The Best Chiropractic Care in Mesa, Arizona
“Cures” seems like a foreign word in medicine today, with the exception of cancer, where “cure” is the buzzword. Do we ever talk about a diabetes, high cholesterol, high blood pressure or obesity cure in medicine? So certainly a headache cure is not on the radar screen. The best we usually hope for is control.
Most people who suffer from true migraine headaches believe that they have a problem in their brain, and that’s why their head hurts. This is the concept that mainstream medicine promotes, so, when the headache is controlled through medication, we’re all happy and view the problem as solved.
But this couldn’t be further from the truth. The reality is that a migraine headache is actually a reflection of something wrong systemically. Merely controlling the headache with medication, which may seem like a good initial solution, will actually create more problems in the long run.
This does not mean that migraine sufferers should be denied pain relief, although the likelihood of responding to the first medication used is typically around 30%. But if your doctor is only working on pain relief and not fully addressing the comprehensive nature of what a migraine represents, then I would suggest you find another who will.
Why is this so important? One of the strongest links of chronic diseases and migraine sufferers centers around heart disease and stroke. Since both of these relate to the health of our blood vessels, let’s call it a vascular problem. Migraine sufferers clearly have vascular problems and this is what upsets the brain cells and causes the migraine in the first place. This has to be addressed, and, as mentioned, not a single medication available to treat migraines (or any other conditions, for that matter) improves the health of the blood vessels.
But, what if you are a migraine sufferer and do not have any risk factors for a heart attack or stroke? That means you’re safe, right? Very wrong.
One of the ways to get a peek at how healthy the blood vessels are is called pulse wave velocity. To check pulse wave velocity, a special pressure cuff is used at two different areas (the neck and the thigh, or the arm and ankle as examples). The speed of the wave of blood is then measured using these cuffs. Faster moving waves indicate a blood vessel that is very stiff, while a slow wave indicates a healthy, more relaxed blood vessels. Envision this like jumping on a mattress vs jumping on a 2 x 4. How long will it take the force of your jump to make it to the other side in either case? Obviously, the board is much, much faster because it is stiff.
This particular study looked at the pulse wave of migraine sufferers and compared them to the pulse wave of non-sufferers. The results demonstrate that, even with no established risk factors for heart disease, there was a problem with the blood vessels. THIS is the heart of the problem (pun intended). The pain of a migraine headache is no fun, but it will not kill you, although at times it may seem like a better option. The problems with the blood vessels, however, WILL kill you given enough time.
The bottom line is that migraine sufferers need to understand that, to overcome their condition, they need to institute lifestyle changes such as avoidance of refined carbohydrates, increase the dietary ratio of omega-3 to omega-6 fats, exercise consistently, NO smoking and manage stress. While this short list is not comprehensive, it is a start to a healthier brain.
Genes, migraines, stroke. Overall, there is absolutely no doubt that migraines are NOT a problem isolate to the head. They are a problem with the health of the overall patient. This is why we see an increased risk of conditions like stroke and heart disease in migraine sufferers.
Without looking in depth as to the reasons WHY a migraine is occurring, we can’t . Meds do NOTHING to change the risk of other diseases. In this article, we see links between homocystein, migraine with aura and a genetic uniqueness (called a “SNP”) in the way we use folic acid. When it comes to SNPs, the MTHFR is probably the absolute most important one for you to be aware of. There ARE simple genetic test kits that can help.
Last update December 19, 2014
I’ve been a strong opponent of the way we treat migraines in this healthcare system. In general, we keep trying different medications until the doctor finds a medication that reduces or stops the headaches. Then we all jump up and down and pat each other on the back and call the process a success. If this is the approach your doctor has taken, then there ARE times when an everyday headache can be dangerous to your long term health.
Why? Because a migraine headache is unquestionably a cerebral (brain) manifestation of a systemic problem. If all we do is medicate the headache, we just signed an early death certificate for the patient because we have not fixed the problem. All we have done is control the symptoms. The “problem” was not a deficiency of Topimax or Depakote or Lyrica. Giving these drugs may control the symptoms, but in now way fix the problem that caused the headache in the first place.
So what is the problem?
A great place to look is at the blood vessels. Our vasculature that brings blood to every cell of our body. With this blood comes important nutrients, vitamins and minerals for a brain cell to function at its best.
When there is a problem with our blood vessels, our brain cells can’t get the nutrients it needs to make ATP. In case you don’t remember back to high school biology, ATP is the “energy currency” of our cells. It is what every cell needs to do anything and everything. The more ATP available, the healthier the cell. The less ATP available, the sicker the cell becomes.
In cells that require very high levels of energy, such as our muscles, our heart and our brain, this process is absolutely critical. If the brain does can not get the nutrients it needs to make enough ATP, a migraine or a seizure may be the result.
Ok. “So what exactly is the problem with poor vascular health”, you ask. With few exceptions, no one has a heart attack before they have a problem with the blood vessels leading to the heart. No one has a stroke without first having a problem with the blood vessels in the brain. Dementia begins with poor blood supply to the brain.
If you don’t fix the vascular problem that is contributing to the migraine, you are allowing unchecking damage to your blood vessels to occur. With enough time, this will lead to a heart attack, a stroke or the slow process of dementia and loss of your cognitive function.
Medications will NOT fix this. In fact, in several cases they will make the process worse.
This is strongly confirmed by this current study linking migraine with aura and cardiovascular disease. Strangely, the risk of stroke was massive (380% increased risk) in women with NO established risk factors for heart disease. However, in those women who DID have risk factors for heart disease and experienced migraines with aura, the risk of having a heart attack was increased 334%.
In other words, you can’t win either way. Having migraines with aura will either lead to a heart attack or a stroke. The ONLY way to save yourself is to make the changes needed to improve your vascular health.
Sadly, despite all this research, I have yet to EVER have a patient come in with migraines that were given any type of lifestyle advice by any other provider (specialists included). So yes–Everyday headaches can be dangerous. Even deadly.
So we’ve talked several times about the ketogenic diet and how incredibly effective it is at controlled seizures. The numbers are very consistent in study after study and, quite frankly, are amazing.
So amazing, in fact, that I remain stumped as to why this isn’t the FIRST path of treatment rather than the absolute last. The ketogenic diet is almost always used in refractory seizures, which means that the diet is not used until a vast array of medications have been used and have failed.
The ketogenic diet is similar to the Atkins’ diet, in that it is very high in proteins and fat. The argument against the ketogenic diet is that it is hard to remain compliant with, because apparently having your brain damaged by aberrant firing of neurons is not as important as that slice of bread.
However, recent studies have shown that the modified ketogenic diet, which allows a slightly higher percentage of carbohydrates, is just as effective. This particular study looks at the compliance argument and pretty much bashes it to shreds.
In a long term follow up study of the ketogenic diet in children over 20 years, 65% of the patients remained on the diet. I can tell you that, in terms of medication, to get 64% of patients to be compliant with taking a medication for TWENTY years is practically unheard of.
Further, 20% became seizure free and 36% had a 75–99% decrease in seizures. Overall, 56% of the patients had a seizure reduction of more than 75%. Holy cow!
So what happened to those who didn’t continue the diet? Twenty patients who had become seizure free discontinued the diet, but seizures recurred in five (25%). Of 40 patients with a seizure reduction of more than 50% who discontinued the diet, only 25% presented with recurrent seizures. This means that there was a clear, long lasting benefit to seizure reduction just from being on the diet.
So again, I ask the question about why we use this diet only in refractory seizures. It is exceedingly powerful. Patients who follow the diet are very likely to stay on it long term. AND, it seems to positively change the long term likelihood of having a seizure even in those who discontinue the diet.
For those who are unaware, melatonin is a hormone produced deep in the brain (the pineal gland) and helps to regulate our sleep / wake cycle, among other things. Sunlight hitting the back of the retina shuts down the production of melatonin, while the onset of nighttime will allow the body to release more melatonin. So what does this have to do with depression?
We’ve all heard of serotonin and the drugs like Prosac and Paxil and Zoloft that affect serotonin use in the brain. These are generally used to treat depression, but, in a close review of the studies that have been done, their effectiveness over placebo was minuscule. Of course, in these same studies, the placebo had a powerful effect on the patient’s depression, meaning that anyone responding to these drugs is probably benefiting from a placebo response and not the drug itself.
Melatonin and serotonin are players along the same pathway; thus, what effects one pathway will influence both hormones. It is for this reason that there is rising interest in drugs that modify melatonin levels to affect depression. The drug companies know that these current financial blockbuster drugs, if the curtain is ever pulled back, could fall like a house of cards. So they are looking elsewhere.
The biochemistry is pretty straightforward; there is only a single step between serotonin and melatonin production in the pineal gland. The pathway starts with the amino acid tryptophan (or 5-HTP, which is the next compound produced and can be very effective for depression or anxiety). As would be expected, serotonin levels are higher during the day, but production shifts to melatonin as night falls.
So what does this mean? It ties in stress, sleep hygiene, anxiety and depression into a biochemical pathway. Stress levels will lead to a rise in cortisol levels later in the day, making it hard to fall asleep. Problems sleeping may lead the sufferer to be exposed to bright lights when the body really should be producing more melatonin. Less melatonin production will interfere with the smooth flow through the biosynthetic pathway, leading to depression.
In addition, melatonin levels have been linked to things like migraines, seizures and cancer. Rest assured that these conditions will be impacted as well.
The bottom line is that stress management and proper sleep are an integral component of any healthy lifestyle. Sleep medications do nothing to fix the elevated cortisol, and will likely disrupt the synthesis of melatonin, further throwing off the cycle. Stress needs to be managed with any number of tools available so that sleep patterns can be restored.
Let’s be real here. I think the above question, from a male’s standpoint, is purely rhetorical. But why? While many may disagree, the normal female cycle should be of minimal impact and last maybe 3-4 days. Anything past that–any pain, heavy bleeding or increased / decreased frequency is abnormal.
In today’s society, the answer given to most is the birth control pill. Unfortunately, the BCP does not fix a darn thing, and may actually make the underlying condition worse.
This particular study is done by Dr. Andrew Herzog at Harvard. Dr. Herzog has done some amazing research on the powerful impact of progesterone on seizures in women. In this study, his team goes beyond seizures and looks at Premenstrual Dysphoric Disorder (PMDD). As far as I know, PMDD was a condition created when Prosac was going off patent and they needed to find a condition is could be used for to get a new patent. So they merely created one. Got to give them points for creativity..
Progresterone gets converted to a neurosteroid called allopregnonalone. This is one of the most protective anti-seizure compounds on the planet, synthetic or natural. Thus, a woman have problems with her cycles will likely have too little progesterone being produced, sending the brain into havoc.
Post partum depression, mood disorders and seizures can all be a result. Thus, restoration of optimal levels of progesterone is very important. This means managing prediabetes (a major contributor because the elevated testosterone shuts down healthy ovarian function and release of progesterone from the corpus luteum). It means lowering your exposure to environmental estrogens from constipation, plastics and other chemicals as well as maintaining an ideal body weight.
Topical progesterone can also be a good temporary fix to supplement the body’s production of progesterone until the other physiological problems are brought into balance.
Few neurologists, as a front line discussion, will bring up the ability of anything other than medications to alter seizure susceptibility. There is rarely discussion of stress management, exercise, targeted nutraceuticals, avoidance of excitotoxins like MSG and Nutrisweet. There is rarely a discussion of the power of diet; specifically the ketogenic diet.
A decade ago, few would have understood or even heard of the ketogenic diet. However, due to the similarities to the popular Atkin’s diet, most would find the carbohydrate restrictions of the ketogenic diet familiar.
When it comes to seizure control, the ketogenic diet is amazingly powerful. Consistently across studies, 1/3 of those on a ketogenic diet have >90% seizure reduction and another 1/3 have >50% reduction. This is powerful stuff. Far, far more effective than any anti-seizure medication available. And yet it is considered as a last line of approach to seizure control (especially in children) instead of the first line.
The strict carb restriction, tendency towards constipation and the concern over certain nutrients deficiences lead many to think that this is a tough program to follow. This is one of the frequent reasons cited as to why it is so uncommonly used.
Surprisingly, there is little research into why the ketogenic diet is effective. We can through billions at developing new drugs, but can’t spend pennies on a study of diet. We do know that a less strict version such as the modified Atkin’s diet can provide similar seizure control and is more tolerable. We know that the increase in polyunsaturated fat intake (think olive oil and nuts) plays a large role in the seizure reduction.
This particular article begins to delve even more intently into the cellular mechanisms of the ketogenic diet and determine that the adenosine A1 receptor may be a target by increasing the amount of adenosine, which is a potent molecule already known to be involved in seizure prevention in animals. (http://www.jci.org/articles/view/58391)
The more we know about how the ketogenic diet works, the more we can tease apart the aspects of the diet that are important and keep the aspects the are critical. This may increase not only the effectiveness, but the palatability of the diet as a lifestyle.