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Mayo Clinic Proceedings: The evolution of migraine from episodic headache to chronic disorder
May 27, 2009ROCHESTER, Minn. -- Patients living with migraine have strong reason for new optimism concerning a positive future. Two review articles and an accompanying editorial, "The Future of Migraine: Beyond Just Another Pill," in the current issue of Mayo Clinic Proceedings, are the basis for an ironic premise.
"Migraine is a potentially chronic, progressive disease that substantially affects patients, families, workplaces, and society," according to the editorial written by Roger Cady, M.D., of the Headache Care Center in Springfield, Mo. "Ironically, this is the springboard for renewed optimism of a more positive future for patients living with migraine."
Traditionally, Dr. Cady explains, migraine has been considered a pain disorder involving separate or even sporadic episodes. Now, the condition is defined as an all-encompassing and progressive disease that negatively affects all aspects of an individual's life. Migraine can erode quality of life during what should be a person's most productive years, according to Dr. Cady. Because migraine patients' quality of life has not improved at a pace with medical advances, research is addressing the overall severity and potential progressive nature of migraine, especially migraine episodes as a forerunner of chronic migraine.
According to the three articles, these new insights and understandings are requiring professionals to explore well beyond traditional migraine management. "Understanding migraine as a potentially chronic disease mandates a collaborative health care model with patients and health care professionals working in a partnership toward common therapeutic goals," writes Dr. Cady, specifically intervention and prevention. Physicians and patients must be encouraged to be partners, he says, and evaluation must go far beyond the physician just asking, "How are your migraines?" The models must include an invitation to comprehend and address all migraine-related health issues facing patients, Dr. Cady writes. In addition, understanding the evolutionary "stages" of migraine from sporadic to persistent offers an opportunity to develop new therapies that individualize and personalize care.
In the future, successful management of migraine will ideally be measured not by stopping an attack but by overall disease management and prevention, according to the researchers.
This new understanding of migraine as a chronic disease offers many challenges and rewards, according to Dr. Cady. "Today, the focus of care is rapidly changing from the event of the migraine to the patient with migraine," he notes. These changes present great promise for patients and health care professionals alike, representing assurances of a better future for patients with migraine, concludes Dr. Cady.
Mayo Clinic
According to the three articles, these new insights and understandings are requiring professionals to explore well beyond traditional migraine management. "Understanding migraine as a potentially chronic disease mandates a collaborative health care model with patients and health care professionals working in a partnership toward common therapeutic goals," writes Dr. Cady, specifically intervention and prevention. Physicians and patients must be encouraged to be partners, he says, and evaluation must go far beyond the physician just asking, "How are your migraines?" The models must include an invitation to comprehend and address all migraine-related health issues facing patients, Dr. Cady writes. In addition, understanding the evolutionary "stages" of migraine from sporadic to persistent offers an opportunity to develop new therapies that individualize and personalize care.
In the future, successful management of migraine will ideally be measured not by stopping an attack but by overall disease management and prevention, according to the researchers.
This new understanding of migraine as a chronic disease offers many challenges and rewards, according to Dr. Cady. "Today, the focus of care is rapidly changing from the event of the migraine to the patient with migraine," he notes. These changes present great promise for patients and health care professionals alike, representing assurances of a better future for patients with migraine, concludes Dr. Cady.
Mayo Clinic
Migraine Current Events and Migraine News RSSResearch: Migraine and cardiovascular disease: Systematic review and meta-analysis
Migraine with aura (temporary visual or sensory disturbances before or during a migraine headache) is associated with a twofold increased risk of stroke, finds a study published on bmj.com today.
Increased stroke risk from birth control pills
She was only 30 years old, but she was experiencing the classic symptoms of a stroke. Her speech suddenly became slurred, and her left hand became clumsy while eating.
Surgery potentially best option for severe migraine headaches
The disability from migraine headaches is an enormous health burden affecting over 30 million Americans.
Migraine sufferers more prone to hangover headache
Migraine sufferers, beware. You may be more prone to an alcohol-induced headache after a night of drinking, according to researchers from the Jefferson Headache Center. The research will be presented at Neuroscience 2009, the Annual Meeting of the Society for Neuroscience, in Chicago.
Jefferson Headache Center study shows novel, orally inhaled migraine therapy effective
A new study conducted at the Jefferson Headache Center at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania shows an investigational, orally-inhaled therapy is effective in treating migraines.
Neck surgery for cervical spine disorders found to alleviate associated headaches
A new study published in the August 2009 issue of the Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery (JBJS) finds that two years after anterior cervical neck operations, patients who have arthroplasty (disc replacement) or arthodesis (spine fusion) can be expected to have significant improvement in their headache symptoms.
Got migraines?
Migraine headaches are a drain - not only on the estimated 30 million Americans who suffer from them, but on the economy, too.
Anti-epilepsy drug risk on cognitive function for unborn children
Interim results of a study being conducted by scientists at the University of Liverpool suggest that children aged three years and younger, who are born to women taking the anti-epileptic drug sodium valproate whilst pregnant, are likely to have an IQ of six to nine points lower than average.
Link between migraines and reduced breast cancer risk confirmed in follow-up study
The relationship between migraine headaches in women and a significant reduction in breast cancer risk has been confirmed in a follow-on study to landmark research published last year and conducted by scientists at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center.
Learning from locusts
A similarity in brain disturbance between insects and people suffering from migraines, stroke and epilepsy points the way toward new drug therapies to address these conditions.
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