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Sure, everyone keeps telling us how important exercise is.  It can be a great headache and migraine fighter - but it’s not that simple.

Many people with chronic headache or migraine think of exercise as the enemy.  In many people, exercise can actually bring on the headache they were trying to avoid.  Instead of imagining health and vitality, we think about throbbing temples and inflammation who knows where.

There’s no easy solution, but there are some ways to minimize the problem.  The truth is, you’re almost certainly going to be better off if you can get some exercise into your routine (not convinced exercise will help you?  Read about the benefits of exercise for headache here).  Here are my top 5 tips to help you stay active in spite of the migraine monster looking over your shoulder:

• Watch out for sudden changes:  Headaches and migraine attacks thrive on sudden changes.  This is a great rule of thumb to keep in mind.  For example, don’t jump into a new, strenuous program - start slow.  Make sure you warm up and cool down before and after exercise.  And when choosing something to do, don’t pick something that involves long periods of stopping - do something with steady activity (even if it’s only short).
• Sugar:  The energy your brain uses comes mostly from blood sugar.  Sudden rises and drops can cause problems.  Some people find it helpful to eat easily digestible foods one hour or more before exercise (ie fruit, muffin).  Some people also use glucose tablets before exercising, and find that they get fewer headaches.  (Read more about athletes and sugar before exercise here)
• Water:  The other important factor is hydration - be sure to drink plenty of water.  Many people have found that simply drinking more water fights their headaches quite a bit.  It’s an old tip, but it’s a good one!
• Exercise as a way of life:  For someone with chronic headaches, this may be the most important tip of all.  Many of us struggle with an exercise "program", or "going to the gym".  It’s hard to be consistent when you many days you really can hardly get out of bed because of the pain.  Instead, simply be more active on a regular basis.  Learn to squat properly to get something out of the cupboard.  Take the stairs when you can.  Learn how to exercise your arms while sitting in the office chair.  (An amazing source for tips is the book The Posture Prescription by Dr Arthur White and Kate Kelly)  This is one tip that could truly transform your life.
• Watch the pain:  I know, no pain no gain, right?  Well, when it comes to headache, that advice could be dangerous.  If you get a headache when you exercise, it could be a sign of something serious.  Listen to your pain.  If it’s something new, see a doctor right away.  Don’t keep exercising if you’re getting a worsening headache.  Stop and try something less strenuous, or do things in smaller chunks.

What about medication?  Well, our goal here really is to take less, not more.  But there are times when it may be worth it to take some medication if it means you can exercise more.  If you have chronic headache or migraine, it’s worth it to look at preventative medications.  Your doctor may suggest you take a painkiller before you exercise.  Common suggestions are Propranolol, Ergotamine tartrate, Indocin, or common anti-inflammatories (such as Advil).  But try the above suggestions before you start popping more pills.

Want to read more?  Click one of the links above, or read more about after exercise headaches, how to minimize the problem, and this post on Pilates and migraine.

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Technorati Tags: exercise and headache, exercise and migraine, exercise induced headache, exercise induced migraine

After all the discussion here about the side effects of Topamax, it was interesting to read the research about Topamax for children that was published last month.

In reality, there hasn’t been a lot of testing when it comes to topiramate for children.  However, the researchers in Italy pulled the research together that has been done in the past, and made some interesting observations.

Has Topamax helped children with migraine?  Yes, we have seen a reduction in migraine attacks in children taking Topamax.

Were there side effects?  Yes, but which ones and how bad they were varied a LOT from child to child.  The most common problems were weight loss, anorexia, abdominal pain, tiredness, trouble concentrating, and itchy or tingling skin (paraesthesia).  Sometimes the side effects were only temporary.

The researchers made a good point regarding side effects.  They said,"Since these adverse events, although often transitory, may be distressing for the child, we strongly recommend to assess the disability caused by the migraine episodes before deciding to initiate a prophylactic treatment."

In other words, be cautious, because these side effects may impact the life of a child far more than it would an adult.

Read more about topiramate in the prevention of pediatric migraine here.

It’s been noted before that decreased sweating, another possible side effect, may be particularly dangerous for children.  Children on Topamax need to be watched closely.

By popular demand, there’s now a more in depth article on Topamax side effects here.

Popularity: 7% [?]

Technorati Tags: children with migraine, migraine, Topamax, Topamax side effects, topiramate

A couple of weeks ago we were talking about easy ways to log your migraine attacks or headaches on the go - specifically, by phone using Jott.  But an email from Ben in the United States got me thinking in a different direction about keeping track of headaches online.

Ben has a great idea - or at least the start of a great idea, in a site he created called HeadacheLog.com.  He actually created the site for his wife, who suffers from chronic headaches.

Here’s the idea.  You enter your specific headache information, along with what you recently ate, how bad the attack was, how much sleep you had, and so on.  Also, you log approximately where you were at the time (ie what city.  Unfortunately, this only works in the USA).

Being all on computer, computers can now do what they do best - calculate.  After a while, you can get reports, and see what you commonly ate before a headache, for example.  And, one nifty part of the program is that it checks what the weather was in the area, so you can also check for weather triggers.

I think it’s a fantastic idea - as long as, of course, you use it as a tool and not as a absolute rigid perfect prophetic headache bible.

Now, I said it was the start of a good idea.  In my opinion, the program needs to be developed.  For example, you can only choose from certain foods you may have eaten, and you can’t add your own.  There are other things that could be added - menstrual cycles, for example.  Being able to add symptoms would also be helpful, since all headaches are not created equal.

But I certainly think the idea is worth developing - I can’t believe I haven’t seen more sites or programs like this before.  The more detailed you could make a program like this (without making it complicated, of course) the more useful it would be.

One more clever thing on this site - it allows the headache stats to be aggregated.  If a program like this came into wide use, pretty soon we might start learning things about migraines and headaches that we didn’t know before.

Check it out and give it a try here.  If you find it helpful, or have used something similar, share your comments.

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Technorati Tags: headache diary, HeadacheLog.com, migraine diary

It’s not really news that a lot of migraineurs suffer from "sensitive skin" - otherwise known as cutaneous allodynia.  I deal with allodynia myself.

The news is just how widespread the problem is.  A massive study of 16,573 people showed us some interesting facts about cutaneous allodynia (CA).  In short, 2/3 of people with migraine may deal with the problem.  Actually, even over a third of those with chronic daily headache and tension type headache have had CA.  But it was much much more common in those with migraine.

Those with frequent attacks of migraine were more likely to have sensitive skin, and women were also more often sufferers.

Allodynia most often occurs on the scalp or arms of the migraineur.  Putting on jewelry, brushing your hair, or even standing near a hot stove can be a painful experience.  Even feeling the sleeves of your shirt brush on your arms can be painful.  This effect may have something to do with the hypersensitivity in the brain of someone having a migraine attack.

Usually this symptom starts after the headache portion of the migraine is well underway (if there is a headache).  Many doctors recommend that taking an abortive (such as a triptan) before this stage is very important - otherwise the treatment will be less successful.

You can read more about allodynia here, and an overview of the study Prevalence and characteristics of allodynia in headache sufferers.

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Technorati Tags: allodynia, cutaneous allodynia, migraine

As some of you know, a portion of the proceeds from this site go toward the medical needs of some of the world’s neediest children in the country of Sierra Leone.  The organization we give through, International DOVE, recently sent their thanks by mail, so I’m copying it here for all of you:

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Technorati Tags: International DOVE, Sierra Leone

It can be a pain to keep a headache diary.  And yet, it is one of the most critical things that you need to do if you’re going to find solutions.  What if, instead of searching for that paper or remembering until you got home (or got to a computer), you could just grab your cell phone and make a quick call?

Personally, I like paper, which is why I use the headache diary here.  But I recently got an email from migraineur and web-smart guy Scott Clark, who suggested using the web transcription service known as Jott for keeping a headache diary.

Simply put, Jott takes your voice and turns it into text, allowing you to update agendas, email, and send text messages by phone.  (Note: Jott is currently only available in Canada and the USA)

Ok, sure, so what do I do - call Jott whenever I have a migraine attack?  Well, relax.  Scott has written a whole article about using Jott for your headache diary.  Lots of great tips - and a simple breakdown of how it works and how to make it work for you.  Check out the article right here:  Migraine Diary with Jott.

If you find the idea useful, leave a comment here and let me know.  Maybe there’s something to all this computer stuff after all!

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Technorati Tags: headache diary, Jott, migraine diary, Scott Clark

It’s that time of month for the Headache & Migraine Disease Blog Carnival!  This month’s topic - Coping strategies for migraine.  There’s quite an eclectic set of posts, as always.  Not only are there some articles about coping, there are a few posts on other topics.

If you’re a migraine blogger yourself, you may want to participate.  Next month’s topic is Migraines and Physical Activity: How do you remain active?

Exercise and headache is a hotly discussed topic.  To get started, read these exercise tips for those with headache, this article about how exercise can fight headache and migraine, and these tips to stop getting a headache from exercise.

Popularity: 38% [?]

Technorati Tags: coping with migraine, Headache & Migraine Disease Blog Carnival, Headache Blog Carnival