LifeCare Chiropractic

The Best Chiropractic Care in Mesa, Arizona

Migraine

TO TREAT MIGRAINE CHANGE YOUR GLOBAL LIFESTYLE – (12-03-07)

by

Migraine and coronary heart disease mortality: a prospective cohort study

The bottom line is that migraine is a systemic disorder, most likely a result of altered mitochondrial function and / or oxidative stress. These dysfunctions are not limited to the brain, but rather have an effect everywhere in the body, playing a role in most, if not all, chronic diseases.

So, if this is the case, then finding increases in other diseases like heart disease should be no big surprise. So, the ONLY best way to approach migraine treatment is to look at the entire patient and make global lifestyle changes to improve the way their neurons are functioning.

Read entire article here

 

TREATMENT OF CHRONIC MIGRAINE – (10-29-07)

by

Efficacy and Safety of Topiramate for the Treatment of Chronic Migraine

Talk about a difference in perception!!! The authors conclude that “Topiramate is safe and generally well tolerated in this group of subjects with chronic migraine, a burdensome condition with important unmet treatment needs. Safety and tolerability of topiramate were consistent with experience in previous clinical trials involving the drug.”

Look at the data and tell me is “generally” means 10% of the study population stopped due to side effects. And all of this for a whopping 1.5/91 days decrease in headache over placebo. So, we’re going to spend, what, say $600 for 3 months Topamax to have 1.5 days less HA? But let’s cut chiro Rx to save money.

Read entire article here

CAUSES OF MIGRAINES TO A MITOCHONDRIAL DYSFUNCTION – (08-13-07)

by

CoQ10 Deficiency and Response to Supplementation in Pediatric and Adolescent Migraine

Given that we have shifted our thinking of the cause of migraines to a mitochondrial dysfunction / oxidative stress model, the results of this study should come as no surprise. I still find it very bothersome, though, that we have so many patients being treated for migraines under a “pain control only” model without any thought to fixing the underlying mechanism.

The problem here is that oxidative stress leads to so many other chronic diseases that the patient and doctor just missed an opportunity to change the health trajectory away from one of chronic disease.

Read entire article here

Another Supplement Tied to 20% Less Seizures?

by

In those who suffer from migraine headaches and seizures, anything that can help to reduce the number of attacks they have is a welcome addition.  Clearly lifestyle and supplementation play a strong (if not stronger) role in the management of both migraine headaches and seizures along with the mainstream medical approach of pharmacological management.  For many sufferers, this information is rarely shared by their physicians.

Before we illuminate today’s brain protecting nutrient, we need to cover a little basic physiology.  Those of you with very good memories will undoubtably recall that the cells of our organs are made up of a lipid bilayer.  Consider our membranes as sort of a fatty moat made up of bunches of molecules that look like a head with legs.  On the outsides of both sides of the moat we have the heads, which are soluble in water.  The legs that dangle from the heads face toward the center of the moat, meeting each other in the center.  These legs are made up of fats that do not dissolve in water.

All by itself, not much can pass through this moat.  Things that dissolve in water can make it past the heads, but not the legs in the center.  Things that are fat soluble can’t make it past the heads to get into the moat at all.  A relatively impenetrable moat.

But things still need to get in and out of the cell.  The cell needs to get messages in and out,  it needs nutrients in and out and things manufactured inside the cell need to get outside of the cell.

The cell does this through the use of pores embedded in the membrane.  Some go all the way through the moat, some only go partway.  An important factor of how well messages are transmitted, or NOT transmitted, is the health of the cell membrane.  Lower quality fats (such as trans fats) will impede healthy cell communication.

On the flip side, higher amounts of healthier fats in the cell membrane ensure that messages that are supposed to be passed along are passed along.  Overall, it just makes for a healthier, happier cell.

What does this mean for a condition like epilepsy?  Seizures and migraine headaches can occur when a cell is not healthy enough to communicate effectively with its neighbor.  This can mean that an inhibitory neuron (that shuts down its neighboring cell) may not be effective at calming a connecting cell.  Or, it could mean that an individual brain cell fires before it is supposed to fire, beginning a cascade of wild messages that trigger a headache or a seizure.

A recent study in the March issue of Epilepsy and Behavior demonstrated that the fish oil DHA was able to lower seizure rates.  The study was small and non-randomized, but is consistent with our understanding of what triggers seizures as well as prior studies.

Of the ten people in the study receiving 1,000 mg of DHA, 6 had a reduction in the number of seizures.  One patient had a marked reduction in seizure activity.  Overall, the reduction in seizure activity was 16%.  Quite an accomplishment for something as safe and inexpensive as fish oils.

Of course, the big question is, why had fish oils not been a recommendation prior to this study?  Even that one patient with marked reduction in seizure activity could’ve had a massive impact in his or her quality of life by such a simple intervention long before this study.

Read the study here http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S152550501100686X

INSULIN METABOLISM IS ALTERED IN MIGRAINEURS – (08-04-08)

by

Insulin Metabolism is Altered in Migraineurs: A New Pathogenic Mechanism for Migraine?

One of the major problems with the way we treat headaches in this system of medicine is that we never step back and ask “why” this headache is occurring. Nope–just given some medication to suppress the signal the brain is sending out. The problem with this approach is that we know that migraine patients are at increased risk for cardiovascular disease and stroke.This article just adds further weight to the idea that just treating the headache is flat out wrong.

This study finds that patients with migraines had higher insulin levels, indicating some degree of insulin resistance. Insulin resistance will lead to problems getting glucose into some cells, like the neurons. Less glucose means less efficient energy production. Less energy means a sick neuron. And who wants sick brain cells? The ONLY treatment for headaches is a whole body approach.

Read entire article here

HAVE NEW SEIZURE DRUGS IMPROVED OUTCOMES?

by

There is no doubt that some new, fancy and expensive anti-epileptic drugs (AEDs) have been developed and marketed.  It seems like neurologists actually prefer to use these new drugs over the older drugs that have had decades of use.

These new drugs can include sodium valproate (Depakote), lamotrigine (Lamictal), carbamazepine (Tegratol), levetiracetam (Keppra) or topiramate (Topamax).  Compare these with some of the older mainstays like phenytoin (Dilantin). 

These drugs are also being used increasingly to treat migraines and bipolar depression.

Read the entire article here

Seizure, Epileptic Drugs Not Working? 4 Places to Start Healing Your Brain

by

From the traditional medical approach to seizures and epilepsy, the foundation of the approach is anti-epileptic drug therapy (AED).  This foundation is added to by brain surgery or the use of a vagal nerve stimulator implanted in the chest.  That’s pretty much the armamentarium.  And pretty much disappointing when you look at just how effective these approaches are.  But they all leave one important thing out.

Read the entire article here