The URL for this page is
http://stasa.net/resources/headache-sinus-and-migraine-resources
These are some resources I have found helpful. Your mileage may vary.
Guidelines for All Healthcare Professionals in the Diagnosis and Management of Migraine, Tension-Type Headache, Cluster Headache, Medication-Overuse Headache (2010)
An excellent resource for patients. Written at a level accessible for many non-medical professionals. Includes excellent descriptions of acute relief and preventive strategies for different kinds of migraine, including menstrually-related migraine.
Full article:
Excerpt:
6.1 Objectives of management
Cure is not a realistic aim and patients need to understand this. On the other hand, there is evidence that many migraine sufferers have unduly low expectations of what is achievable through optimum management. In the past, physicians’ attitudes have reinforced this. The shared objective should be control of symptoms so that the effect of the illness on a patient’s life and lifestyle is the least it can be.
6.2 Basic principles
To this end, patients should work through the treatment options in a rational order, and continue to do so until it is certain they have found what suits them best. In applying the following guidelines, follow-up should ensure optimum treatment has been established. Denial of best available treatment is difficult to justify for patients generally and, therefore, for individual patients. Unnecessary pain and disability are the result. In addition, increasingly it is being demonstrated that under-treatment is not cost-effective: sufferers’ and their carers’ lost time is expensive, as are repeated consultations in the search for better therapy. Never underestimate the benefit of just listening to patients and taking them seriously. It should be remembered that needs may change. Migraine typically varies with time, and concomitant illness including other headaches may develop.
Evidence-based guideline update: Pharmacologic treatment for episodic migraine prevention in adults by the American Academy of Neurology (2012)
Full article:
Breakout table -- Classification of migraine preventive therapies (available in the United States):
Summary:
Evidence-based guideline update: NSAIDs and other complementary treatments for episodic migraine prevention in adults (2012)
Full article:
Acute treatment and prevention of menstrually related migraine headache: Evidence-based review (2008)
Full article (paywall; if you have an academic login, you may be able to get it through your institution):
Summary:
Practice Parameter: Evidence-based guidelines for migraine headache (an evidence-based review) by the American Academy of Neurology (2000)
Evidence-based guidelines for both acute and preventive migraine treatment
Full article:
Breakout tables of acute/quick-relief medications:
Evidence summary for treatment of acute attacks of migraine
Acute therapies for migraine
Breakout tables of preventive medications:
Preventive therapies for migraine 1
Preventive therapies for migraine 2
Practice Parameter: Pharmacological treatment of migraine headache in children and adolescents
Full article:
(yes, really)
All kinds of useful articles for people who get headaches, but especially migraines.
For migraineurs, info on triggers, preventive treatments, and acute treatments, as well as managing life with migraine disease.
Up-to-date information and summary of current research as of 2008 on migraine treatment, the understanding of migraine causes and what actually happens during a migraine, etc.
I found this book tremendously helpful in understanding what happens during a migraine and in how to prevent and treat them.
(Migraineurs might cry from relief while reading the introduction -- Bernstein and McArdle really get it.)
How to create a migraine prevention and treatment plan that works for you.
I found this very helpful.
Short version: Migraine often increases in severity during perimenopause; estrogen supplementation is often very helpful for this; supplementation for patients with uterii needs to include progesterone as well to prevent potentially harmful endometrial thickening.
"Migraine tends to worsen in the years leading up to the menopause, with attacks occurring more frequently and sometimes also lasting longer. Many women notice more of a link with their periods. In the early stages of menopause, when periods become erratic and more frequent, this also means more migraines. Towards the end of menopause, as periods lessen, so does migraine. For women who have noticed a strong link between migraine and hormonal triggers, post-menopause can be a blessing as migraine is very likely to improve. This may take two or three years after the last period, as it can take this long for the hormones to settle. Non-hormonal triggers can still persist after menopause so if these are important causes for migraine, attacks will still continue…
"We generally recommend that women with migraine who need HRT should use oestrogen patches or gel, as these maintain stable hormone levels with few fluctuations. The best dose of oestrogen is the lowest dose necessary to control flushes and sweats… Unless a woman has had a hysterectomy, she will also need progestogens to protect the lining of the womb from thickening in response to oestrogen. If this goes unchecked, it can lead to potentially cancerous many years later. Women with migraine, best tolerate progestogens when combined with oestrogen in patches, or as the Mirena intrauterine system…
"Can you use the Mirena coil as well as HRT?
"The Mirena intrauterine system (ʻcoilʼ) can be used for contraception, to control heavy/painful periods, and to act as the progestogen component of HRT. One advantage is that it acts directly on the womb, with very little hormone reaching the rest of the body. This means that side effects are generally very few. Another advantage is that if a woman has a Mirena, it is easy to adjust the dose of oestrogen to suit her needs. Also, many women find that their periods become very light, or stop completely while they are using a Mirena. If migraine was linked to troublesome periods, this in itself can make migraine less likely to occur."
If you get a lot of sinus headaches but not a lot of sinus infections, check out this article for better relief.
Key points from the article:
"Migraine is commonly misdiagnosed as sinus headache.
"Self-diagnosed sinus headache is nearly always migraine (~90% of the time).
"Migraine is commonly associated with forehead and facial pressure over the sinuses, nasal congestion and runny nose.
"In the absence of fever, pus from your nose, alteration in smell or foul smelling breath you likely have a migraine headache.
"Your diagnosis needs health practitioner confirmation for accuracy and best treatment."
All kinds of useful articles for people who get headaches.
This book walks you through step-wise sinus diagnosis and treatments in a very accessible way (that is nonetheless satisfying to geeks). I found this book very helpful.
Includes:
"The pros and cons of decongestants, antibiotics, and nasal steroids
"The vital role of daily saltwater irrigation
"The benefits of simple devices such as humidifiers and nasal tape
"Alternative therapies such as acupuncture and herbal supplements"
as well as:
"How people can identify the cause of their sinus infections
"How diet and lifestyle affect the sinuses
"Fungus as a cause for sinusitis
"Diseases that mimic sinusitis, such as migraines and dental pain
"Problems related to sinusitis such as a deviated septum and snoring
"The future of sinus treatment, including gene therapy and robot-enhanced surgery"
If you get a lot of sinus headaches but not a lot of sinus infections, check out this article for better relief.
Key points from the article:
"Migraine is commonly misdiagnosed as sinus headache.
"Self-diagnosed sinus headache is nearly always migraine (~90% of the time).
"Migraine is commonly associated with forehead and facial pressure over the sinuses, nasal congestion and runny nose.
"In the absence of fever, pus from your nose, alteration in smell or foul smelling breath you likely have a migraine headache.
"Your diagnosis needs health practitioner confirmation for accuracy and best treatment."