohol-induced headache
• Delayed alcohol-induced headache
• Headache induced by food components and additives
• Monosodium glutamate-induced headache
• Cocaine-induced headache
• Cannabis-induced headache
• Histamine-induced headache
• Immediate histamine-induced headache
• Delayed histamine-induced headache
• Calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP)-induced headache
• Immediate CGRP-induced headache
• Delayed CGRP-induced headache
• Headache as an acute adverse event attributed to medication used for other indications
• Headache attributed to other acute substance use or exposure
8.2 Medication-overuse headache (MOH)
• Ergotamine-overuse headache
• Triptan-overuse headache
• Analgesic-overuse headache
• Opioid-overuse headache
• Combination analgesic-overuse headache
• Medication-overuse headache attributed to combination of acute medications
• Headache attributed to other medication overuse
8.3 Headache as an adverse event attributed to chronic medication
• Exogenous hormone-induced headache
8.4 Headache attributed to substance withdrawal
• Caffeine-withdrawal headache
• Opioid-withdrawal headache
• estrogen-withdrawal headache
• Headache attributed to withdrawal from chronic use of other substances
9 Headache attributed to infection
9.1 Headache attributed to intracranial infection
• Headache attributed to bacterial meningitis
• Headache attributed to lymphocytic menin
• Headache attributed to encephalitis
• Headache attributed to brain abscess
• Headache attributed to subdural empyema
9.2 Headache attributed to systemic infection
• Headache attributed to systemic bacterial infection
• Headache attributed to systemic viral infection
• Headache attributed to other systemic infection
9.3 Headache attributed to HIV/AIDS
9.4 Chronic post-infection headache
• Chronic post-bacterial meningitis headache
10. Headache attributed to disorder of homoeostasis
10.1 Headache attributed to hypoxia and/or hypercapnia
• High-altitude headache
• Diving headache
• Sleep apnea headache
10.2 Dialysis headache
10.3 Headache attributed to arterial hypertension
• Headache attributed to phaeochromocytoma
• Headache attributed to hypertensive crisis without hypertensive encephalopathy
• Headache attributed to hypertensive encephalopathy
• Headache attributed to pre-eclampsia
• Headache attributed to eclampsia
• Headache attributed to acute pressor response to an exogenous agent
10.4 Headache attributed to hypothyroidism
10.5 Headache attributed to fasting
10.6 Cardiac cephalalgia
10.7 Headache attributed to other disorder of homoeostasis
11. Headache or facial pain attributed to disorder of cranium, neck, eyes, ears, nose, sinuses,
teeth, mouth or other facial or cranial structures
11.1 Headache attributed to disorder of cranial bone
11.2 Headache attributed to disorder of neck
• Cervicogenic headache
• Headache attributed to retropharyngeal tendonitis
• Headache attributed to craniocervical dystonia
11.3 Headache attributed to disorder of eyes
• Headache attributed to acute glaucoma
• Headache attributed to refractive errors
• Headache attributed to heterophoria or heterotropia
• Headache attributed to ocular inflammatory disorder
11.4 Headache attributed to ocular inflammatory disorder
11.5 Headache attributed to rhinosinusitis
11.6 Headache attributed to disorder of teeth, jaws or related structures
11.7 Headache or facial pain attributed to temporomandibular joint (TMJ) disorder
11.8 Headache attributed to other disorder of cranium, neck, eyes, ears, nose, sinuses, teeth,
mouth or other facial or cervical structures
12. Headache attributed to psychiatric disorder
12.1 Headache attributed to somatisation disorder
13. Cranial neuralgias and central causes of facial pain
13.1 Trigeminal neuralgia
• Classical Trigeminal neuralgia
• SymptomaticTrigeminal neuralgia
13.2 Glossopharyngeal neuralgia
13.3 Nervus intermedius neuralgia
13.4 Superior laryngeal neuralgia
13.5 Nasociliary neuralgia
13.6 Supraorbital neuralgia
13.7 Other terminal branch neuralgias
13.8 Occipital neuralgia
13.9 Neck-tongue syndrome
13.10 External compression headache
13.11 Cold-stimulus headache
• Headache attributed to external application of a cold stimulus
• Headache attributed to ingestion or inhalation of a cold stimulus
13.12 Constant pain caused by compression, irritation or distortion of cranial nerves or upper cervical
roots by structural lesions
13.13 Optic neuritis
13.14 Ocular diabetic neuropathy
13.15 Head or facial pain attributed to herpes zoster
• Head or facial pain attributed to acute herpes zoster
• Post-herpetic neuralgia
13.16 Tolosa-Hunt syndrome
13.17 Ophthalmoplegic “migraine”
13.18 Central causes of facial pain
• Anaesthesia dolorosa
• Central post-stroke pain
• Facial pain attributed to multiple sclerosis
• Persistent idiopathic facial pain
• Burning mouth syndrome
13.19 Other cranial neuralgia or other centrally mediated facial pain
*http://ihs-classification.org/en/
5*SOME OF THE SYMPTOMS MAY BE SEEN IN ONE OR ALL THE STAGES DEPENDING
ON THE MIGRAINE/HEADACHE.*
STAGE 1 Prodromal Some people experience these changes several hours or days before an attack
symptoms which may include but not limited to:
• Change in mood(dissociated, depressed, irritable)
• Changes in elimination
• Chills
• Cold skin
• Cravings (sweet/salty, hot/spicy,etc.)
• Detached or Dissociated
• Dizziness
• Energy levels(low, high, euphoria)
• Fatigue, sleepy
• Feeling distant
• Graying or blacking of vision
• Light headed
• Metallic/blood taste
• Muffled hearing
• Nausea
• Nose bleed
• Pallor
• Palpitation
• Severe congestion
• Sleep (light, heat, fragmented, night mares, paralysis)
• Stiff Neck
• Sweating
• Vertigo
• Yawning
STAGE 2 Aura stage.. (This stage may or may not manifest) and symptoms which may include
but not limited to:
• Anxiety (Difficulty breathing in, chest pain,etc)
• Ataxia
• Bloodshot eye
• Body temperature rising
• BP drops
• BP spikes
• Dysarthria
• Feeling of carotid artery pounding out of neck
• Hypacusia
• Impending doom during the aura phase and go into the fight or flight response
• Lump in the throat (glotus sensation)
• Migraine syncope (BTM)
• Muscle tone is flaccid
• Panic attack
• Pressure on brain stem
• Pressure on the bridge of nose
• Runny nose
• Side draws or feels like it is drawing up
• Skin turning red
• Sound of blood rushing in ear
• Temples feel tight
• Throw up
• True vertigo
• Uncontrollable shaking
Auditory symptoms (which may include but not limited to:)
• buzzing
• decreased hearing
• hallucinations
• loss of hearing
• ringing
• roaring
Tingling symptoms (which may include but not limited to:)
• above the eye
• arm
• below the eye
• breast
• buttock
• calf
• cheek
• nose
• chest
• down into the jaw
• eyelid
• feet
• finger
• forearm
• forehead
• hands
• hip
• leg
• lower back
• mouth
• neck
• roof of mouth
• scalp
• side of face
• spine
• teeth / gums
• thigh
• throat
• toes
• tongue
• torso
• upper back
• wrist
Numbness (which may include but not limited to:)
• above the eye
• arms
• below the eye
• breast
• bridge of the nose
• buttock
• calf
• cheek
• chest
• down into the jaw
• eyelid
• feet
• forearm
• forehead
• hands
• head
• hip
• leg
• lower back
• mouth
• neck
• roof of mouth
• scalp
• side of face
• spine
• teeth/gums
• thigh
• throat
• tongue
• torso
• upper back
• wrist
Phantosmia/ Olfactory (which may include but not limited to:)
• chilli
• coffee
• musty
• rubbing alcohol
• smoke
• sour
• sweet
• oversensitive to others
Speech symptoms (which may include but not limited to:)
• can’t find the words
• can’t get the words out
• Dysphasia – inability to speak
• impaired / slurred
• words jumbled
Stroke like symptoms which may include but not limited to:
• Coma
• Disturbances of consciousness
• Drooling
• Drooping
• Fainting
• Fever
• Memory loss
• Motor Weakness*(Hemiplegic Migraine)
• Odd sensations like insects or water over the scalp
• Paralysis such as: monoplegia, diplegia, hemiplegia parenthesis
• Twitching
Aphasia (which may include but not limited to:)
• Inability to comprehend or retain what is read
• Not comprehend other people’s conversation
• Speak in sentences that don’t make sense
• Speak in short or incomplete sentences
• Speak unrecognizable words
• Write sentences that don’t make sense
Brain Fog (which may include but not limited to:)
• Confusion
• Impaired reasoning
• Repetitions while speaking
• Short term memory loss
• Unable to concentrate
Alice in Wonderland Symptoms (which may include but not limited to:)
• Altered body image
• Head feels heavy
• Head feels large
• Head feels light
• Head feels small
• Limbs perceive to be missing or parts of them
• Noise is hollow
• Paranoia
• Things look elongated/shorter then they actually are
• Time speeds up
• Time slows down
Vision symptoms (which may include but not limited to:)
• black
• blurred
• bright
• spots
• clouded
• dark
• dazzling
• zigzag
• lights
• eye pain
• flashes of light
• flashing
• floaters – various shapes
• impaired
• partial loss of sight
• scotoma
• snowy
• spotty
• total sight loss
• tunnel
• wavy lines
• whitening
• Visual vertigo feel imbalanced
• veers to side when walking
• visual stimuli – patterned carpets, stripes, escalators, words on newspapers, etc
STAGE 3 Headache stage..this is the pain stage which sometimes is absent. Pain can be anywhere
and may start or travel anywhere and may include but not limited to:
• abdomen
• above the eye
• arm
• behind the eye
• below the eye
• buttocks
• calf
• cheek
• ear
• electric shock feelings
• eyelid
• face
• feet
• fingers
• forearm
• forehead
• hand
• head
• hip
• jaw
• lower back
• mouth
• nasal
• neck
• night-time pain spike
• scalp
• sinus
• spine
• stabbing flank pain
• teeth / gums
• thigh
• throat
• tongue
• torso
• upper back
• wrist
Headache/migraine (which may include but not limited to:)
• bilateral
• dull ache and get worse
• electric shock feelings
• like a spike being driven in mead
• pain spikes on one side
• pain switch sides
• pounding headache
• prominent blood vessels in temple
• pulsing, headache right side
• stabbing flank pain
• throbbing
• unilateral
STAGE 4 Resolution stage (which may include but not limited to:)
• fatigue
• pale skin
• pain stops
• pain slows down
• vomiting
STAGE 5 Postdromal or recovery phase (which may include but not limited to:)
• Depression or malaise
• Exhausted
• Facial pulling
• Fatigue and/or sleepiness
• Less severe head pain
• Muscle weakness
• Scalp tender
Restless (which may include but not limited to:)
• Arm
• Back
• Head
• Leg
• Knee
• Torso
• Pelvic
Involuntary twitching (which may include but not limited to:)
• arm
• back
• breast
• calf
• cheek
• chest
• eyebrow
• eyelids
• feet
• hands
• head
• jaw
• knee
• leg
• lips
• mouth
• neck
• shoulder
• thigh
• tongue
• torso
• wrist
Muscle pain(which may include but not limited to: abdomen
• arms
• back
• calf
• cheek
• chest
• feet
• fingers
• forearm
• hand
• head
• jaw
• leg
• lower back
• neck
• penis
• shoulders
• stomach
• thigh
• throat
• toes
• tongue
• upper back
• vagina
• wrist
• hyper/hypo-sensitivity to feel and touch
Tenderness(which may include but not limited to:)
• in abdomen
• in arms
• in back
• in calf
• in cheek
• in chest
• in feet
• in fingers
• in forearm
• in hand
• in head
• n jaw
• in leg
• in lower back
• in neck
• in penis
• in shoulders
• in stomach
• in thigh
• in throat
• in toes
• in tongue
• in upper back
• n vagina
• in wrist
Heath problems Migraineurs have in common (which may include but not limited
to:)
• Agoraphobia
• Alcoholism
• Allergies
• Allodynia
• Alzheimer
• Anemia
• Angioedermas
• Anxiety
• Asthma
• Autoimmune diseases
• Barrett’s esophagus
• Bruxism
• Cancer
• Celiac Diseases
• Cervical Spondylosis
• Chronic Ear Infections,etc,
• Chronic Epstein-Barr’s
• Chronic fatigue syndrome
• Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disorder (COPD)
• Crohn’s
• Conversation Disorder
• Dementia
• Depression
• Diverticulitis
• Drug Addiction
• Dysautonomia Ehlder’s Danlos Syndrome (EDS)
• Dystonia
• Endometriosis
• Epilepsy’s
• Essential tremor
• Fibromyalgia
• Gastroesosphageal reflux disease (GERD)
• Gluten Intolerence
• Hashimotos Disease
• Hiatal Hernia
• High cholesterol
• Hypertension
• Hypotension
• Hypothyroidism
• Immune Deficiencies
• Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS)
• Lupus
• Lyme
• Mast Cell Disorders
• Meniere’s disease
• Mental Illness
• Multiple sclerosis(MS)
• Muscular Dystropy (MD)
• Obesity
• Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD)
• Osteoarthritis
• Panic disorder
• Parathyroidism
• Patent Foramen Ovale (PFO)
• Peripheral neuropathy
• Plantar fasciitis with bone spurs
• Plantar fascoitis without bone spurs
• Polycystic ovary syndrome(PCOS)
• Postnatal depression POTS (postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome)
• Raynaud’s disease
• Radiculopathy
• Reversible Ischemic Neurological Deficit (RIND)
• RLS – Restless Leg Syndrome
• Rosacea
• Obesity
• Seizures
• Sinusitis
• Sjogren’s syndrome
• Stroke
• Suicide
• Temporomandibular disorder ( TMJD)
• Transient Ischemic Attack(TIA)
• Tricuspid Regurgitation – leaky tricuspid valve
• Various heart problem
• Vasovagal syncope
• Visual Snow (VS)
Posted in Migraine-Blog | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

What Are Migraines? An Amazing Explanation via a Video!

Posted on May 1, 2014 by Angela A Stanton, Ph.D.

I have just found this amazing video and decided to post it right away.
 

 
I have not yet seen a clearer and more accurate explanation of what a migraine is anywhere on the internet before. I hope you enjoy watching it! many people, particularly those from the older way of looking at migraines, believe that migraine is vascular. This video shows how much it is not albeit you will see that it does connect to the vascular system. The  brain has its own vascular system, which is connected to the heart obviously. What this means is that the brain can experience things the heart does not–there is the blood-brain barrier. But this is not the case in the other direction. If one has high blood pressure, the pressure with which the blood will flow to the brain will be high as well, potentially causing trouble. So while migraines are not vascular themselves, they are connected to those organs that are. Still, migraines are neurological and not vascular. That is a huge difference.

The original blog post on migraine-book.com can be found by clicking on this link.

Posted in Interesting reading, Migraine-Blog, Must Read, Thoughts, Videos | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment