My Dad
By Kerrie | July 24, 2008
My dad passed away last night.
Topics: Coping | No Comments »
My Dad is in Hospice
By Kerrie | July 19, 2008
My dad went into hospice yesterday. After two years of searching for a diagnosis, a lung biopsy last month revealed he has an extremely rare disease called Erdheim-Chester. In short, his body is producing too many of a certain kind of white blood cell. The extra cells are overloading his organs and shutting them down.
My thoughts are too jumbled to write more. It all feels so unreal.
Topics: Coping | 10 Comments »
This week at Help My Hurt
By Marijke | July 17, 2008
Hi folks, here are some posts from Help My Hurt that you may find interesting. Thanks for stopping by!
- Music’s soothing effects - and an iTunes give-away
- Could oxygen be the answer to migraines and cluster headaches?
- It’s Blog Carnival time at Help My Hurt
- Write up on Women in Pain Conference: Gender Matters
- Press Release: Headaches on the Job Prevalent, Painful and Costly
- Call out for Company’s Calling participants
- Concussions between men and women are different
Marijke has volunteered to keep The Daily Headache running while I’m on vacation. An RN turned writer, her excellent blog is called Help My Hurt. -Kerrie
Topics: Community | No Comments »
Testing My Limits With Cookies
By Kerrie | July 16, 2008
In my struggle to decide if I’m sick enough for the couch or giving into the pleasure of reading a little too soon, I’ve found the million dollar question: Can I bake something?
As much as I love to read, baking will always win out. If I feel well enough to bake, I will do it. Because I always, always want to do it. There are plenty of times that I want to bake and have to talk myself out of it because I know I’ll totally wear myself out. But if I am physically capable of it, I will.
So I ask myself if I want to — and can — bake. If the answer is yes, then I know I’m well enough to do the minutiae of life. Sometimes I’m even clever enough to choose to baking over minutiae.
Topics: Coping | No Comments »
July Headache Blog Carnival - How Spirituality Helps Us Cope with Migraine Disease
By Marijke | July 14, 2008
July’s Headache Blog Carnival is now live.
Generally speaking, a blog carnival is a collection of links to a variety of a blogs on a central topic. The Headache & Migraine Disease Blog Carnival has been created to provide both headache and migraine disease patients and people who blog about headache disorders with unique opportunities to share ideas on topics of particular interest and importance to us. Visit the link to this month’s carnival for a collection of informative entries on how spirituality helps us cope with migraines and headaches.
Topics: Community | No Comments »
Pain Scales: Quantifying the Subjective
By Kerrie | July 14, 2008
Whenever a health care provider asks my pain level on a scale of 1-10, I start with a disclaimer. Pain levels are entirely subjective and it is nearly impossible to assign numbers to vague concepts that vary from one person to another. This comparative pain scale is one of the best I’ve found, but my level 3 is a 6 on this scale
Putting numbers into words makes an ill-defined, fuzzy scale into perspective. Detailing what the numbers mean to you may help you track your pain more consistently. Some people recommend sharing the detailed chart with your doctor. Not a bad idea, except few doctors have the time to sort through all that. And he or she can’t keep track of what your scale means compared to Jenny’s or Lucy’s or Dave’s. It may be too much information to expect them to digest.
Instead of trying to assign numbers, researchers usually use a simple scale of none, moderate and severe. I use a more detailed version with mild, mild-moderate, moderate, moderate-severe, and severe. I still refer to numbers sometime, but they are always within the context of this classification. For example, 6 is moderate, 7 is moderate-severe.
What’s your pain scale? How have you communicated it to your health care providers?
Topics: Coping, Treatment | 2 Comments »
This week at Free My Brain from Migraine Pain
By Megan | July 11, 2008
Posts this week over at Free My Brain From Migraine Pain range over a variety of topics:
- Being Prepared to see the Doctor: It takes two to tango in a doctor-patient partnership. I draw on some great resources to prepare for my long-awaited headache specialist appointment.
- Exercise and Migraine Prevention: Take Two: New research indicates no proof of a connection between exercise and migraine prevention. It may not be proven, but there are still lots of reasons to think exercise is good for migraineurs. Some discussion of why, with some personal anecdotes thrown in.
- Believing in Ghosts: Okay, I don’t really believe in ghosts, but sometimes when a Migraine takes me by surprise it reminds me of my nightmares. I can’t explain - read it and you’ll understand!
- God Grant Me the Serenity to Accept the Migraines I Cannot Change: How I use spirituality to help me through Migraines.
Megan Oltman, a migraine management coach, has volunteered to keep The Daily Headache running while I’m on vacation. Be sure to check out her blog, Free My Brain From Migraine Pain for more thoughts, tips and techniques on managing life with migraine. -Kerrie
Topics: Community, Coping, News | No Comments »
This past week over at Help My Hurt
By Marijke | July 11, 2008
Hi all - this was supposed to go live yesterday but I forgot to publish it. Sorry!
Here are some posts that you might find interesting from over at Help My Hurt:
- Concussions between men and women are different
- Botulinum toxin A injection may help some types of chronic headaches
- Narcotic and opioid myths - it’s time to smarten up
- Evaluating treatment risks
- Chronic migraines and vitamin D?
- Ice cream headaches: “No need for abstinence”
Marijke has volunteered to keep The Daily Headache running while I’m on vacation. An RN turned writer, her excellent blog is called Help My Hurt. -Kerrie
Topics: Community | No Comments »
Seattle Doctors, Neurologists & Headache Specialists
By Kerrie | July 9, 2008
I’ve been asked about Seattle headache specialists and neurologists more times than I can count in the last month. My experience is quite limited, but the online support group and forum has a thread with recommendations for Seattle headache doctors. If you have any to add, please do! You can also check What Do You Think of Your Doctor, an earlier post with lots of good suggestions, some in Seattle, some elsewhere.
Here’s what I know:
I’ve seen Sylvia Lucas at UW and Sheena Aurora at Swedish. They are both kind and caring. We all click with different people, of course, but I found Dr. Lucas to be more patient-oriented and Dr. Aurora to be more research-oriented. Both have at least three-month long waiting lists. It took six months to get into my first appointment with Dr. Lucas and follow-ups are usually scheduled two months out. Dr. Aurora is more like three months for an initial appointment.
A friend sees Patrick Hogan, an osteopathic neurologist, in Tacoma. His number is (253) 284-4488. He requires a doctor’s referral regardless of your insurance and your family/general physician will have to contact his office to get you in.
For other doctors in the Seattle area — or anywhere else in the US, check the National Headache Foundation’s physician finder or the American Headache Society’s health care provider search.
Topics: Treatment | 1 Comment »
Examining Supplements for Chronic Daily Headache & Migraine Treatment
By Kerrie | July 7, 2008
Dietary supplements feverfew, butterbur, magnesium, riboflavin, coenzyme Q10 and melatonin pop up frequently in the discussion of treatment for chronic daily headache and migraine. Do they work? According to headache specialist Stewart J. Tepper in the medical journal Consultant, “Although the data are relatively few, and sometimes weak, there is some evidence that so-called natural remedies may be effective at preventing or aborting migraine attacks.”
Even if the evidence is weak, many people with CDH and migraine are willing to try supplements because there’s a chance that it might work for them. That’s my approach too, unless there’s indication that the supplement might be harmful or there hasn’t been enough research to show the long-term effects of it.
The journal Headache published a detailed review of supplements in 2006.
“Natural” or Alternative Medications for Migraine Prevention, an article in the journal Headache in 2006, introduced the topic:
For preemptive prophylactic therapy, CAM [complementary and alternative medicine] is not only a viable option, but should be a major consideration. Patients often balk at the use of daily drugs due to the perception such treatment may frequently cause side-effects. So, why not a “natural” agent, mineral, vitamin, or bodily substance? The modern equivalent to the “wild, wild, west” (ie, the Internet) informs us that petasites…. [T]hese CAM therapies are not as strictly regulated by the Food and Drug Administration of the United States as are prescription therapies and devices; they are classified as dietary supplements and not drugs.
The article includes efficacy and safety details on the following supplements:
If the links take you to a sign-in page, you can get a login at BugMeNot.
Topics: Treatment | 1 Comment »