The journal of headache and pain
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Preventive pharmacotherapy for migraine is not satisfactory because of the low efficacy/tolerability ratio of many available drugs. Novel and more efficient preventive strategies are therefore warranted. Abnormal excitability of cortical areas appears to play a pivotal role in migraine pathophysiology. Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) is a non-invasive and safe technique that is able to durably modulate the activity of the underlying cerebral cortex, and is being tested in various medical indications. The results of small open studies using tDCS in migraine prophylaxis are conflicting, possibly because the optimal stimulation settings and the brain targets were not well chosen. We have previously shown that the cerebral cortex, especially the visual cortex, is hyperresponsive in migraine patients between attacks and provided evidence from evoked potential studies that this is due to a decreased cortical preactivation level. If one accepts this concept, anodal tDCS over the visual cortex may have therapeutic potentials in migraine prevention, as it is able to increase neuronal firing. ⋯ Anodal tDCS over the visual cortex is thus able to increase habituation to repetitive visual stimuli in healthy volunteers and in episodic migraineurs, who on average lack habituation interictally. Moreover, 2 weekly sessions of anodal tDCS had a significant preventive anti- migraine effect, proofing the concept that the low preactivation level of the visual cortex in migraine patients can be corrected by an activating neurostimulation. The therapeutic results indicate that a larger sham-controlled trial using the same tDCS protocol is worthwhile.
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Primary headaches, attention deficit disorder and learning disabilities in children and adolescents.
Primary headaches and Learning difficulties are both common in the pediatric population. The goal of our study was to assess the prevalence of learning disabilities and attention deficit disorder in children and adolescents with migraine and tension type headaches. ⋯ Learning disabilities and ADHD are more common in children and adolescents who are referred for neurological assessment due to primary headaches than is described in the general pediatric population. There is an association between headache diagnosis and school achievements.
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Sinusitis is the most frequent misdiagnosis given to patients with migraine.Therefore we decided to estimate the frequency of misdiagnosis of sinusitis among migraine patients. ⋯ Many migraine patients were misdiagnosed as sinusitis. Strict adherence to the diagnostic criteria will prevent the delay in migraine diagnosis and help to prevent chronification of the headache and possible MOH.
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Sport as a migraine trigger has been reported, but extensive information on these triggered attacks and the patients experiencing these attacks is lacking. Goal of this study was to investigate the lifetime prevalence of exercise triggered migraine attacks in migraine patients and if patients with exercise triggered attacks experience specific prodromal or ictal migraine symptoms. ⋯ Life time prevalence of exercise-triggered migraine attacks was high. Those experiencing exercise-triggered migraine attacks, more frequently had neck pain as initial migraine symptom during normal life attacks.
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Headache is the most common cause for chronic or recurrent pain in childhood and adolescence. Chronic pain may have a long-term effect on adolescents. It might contribute to functional limitations, such as poor school attendance, and it may adversely affect development of healthy social relationships. The aim of our study was to examine the cross- ethnic variation in the prevalence of headache in a non- clinical sample of adolescents in Northern Israel and to learn about its association to other somatic complaints. ⋯ Headache is a frequent complaint among adolescents in Northern Israel. Jewish adolescents reported having headaches more frequently than their Arab peers. Those who suffered from frequent headaches also reported having significantly more other somatic complaints than adolescents without headaches. Girls had more somatic complaints then boys in the two ethnic groups.