Headache, Migraine and Seizure Cures

5 Reasons Magnesium May Help Seizures and Migraine Headaches

June 26, 2012 by James Bogash

Can magnesium affect serious conditions like seizures and migraines? Because magnesium is required for some 300+ enzymes in the body, and many of these are required for healthy brain function, this just might make sense.

Today’s diets are notoriously deficient in this mineral. Foods like whole grains, nuts and seeds are good sources and can be added to the diet to increase overall intake. Supplementation beyond dietary intake is very inexpensive and safe.

The beauty of oral magnesium supplements is that you cannot take too much. Certain supplements, like magnesium and vitamin C, can only be absorbed in certain amounts from the gut. If we take too much, we can’t absorb any more, so the extra stays in the intestines. When this happens, the magnesium will attract water and create loose stools or diarrhea (not a bad side effect when someone is dealing with chronic constipation). Anyone who has had a colonoscopy is very aware of what very high doses of magnesium will do to the gut.

Before we go further, I need to remind readers that, while medicine today does not recognize that migraines and seizures are in the same category, I strongly promote that the underlying problems in the brain are similar between the two. For this reason, what helps or harms with one condition has a strong probability of helping or harming the other.

This particular article reviews the potential of magnesium to have a positive impact on seizures. The authors base this on several known findings:

Magnesium deficiency in animals increases seizure likelihood
Low magnesium solutions can generate seizure-like activity in rat brain tissues in the lab
Magnesium blocks the N-methyl-d-aspartate receptor, a receptor that can cause seizures
Studies have shown that people with epilepsy have lower magnesium
Children with infantile spasms responded better to hormone therapy when magnesium was used

While none of these items are a slam dunk to assure that magnesium can be an effective treatment tool in seizures, given the low cost and high safety of magnesium, it would make sense to add magnesium supplements to the daily list of supplements that anyone with migraines or seizures should be taking.

Depending on the quality, levels from 400-800 mg would be good to consider.

So what supplements do you use to help manage your migraines or seizures?

ARE MY MIGRAINES DESTROYING MY BRAIN?

June 21, 2012 by James Bogash

The answer always has been and always will be a strong YES!

It is very, very clear that a migraine indicates that there are problems with the entire body and not merely the organ experiencing the pain (in this case the brain). I cannot stress enough that medications to control the headache do NOTHING to fix the underlying problem. In almost all cases, there is a problem with the mitochondria’s ability to generate enough ATP for normal neuronal function.

This particular study looks at damage to the white matter of the brain in migraine sufferers. Those with more frequent attacks and those with a longer history of migraines had more damage to the brain.

There is not a single medication on the planet (headache or otherwise) that addresses this. The only answer is to fix the mitochondria by exercising and eating foods and using supplements that protect the mitochondria (low calorie, high phytonutrient stuff…) and stop harming them (chemicals, stress, heavy metals, etc..).

Unless this is the approach the migraine patient chooses to take (and will almost always have to do this independent of their treatment physician), they can expect that the process will create a slow and sure brain damage.

Scary, huh?

So what changes have you made to help protect your brain?

If You Get Migraine or Tension Headaches, You MUST Do This

June 20, 2012 by James Bogash

Headaches suck. Period. When severe, they disrupt your entire life. Even mild, they affect your mood and relationships.

The current culture in medicine generally supports the primary care route for headaches. The primary care doctor may try a few prescription meds like ibuprofen or Tylenol. When these don’t help they may try a medication like Topamax, which has been shown to reduce headache frequency a paltry 1.5 days in 3 months.

Imaging may or may not be done at this point, but a referral to a neurologist at this point is imminent. This is where the mistake is made.

For some strange reason, the general public does not normally associated chiropractic care and headaches. I can tell you from the results we get in our office alone that we can complete alleviate the vast majority of headaches that come into our office. Some are simply structural and respond with soft tissue work and adjusting. Some require much more by-in from the patient that will likely include significant lifestyle changes to include quitting smoking, stress management, exercise and dietary changes.

This particular study suggests that the PCP to neurologist pathway is likely not the best choice. Chiropractic care first would appear to be the best use of resources. Researchers looked at headache sufferers to see how many of them had pain over the base of the skull that reproduced their headaches. Results were very telling:

ALL tension headache patients experienced reproduction of their headaches
All but 1 migraine headache patients experienced reproduction of their headaches
In every case, the referred head pain was similar to the pain they usually experienced during headache

You may say “Wow!” but I say “Duh!” This is an extremely common finding in patients who experience all types of headaches. In my upcoming book, Migraines and Epilepsy: You are not alone, I cover this aspect of headaches in greater detail.

So how many patients never made it past the neurologist? How many thousands, tens or hundreds of thousands of headache patients have NEVER had a physician evaluate the structures of their neck, let alone administer any treatment?

What have you found to be the most helpful for your headaches?

Poor Seizure Control? You Need to Add This Supplement

June 7, 2012 by James Bogash

There is no doubt that epilepsy can be an immensely debilitating condition. Working, social events, driving and family life are all greatly disrupted, if even possible. Sadly, less than 30% of the time the first seizure drug used is effective at controlling the seizure. From this point on it just gets more difficult. Anything that can aid in seizure control can be life changing for these patients.

Few neurologists will give any recommendations for natural products to their patients. Maybe it is a belief in the superior power of pharmaceutical drugs where natural compounds can’t possibly compare. Maybe it’s a belief that there is no research to support natural compounds to control such a debilitating condition, at the same time refusing to embrace the frequent failure of pharmaceutical drugs to achieve seizure control. Whatever the reason, it does not serve the patient’s best interests. Many natural compounds have been shown to have significant seizure control abilities:

This list does not include approaches like the ketogenic diet and a gluten free diet, both of which can play a strong role in seizure avoidance.

This particular article adds to the list of supplements that may play a role in your seizure control. Supplementation with vitamin D in a small group of seizure patients in whom drugs were not controlling their seizures led to a 40% reduction in seizure frequency. 40%. That’s a pretty strong response.

Vitamin D has been known to act as an anti-convulsant for some time now. This is important to remember because a lot of the anti-epileptic drugs – the AED’s – actually lower levels of vitamin D in the blood. So, we have a compound that actually helps protect the brain, but the drugs that we use to control seizures actually lower the levels of a substance that can protect the brain. This creates somewhat of a conundrum. This may also be the reason why most AEDs also have a negative effect on bone density, again strongly supporting the use of vitamin D in migraines and epilepsy.

Taking vitamin D as a supplement is very inexpensive and the safety margins on the dosages of Vitamin D are quite wide (toxicity with vitamin D is not noted until the blood levels are over 200 nmol / L, which is a pretty difficult level reach). However, if someone has any concerns about taking higher dosages of Vitamin D, blood levels can easily be checked. Optimal blood levels are between 60 and 100 nmol / L, although most labs will consider 20 and over as normal.

There are times when vitamin D supplementation may be of concern. One such situation is with the use of thiazide diuretics that raise the level of calcium (due to reduced excretion). Also patients with the auto-immune granulomatous disorder sarcoidosis need to be a little bit more cautious. Other conditions known to increase the levels of calcium in the blood like histoplasmosis or hyperparathyroidism require care with supplementation. If someone has any questions or concerns they should obviously discuss them with their primary care doctor. In addition, there are a lot of great resources on the Internet.

Recommended dosages depend on several factors, such as how much sun exposure you get or what latitude that you live at (higher latitudes get less direct sunlight so our bodies make less vitamin D; near the equator vitamin D production is at is highest). Many mistakenly believe that they get enough sun exposure and that supplementation is not needed. However, there is concern that the sun passing through glass allows only UVA penetration, actually breaking down the production of vitamin D in the skin. So if you drive around all summer with the windows up in your car and the AC cranked, you may actually be lowering your vitamin D levels. Furthermore, it takes at least 8 hours to fully produce and absorb the vitamin D our skin is trying to produce, so showering at night may lower blood vitamin D levels. There is also concern of particulate matter in the atmosphere blocking UVB penetration and also lowering vitamin D levels.

Because of these concerns, I generally start patients anywhere from 2,000 to 4,000 IU per day, although it is sometimes higher depending upon the clinical scenario. Having your bone density checked can further help determine vitamin D need. In our clinic we strongly recommend patients have their first bone density testing in their 20’s and 30’s so they aren’t waiting until they’re 55 or 60 and are now at the crisis stage for treating low bone density.

For supplementation, liquid forms are going to be much cheaper and easier to use. Vitamin D can actually be dosed on a weekly basis. The vitamin D we use in the office has 2,000 IUs per drop; if someone is on 2,000 IUs per day they can actually do seven drops once a week. It is one of the easiest and cheapest supplements to take.

When Wheat Allergies Cause Seizures

June 4, 2012 by James Bogash

There has been much increased awareness of the problems associated with wheat allergies. Celiac disease. Allergy to wheat. Gluten sensitivity. Whatever you call it, it’s here to stay. But exactly how far do the negative health effects run? And can wheat allergy affect the brain?

Let’s start with the basics. Traditionally, celiac disease was a condition where an allergy to the gluten containing grains (most commonly wheat, barley and rye, but also in trace amounts in oats) sets up an autoimmune reaction that destroys the villa of the small intestine. You may have heard that the total surface area of the small intestine is close to that of a tennis court because all of the villi increase the surface area. Consider this shrinking to the size of a ping pong table and you get the idea. Nutrient malabsorption results and all kinds of bad things follow.

That was then…this is now…

Over time, we have come to understand that the scenario described above is the far end of a spectrum that starts with slight sensitivity that can only be picked up via stool sampling at specific labs (like www.enterolab.com). The real problem is that the inflammation set up by exposure to a common allergen such as gluten wreaks subtle havoc that compounds over the course of years and decades. Celiac disease has been linked to:

Before you begin to think this is new news, you need to understand that this was on the radar screen over a decade ago, if not longer. Strong concerns were noted with celiac disease in toddlers.

But can something occurring in the gut actually affect something as far away as the brain?

The answer is a clear yes. Almost 20 years ago researchers where calling for evaluation of gluten sensitivity in any undiagnosed neurological disorder. This particular study demonstrates very strong links between epilepsy and celiac disease. Those with the far spectrum of celiac disease (villus atrophy) had a 40% increased risk of developing epilepsy.

Two very important factors come to mind.

First, this is the far spectrum showing a 40% increase, but what about the entire range of the spectrum? What if we looked in reverse to see how many epileptics had sensitivity to gluten? We may be surprised at what we would find.

Second, the ketogenic diet has been shown to be an incredibly powerful therapy for seizure control for epileptics. Interestingly, researchers are not really sure how the diet works to control seizures, although some have speculated that the fat intake is key. But, on the ketogenic diet most grains are eliminated or cut back on severely. Could gluten really be the key? Based on this study, it may very well be the link researchers have been looking for on the reason why the ketogenic diet works.

Migraine Prevention? This Natural Compound Trumps Drugs

May 30, 2012 by James Bogash

The first thing to accept is that migraines should not be controlled. Rather, they should be eliminated with the correct attention to lifestyle changes. In the meantime, though, it is nice to have tools to control the pain of the headache. Mainstream medicine is quick to jump on expensive drugs (like Topamax) with a long list of side effects, high cost and minimal efficacy. Anti-inflammatories are frequently prescribed as well. But what if a natural compound was proven to be more effective?

Understanding that migraine headaches are a problem with the body and not just the head is critical to overcoming the condition. Merely controlling the headache does nothing, and evidence even supports the idea that damage to the brain continues to occur despite “successful” headache treatment. Since many natural compounds actually function by restoring normal physiology (there are few supplements that will actually override normal physiology like a drug will), it would make sense that natural compounds may play a role in controlling the pain in a migraine headache.

Several have already shown a benefit such as melatonin, fish oils, magnesium, riboflavin and feverfew. This particular article ranks approaches based on a A-B-C recommendation. Several of the natural compounds just listed share the stage with drugs, but only a single compound gets the A rating.

Butterbur is a plant in the daisy family that has its medicinal origins among Native Americans. It has been shown in multiple studies to be successful in preventing migraine headaches, even in severe cases. This is the compound that got the A rating in this review of natural compounds and anti-inflammatories. Not too shabby.

However, remember that these are only designed as a patch until the lifestyle changes that are so critically important are fully implemented.

WHAT ARE THE TREATMENTS OF MIGRAINE? – (02-21-05)

May 13, 2012 by James Bogash

A study of IV magnesium vs. metoclopramide in acute migraine attacks

IV magnesium (2 grams-a pretty hefty dose) was shown to be just as effective as Reglen (normally used to speed up gastric emptying) for treatment of migraine in the ER. So, most would look at this and ask why anyone would use magnesium if it is just as effective. Hmmm… magnesium is much, much cheaper.

No known side effects (diarrhea if given orally, however). Makers of magnesium IVs are not getting sued for damaging the nervous system. Need any more reasons to use magnesium instead?

Read entire article here

RISK OF SUDDEN DEATH IN EPILEPSY – (03-06-05)

May 10, 2012 by James Bogash

Effects of the antiepileptic drugs lamotrigine, topiramate and gabapentin on hERG potassium currents

I have a patient that has seizures and of the providers and specialists and relatives’ friend who are doctors all have just one answer–anti seizure medications. While these drugs do not effect the underlying process that is causing the seizures (all research is pointing towards a mitochondrial/oxidative stress model of many neurological disorders) they do have a long list of side effects–and on average–a 30% efficacy.

One of the concerns of many epileptics is the risk of sudden unexplained death in epilepsy (SUDEP). Wouldn’t that be a kick in the pants if the medications for epilepsy are actually a major causative factor in SUDEP?