Are migraines a real pain in the neck? Or do bright lights act as a trigger for an attack? Are headaches part of life, with diet and alcohol affecting you?
Studied have examined and turned up multiple causes for migraine-like symptoms. Yet many of these are based on questionnaires dreamed up to generate answers based on self-reporting. Triggers are therefore suspected causes, and rarely tested. How seriously then should the research be treated, and the cited causes that come out of them?
A Japanese study into links with alcohol is based on a questionnaire asking 5408 a series of questions based on perceived locations, duration, characteristics, frequency & also aggravation by routine exercise.
Their own conclusions commence with the issue of self reporting: citing possible causations being 'highly speculative'. This further demonstrates the difficulty of examining data from migraine research.
We make the point as we at SPACE are highly sensititive to headache research just now, and linking it to jaw pain. For all the limitations of this self reported information, however, it does reflect how we conduct our initial examination with patients when they arrive for an appointment: we always ask about triggers as well as duration and frequency to establish causes and generate options for treatment.
A recent study, albeit of just 27 participants has attempted to actually test self reported triggers Provocation of migraine with aura using natural trigger factors Neurology January 29, 2013 80:428-431; published ahead of print January 23, 2013. Results from the study suggested that headaches are preceeded by a warning sign, often visual in nature. Light exposure did not seem much of a trigger (intimating that lying down in a darkened room may have alternative benefits other than light denial) but that exercise may be a reliable cause for a group of migraine sufferers.
All in all better quality research into the testing of perceived triggers would help enlighten the issue of migraine-type headaches: don't be in any way surprised if you have to answer a raft of questions at the clinic however as we are truly interested in your headaches and jaw pain.
We will make no apology in trying to link signs and symptoms to get a pattern and potential personal treatment plan-and that is critical: it really is all very personal! It's how we roll!
No comments:
Post a Comment