Migraines & Headaches Resource Center

I recently ran across some information that was a little surprising (but somehow made sense) regarding someone who suffered migraine headaches.  Sometimes, we find information that we don’t really expect.  In this particular case, the information shows how much migraine treatment and relief has changed and advanced.

It seems that the author of Alice in Wonderland, Lewis Carroll, suffered from migraine headaches.  In fact, it is now thought that those migraines caused hallucinations, and all of this added up to the inspiration for the book that most of us have read ourselves and most of our children have read, too.

If you ever suffered from debilitating migraines, you can possibly imagine a man being tortured by severe headache pain along with the nausea, extreme sensitivity to light and the extreme sensitivity to noise. 

When people suffer from migraines, they are pretty much not up to doing anything. Their senses – especially sight, sound, smell and taste – are impaired during migraines, especially migraines with aura.  In addition to the other symptoms of migraine headaches, migraine aura can include seeing spots, feeling faint, seeing wavy lines and other symptoms.

Whether you believe that Lewis Carroll wrote Alice in Wonderland under the influence of drugs and/or alcohol or not, it is clear to most people that he was dealing with hallucinations.  If these hallucinations were brought on by migraine headaches, it is understandable how some of the situations described in the book came to be.

Those of us who have suffered migraines understand the feeling of falling down a hole – or wanting to – and other situations.  It is important, though, to make sure you seek medical attention for your migraines.  They can be connected to other serious health problems including stroke, heart disease, kidney disease and blindness.  If your doctor brushes you off or doesn’t take you seriously, find another doctor. 

Migraines can be fatal.  Make sure you do everything you can to treat them.

There are over 30 million migraine sufferers in the United States and about 65% of these individuals are women.  Researchers have determined that migraines are genetic – so the majority of migraine sufferers inherit these debilitating headaches through heredity.

If your parents and/or grandparents had migraines there is nearly a 60% chance that you will have migraines. This does not mean that you are doomed to a life of migraines without help or relief.

Besides heredity, there are other causes of migraines, such as environment and serious head and neck injuries. Dr. Merle Diamond says, “A person with migraines has a more sensitive nervous system, which is extremely impacted by changes in hormones, lack of sleep, skipping meals, red wine, smoke, stress or other triggers.”   Dr. Diamond of the Diamond Headache Clinic in Chicago also explains, “These triggers lead to changes in the brain, which turn on the brainstem, which dilates blood vessels and causes inflammation, which causes the pain.” 

Too many migraine sufferers try over-the-counter migraine medication only to find that they don’t usually help bring relief, they actually can make migraine headaches worse.  Some of the ingredients in over-the-counter medications are actually irritants when it comes to migraines.

This doesn’t mean that there is nothing to bring relief.  Unlike 20 years ago, these days there are many prescription medications that your doctor can prescribe specifically for migraine headaches.  There are other medication that can help an individual deal with stress and other issues that may be bringing on the headaches.

The most important thing a migraine sufferer can do is seek treatment through a doctor – especially one who specializes in this area.  Don’t be a hero and ignore your symptoms.  Not only could they get worse, they could also lead to a stroke.  In addition, migraines are connected to other cardiovascular issues.

Managing your migraines is not impossible.  It may take a little time to find the right treatment and/or meds, but once you and your doctor or chiropractor are able to determine a good plan to control your symptoms, the time you took to find a way to manage your migraines will be worth it.

When most of us think of migraine headaches, we tend to think of how we can find relief and where we can find it.  We usually think of doctors, urgent care and even the emergency room for relief, depending upon how bad the headache is and whether the migraine starts at 2:00 in the afternoon or 2:00 in the morning.

For those of us who are used to going to a chiropractor for treatment, sometimes we think about going to see our chiropractor for help.  There are others who go to the chiropractor for other things but are unsure as to whether or not a chiropractor can bring relief for migraine headaches.

Many people feel that a good and experienced chiropractor can provide relief.  With millions of migraine sufferers trying to deal with triggers and other issues that cause their migraines. 

The upper part of your neck and cervical spine is located at the brain stem and is full of nerves that can send pain signals to anywhere in the head.  Many individuals that suffer from headaches –especially migraines – note that they very often experience pain that begins at the base of the brain and progresses up the neck and the back of the head and over to the front or side of the head, and if you’ve suffered a migraine, you know the rest.

There are many stories of individuals who combat migraines on a long-term basis.  They either experience them regularly every week or month or maybe a bit less often, or they experience a migraine that continues for days or even weeks or more.  Many of these individuals have sought out conservative chiropractic services and found relief.  Chiropractors can gently manipulate the bones, offer heat or cold treatments and massage, often eliminating migraine pain.

If you are suffering from migraines and have tried numerous remedies that have not worked, you can try a chiropractor and see if things work out well.  Many migraine sufferers have gone to a chiropractor as a last resort and found lasting relief.

Some of us suffer from terrible headaches and have a million questions, but we don’t know if they are the right questions.  Often, we try to just muddle through.

Twenty years ago, there were few choices when battling migraines.  In fact, we weren’t sure what actual migraines were because there was little or no information available describing symptoms, triggers and treatment. 

Today, there is much more information available, and it is much easier to find.  There are organizations dedicated to research on migraines and other headaches.  There are physicians who are specialists in the diagnosis and treatment of headaches, particularly migraines.  There is information on the internet, at the library, at many health centers, clinics, hospitals and health departments.  There are homeopathic treatments, relaxation, biofeedback and other holistic treatments, as well as traditional medical treatment and combinations of various treatments. 

So, with all of this information abounding and with places to go and ways to get diagnosis and treatment, what are the most important issues to address and what questions do you need to consider in advance and discuss with your doctor?  There are a number of simple, straightforward questions that can help with your headaches and help determine if they are truly migraines.

It is important to try to keep track of your headache triggers.  What were you doing prior to the headache coming on?  What did you eat or drink in the few hours previous?  Were you under stress or dealing with a problem?  It would be good to keep track of this information in a headache diary.  If you ask yourself these questions and answer them in your diary, the information will be helpful to your doctor. 

Another consideration is to determine if any medicine you take can cause migraines or make them worse?  For instance, birth control pills and other medications can be problematic.  Asking yourself and your doctor the question regarding medication is important – for all medicine, whether prescription or over the counter.  It is possible that a simple change of medication can bring relief.

Another question to ask is what kind of treatment might work.  Is there a possibility that hypnosis, biofeedback or over the counter medicine – including herbs, vitamins and minerals – could help ease or eliminate the migraines?  If not, are there prescription medications that can help me by preventing migraines or by at least stopping them once I feel them coming on?  What are the side-effects and how can I make them as minimal as possible? 

Do I need to make changes in my life, and will the migraines possibly disappear with time?

These simple questions will give you and your doctor good, specific information that could save you both time and frustration, and keep you feeling better and out of pain from migraine and other headaches.

There is a lot of talk going around lately about vestibular migraines.  Part of the reason for this is that Janet Jackson who is known for working very hard to present her magnificent shows had to cancel part of her tour lately due to migraines.  At first, doctors weren’t sure what they were dealing with, but with time, observation and tests, Janet was diagnosed with vestibular migraines, and after just a few days of treatment, she was back on stage.

It used to be that all we heard about were tension headaches and migraine headaches, and perhaps a few words about stress headaches, which in my mind are the same as tension headaches.  So, what are vestibular migraines?  There are a lot of people who want to know.

A vestibular migraine is a migraine headache plus.  The plus is not a good plus; it’s an extra symptom to deal with in the midst of a debilitating migraine headache.  When a person experiences a vestibular migraine, they experience an episode of vertigo before – and often, during – a migraine headache.  The vestibular part of the migraine has to do with the inner ear, which keeps our balance.  Vertigo is a situation where a person actually feels like they are moving, even though it is a hallucination. 

According to individuals who have experienced vertigo, they have described it as being a spinning sensation or a feeling like you have just gotten off of a boat and still feel that up and down motion inside.  Doctors have said that in a vestibular migraine, quite often the vertigo comes on before the headache and lasts during the headache, as well as often being worse than the headache itself. 

There are other aspects of a vestibular migraine that need mentioning.  Many people with migraines can experience dizziness along with it or before it, however there are other symptoms in a vestibular migraines.  Some of the main symptoms include fainting, eye movements that are not normal, temporary loss of hearing and weakness in the arms and/or legs. 

Vestibular migraines used to be thought of as a lack of circulation to the back of the brain, however through research, physicians have discovered that they are a neurological problem with the function of the back of the brain.  These headaches usually start around the mid 20’s but can appear at any age.  They can be more difficult to treat than regular migraines, and usually need migraine medication and separate medication to address the vertigo.

No matter what age you are, if you are experiencing the symptoms in this article, talk to your doctor as soon as possible or find a specialist who can help you.

If you have ever suffered a migraine headache, you know that you would probably try almost anything – even a hammer – to make it stop.  I have had some whopper migraines in my day.  The ones where you end up at the ER at midnight on Saturday after trying to do everything to avoid it.  Medication.  Dark room.  Shhhh! Quiet.  Coke or Pepsi.  Mountain Dew if it’s really bad.  Feverfew.  Aromatherapy.  And by midnight, you are in the ER willing to let the doctor do anything or give you anything – even poison – to just simply make the pain stop.

There is a new treatment on the market now and it’s called The Headache Reliever.  The Headache Reliever was created by Dr. Stephen Landy of Memphis, TN and Brand Griffin of Huntsville, AL.  Dr. Landy, who is a board-certified neurologist and Clinical Professor at the University of Tennessee School of Medicine, invented the The Headache Reliever after seeing many patients with headaches use pain medication, but then having to supplement the medication with other home remedies.  One of the remedies that he saw over and over was that people would use heat wraps and cold wraps to help relax the muscles and/or numb the pain. 

The Headache Reliever has been clinically proven to help relieve migraines without drugs by using a pressure band that helps compress blood vessels, reusable, microwavable hot packs to relax muscles and reusable freezer packs that constrict blood vessels.  Since all three of these are issues in most migraines, it is logical that one device is able to address all three.  To date, there are hot packs, cold packs and other aids; however none of them are packaged together – especially with a pressure band for compression. 

The company that Dr. Landy and Brand Griffin, who is a spaceship designer by profession, have founded to create and market The Headache Reliever is AbsolutelyNew, Inc., and is headquartered in San Francisco.  They will release The Headache Reliever for sale early in 2009.

As a migraine sufferer, I look forward to a drug-free, non ER method of migraine relief, and it seems logical that The Headache Reliever will be a huge tool to keep migraines at bay or eliminate them once they have started.  Hooray!

As researchers have looked for more clues about the causes of migraine headaches, they have found much information that has moved treatment forward, helping thousands of sufferers of this debilitating condition to feel better.

There are also many medications, natural remedies and other treatments for migraines that have become tested and available, especially during the past few years.  Migraines are not a “one size fits all” situation.  Symptoms may be similar – or even the same – for many sufferers, but treatment of those symptoms varies from individual to individual.

The latest research about migraines has found that about 66% of migraine sufferers have a condition called PFO which is a hole in the heart or a right to left shunt.  What this means is that blood flow which would normally be filtered through the lungs actually bypasses them, most likely contributing significantly to migraine headache pain.

About 25% of the overall population has PFO’s, but not all of them are affected and not all of them have migraine headaches.  The research, performed by Dr. Stephen Silberstein at Jefferson Headache Center at the Thomas Jefferson University Hospital, shows, however, that though it has been thought that this link existed between PFO and migraines for some time now, but this definitive study gives a clear connection.

As a result of the study, Dr. Silberstein feels that the strong connection between PFO/RFL’s and chronic migraine is a definite possibility.  He has stated that if the next phase of study confirms this fact even further, there will be a straightforward way to help those individuals whose migraines are connected to this problem.  The fairly simple way to stop the chronic migraine pain would be to close PFO defects.

This may be a positive answer to the problems for more migraine sufferers who have been asking questions and seeking relief for too long.

The common conception regarding migraine headaches is that people know their migraine is coming on during the aura – sometimes a few minutes or a few hours before the migraine itself actually hits.  Usually during the aura a person will have visual disturbances such as seeing flashes of light, seeing spots and other odd visual issues.  In addition during aura, a person will often feel nauseated and possibly light headed.  If medication or other remedies or relief steps are taken during the aura – especially as close to the beginning as possible – there is a higher possibility that the migraine will never fully develop and the symptoms will subside.

Researchers have now found that it is often possible to receive and recognize clues about migraines 24 to 36 hours in advance or more.  This period, called the prodome, includes symptoms including a warped sense of smell or taste.  Dr. Allen Bernstein, a neurologist in Northern California, says that it is “like a truck coming down the road.  If you hit the brakes fast enough, you can stop it.”

Bernstein’s research has shown that some people start to throw food out, feeling that it smells bad.  Others have gone on a cleaning binge thinking that everything smells like mold.  When tracking how long before the migraine this happened, it was usually within the 24 to 36 hour window before the migraine headache appeared. 

Dr. Bernstein has presented his findings to the American Headache Society and the International Neuropsychological Society.  He usually treats individuals whose migraines disrupt their lives to the degree that they have to miss work repeatedly, miss plane flights due to nausea and vomiting from the headache, and other serious migraine issues.  He says that the hardest thing in diagnosing and treating individuals is to help them look backward 24 to 36 hours and remember what was happening that could be a clue for the future migraines they might experience. 

Dr. Bernstein feels that though a lot of progress has been made in the treatment of migraines, the ability to help individuals see the onset of the migraine 24 hours in advance and use the medication or other remedy at that time will often eliminate the migraine altogether.  He says that his goal is to “teach people to be their own best observer.”

If you suffer from migraines, even on a day that’s not your worst; a migraine can be totally unbearable.  It’s not just the headache itself – that’s bad enough – it’s the plethora of symptoms that accompany a migraine and the debilitating extent to which they basically disable you.

The aura that comes with many people’s migraines involves visual disturbances such as flashes of light and spots before your eyes, nausea, lightheadedness and more.  Then, there’s the headache itself – usually more painful on one side of the head than the other – which causes a person the need to lie down in a dark, quiet room without disturbance for however long as necessary.

Those who have ever had migraines know exactly what we are talking about.  Those who have not had migraines – hopefully you will not experience them. 

Migraines can get to anyone.  If you are a schoolteacher or a roofer it doesn’t matter – migraines can keep you from being able to work.  No matter what your occupation is, it is impossible for most people with migraines to be able to work during a bad one.  If you think you can, imagine a migraine on a rooftop if you are a roofer.  Not a good recipe. 

Lately there have been stories in the news about celebrities and others who have had migraines interrupt their work.  Janet Jackson, who has suffered from headaches since she was a small child, has had to cancel several concerts on her current tour lately.  They couldn’t figure out what the problem was, but she kept getting symptoms of vertigo plus severe headaches.  I can’t imagine jumping around a stage, bright lights, dancing, singing, fans screaming with vertigo and a migraine.  The doctors determined that she has a rare form of migraines that cause the vertigo.  She is now undergoing treatment which is successful so far.

A pastor in Bellingham, Washington just had to quit his job after 11 years because his migraines were too overwhelming for him to adequately do his work.  Children – especially teens – are fighting symptoms of migraines which often keep them from doing their school work.  It used to be thought that kids don’t get migraines, but research has proven that this is not true.  Kids and teens do get migraines.

There are more treatments now than ever before.  If you suffer from migraines, talk to your doctor about treatment.  If you are not satisfied, get a referral to a neurologist who specializes in migraine treatment.  You do not have to suffer alone, and you may not have to suffer at all.

If you suffer from chronic headaches or migraines there is help available.  The first line of defense should be your doctor.  If your doctor is unable to diagnose and treat your headaches successfully, there are doctors who specialize in the treatment of headaches especially migraines.

In addition to going to the doctors, there is other support available.  One organization that dispenses information and advocates for funding for headache research is the Alliance For Headache Disorder Advocacy (AHDA).    Most recently they have been strongly encouraging the National Institutes of Health to fund more studies as to the causes and treatment for migraines and other severe headaches.  Nearly 80% of all districts in the United States have at least one advocate receiving and sharing information with AHDA.

Some information from the AHDA website that they feel is important for you to know includes these points:

• Headache disorders cause more than 1 percent of all disability and 9 percent of all lost labor in the US every year.
• Migraine alone is the 12th most disabling disorder in the US.
• Headache disorders are the most prevalent neurological disorders, affecting more than 90% of all Americans.
• The US annual direct and indirect economic costs of headache disorders exceed $31 billion.
• The NIH expended less than $10 million in 2006 towards all research on headache disorders, comprising less than 0.05 percent of its total budget.
There are other important facts about headaches, but these are striking, since migraines have been a debilitating disorder for decades and have become extremely widespread.  In addition, migraines are often linked to other disorders and diseases including aneurism, stroke, diabetes, high blood pressure and reactions to food, drinks and other substances, including medication.  They can also be signs of further disease and if untreated have been fatal in some cases.
If you suffer from migraines, find help and support.  If you need further information contact the AHDA at www.allianceforheadacheadvocacy.org.
 

There have been thousands of ideas about how to stop migraine headaches – or at least make them bearable.  Some of these ideas work and some, of course, don’t work.  Sometimes, even the most outlandish of the ideas has the ability to help relieve the suffering from migraines.

There is a new tool being tested that seems to have the ability to actually stop a migraine headache before it completely starts.  Many migraine headaches start with what is called “aura” which is when a person feels light headed, sees spots or other visual disturbances.  This is what happened to Dr. Robert Fischell, who is also the inventor of the first implantable insulin pump, the rechargeable pacemaker and various coronary stents.

Dr. Fischell experienced an aura one day out of the blue.  He had never had anything like this happen before, and he says that it scared him to death because he thought he was about to have a stroke.  The interesting thing is that after the aura, nothing happened – there was no migraine that followed.  Nonetheless, it got Dr. Fischell thinking about what causes aura and migraines, and what can be done to stop the aura so that the migraine never materializes.

After extensive research, Dr. Fischell created a box that has two handles – one on each side.  When an aura happens it is because the brain is experiencing a neurological disturbance where the nerves misfire.  The occipital cortex, an area at the back of the head, is usually the area involved in the misfiring.  The box that Dr. Fischell created is placed at the back of the head, where the auras begin, and a trigger on the device emits two magnetic pulses 15 seconds apart.  This silences the nerve activity and shuts down the aura, thus stopping the migraine before it actually starts.

The device – called Neuralieve Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) –  has been tested on enough people that Dr. Fischell has applied to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to be able to begin selling it as soon as early next year.

This is a huge advance toward the treatment of migraines.  Since it is non-invasive and involves no medication, there are definite plusses.  Of course, not all treatments work for all people.  The doctor is confident enough about the device that he is considering having people use it and if it doesn’t work for them, send it back and he will refund their money minus a small refurbishing fee. 

Hopefully he will get FDA approval and people will be able to try the device and see if there truly is a new and different way to eliminate migraines.
 

Headaches have been one of the most common complaints of many adults.  In fact, doctors and researchers have discovered through studies that children and teens have headaches, too.

We used to think that headaches only occurred in adults and that migraines were not something that happened to kids.  Now doctors have discovered that not only do kids get migraines; but kids from age 1 through teens to adulthood can experience them on a regular basis.  Doctors that used to dismiss these as not being real now realize that these are real and that they can be quite serious.

The issue of treating migraines in children is a delicate one.  On the one hand, you want to help them control their symptoms and give them relief.  On the other hand, their parents don’t necessarily want them to start taking strong drugs, especially at a young age.

There are some natural ways to deal with migraines.  For one thing, finding out if there are specific foods or other triggers to the headaches is a good place to start.  I am seriously allergic to red wine.  I found out because three separate times, several months apart, I drank about a half a glass of red wine and within two hours had to be rushed to the emergency hospital for the massive headache that resulted.  Why did it take three times?  One reason is that I had never had this happen before, and it was thought that I might have eaten something that triggered the headache.  The second reason is that there was not as much known about migraines and triggers then as there is known now.  The last reason is that since I rarely drank red wine and these incidents happened months apart, it took some time to make the connection.  I can drink white wine to my heart’s content (though I rarely do), but I never drink red wine.

Aside from the triggers, there are things that can help with migraines once you have one or once you feel one coming on.  Natural herbs, such as feverfew, butterbur, lavender, gingko biloba, rosemary and chamomile are all said to work against migraines.  Various things will work for different people.

If none of these things work well, there is ice, biofeedback, relaxation exercises, massage and, of course, medication.  Usually, though, the various herbs mentioned in this article can help either alone or in tandem. 

This is a question that is asked repeatedly by doctors, health professionals and migraine sufferers.  There are ways to help alleviate symptoms once a migraine is coming on or has started.  Most migraine sufferers can feel a migraine coming on.  They often have what is called migraine with aura, which includes symptoms such as seeing spots or stars, lightheadedness, flashing lights and even temporary blindness.

Migraines can be caused by a number of things including lack of sleep, overexposure to light, lack of food/hunger, hormone issues, stress and/or anxiety.  Sometimes these triggers can be eliminated and at other times the migraines remain. 

If the migraines are triggered by foods such as caffeine, chocolate, nuts or other substances, it is important to eliminate them, however, in some instances, such as eliminating caffeine, it should be eliminated gradually.  If you are used to drinking several cups of coffee or several cola sodas per day, eliminating them all at once could cause more headaches and more severe headaches.  Doing so a little at a time, for instance drinking one less caffeine drink per day for a week, then two less, for the next week, and so on, until you are no longer using caffeine is a better way to eliminate it as a trigger.

Taking medications can help control migraines once they have begun or when you feel them coming on.  There are various medications available that work well on migraines, depending on the person who is taking them.  Other treatment such as biofeedback, stress relaxation techniques and other therapies can also help.

On the other end of the spectrum, prevention of migraines is the other viable option.  This can be done especially when there are hormonal issues that create migraines when they fluctuate.  If migraines occur in conjunction with menstrual cycles, they usually diminish or disappear once the menstrual cycle ceases. 

As researchers are learning more about the genetics and biology of migraines, there will be more ways to help provide relief or prevent them altogether.  In addition, there are already medications available that can help prevent and control migraines. 

It is simply a choice that you and your doctor or health professional can make together when determining whether it will be possible to prevent your migraines – which will always be the best choice – or simply try to control them and relieve a migraine once you have one.

There are a number of causes for migraine headaches from food allergies to muscle and nerve problems and pressure to stress.  There are just as many ways to treat migraine headaches.  Some work well and some don’t.  It depends on the person.  Something that works well for one person might do absolutely nothing for another person and vice-versa.  Researchers and doctors are finding new ways to treat migraines on a regular basis.

There is another idea when it comes to the treatment and relief of migraines.  If you are familiar with a person who grinds their teeth – especially in their sleep – without realizing it, you are probably aware that they often get headaches.  When a person grinds their teeth regularly, they are putting pressure on the jaw, the muscles and the nerves in the area. This, in turn can cause the muscles and nerves in the back of the head and neck to tighten and pinch, causing severe headaches and migraine headaches.

Not all migraines are caused this way, but a large amount of them are.  Doctors don’t always realize that she should be looking at the jaw and the teeth to try and determine if they are involved in a person’s migraine headaches.  A dentist, on the other hand, is used to looking at teeth, gums and jaw to discern the root of problems.  Dentists have determined that individuals who have ground down their teeth, have lumps on the gums and have problems with their jaws often have migraine headaches.  The problem is that these individuals usually grind their teeth in their sleep and they grind them tightly, quite hard, and constantly – much more than individuals who just grind their teeth once in a while.  They don’t realize the connection between the grinding and the migraines.  In fact, even doctors don’t realize that this type of grinding puts tremendous stress on the muscles in the forehead, causing headaches.

One dentist has determined a good form of treatment to relieve both the grinding and the migraines.  The same type of apparatus that fits over the teeth called the NTI-tss dental device, created by Dr. James Boyd, can be used in the mouth to eliminate the grinding and relax the muscles, thus eliminating many of the migraines.  The device is usually only worn at night and once the muscles are trained to stop tightening, the person can use the device only when they have a migraine episode, or possibly not have to wear it at all.

If you think that this could be the cause of your headaches or somebody else’s, you can find more information at www.headacheprevention.com.

For years doctors and parents alike didn’t believe that kids got migraine headaches.  In fact, moms used to say that kids didn’t get headaches at all.  More recently, researchers have concluded that indeed, children do suffer from migraine headaches, and many of them are just as severe as the ones that adults suffer.

New studies have revealed that there is a connection between obesity and migraines in children.  The more obese the child is, the more frequent and more severe the migraines are.  Conversely, if the child loses weight, the migraines seem to occur less often and are not as severe. 

Studies were conducted at pediatric centers on nearly 1,000 children who were either overweight or borderline overweight.  They analyzed the children at the beginning of the study and then at 3 and 6 month intervals.  Doctors at The Cincinnati Children’s Headache Center found that as the children’s weight increased or decreased, so did the frequency and severity of their headaches.

Though a specific causal link cannot be definitely made between obesity and headaches, the association that physicians and researchers found soundly shows that there is a physiological or environmental process that are common to both conditions. 

Researchers and doctors who conducted the studies recommend that doctors who are treating children that experience frequent or severe headaches or both, should definitely consider their weight as a major factor in the situation.

This information could also help parents and educators as well, since many parents and educators are perplexed regarding the cause of these headaches and how to treat them and provide relief to children who are suffering from them.  If a child is taken to their doctor for headaches or migraines and the doctor doesn’t seem to consider weight as a factor, it is important for the parent to talk to the doctor about the subject and these findings.

Hopefully finding this link will help children avoid suffering from these debilitating headaches, lose some weight, get healthier and feel better.