Fibromyalgia, Migraines and the Aches and Pains

People who suffer from migraines, i.e. migraineurs, quite often suffer from aches and pains that can also symptoms of other conditions that are thought to be closely associated with migraines, including fibromyalgia. Although one condition is not caused by the other, they often occur at the same time.

 The symptoms of fibromyalgia are so similar to those felt by migraine sufferers (aside from the headache pain) that at times it may be difficult to distinguish if they are simply caused by the migraine syndrome or from fibromyalgia. Both conditions can produce widespread aches and pains, fatigue, insomnia, bowel problems (irritable bowel syndrome), memory/concentration issues, mood swings and distressed sleep.  Attacks of each are susceptible to the same types of triggers, including hormonal changes.

Defining strategies to overcome the problems of these conditions are similar and should include avoiding triggers, regular exercise (as  tolerated),  getting a good night's sleep, eating a balanced diet,  stress reduction, massage, and dietary supplements.  In some cases pharmaceuticals may be warranted. Migraineurs have to be more cautious about choosing remedies so as not to aggravate the migraine syndrome.

Most aches and pains are induced by inflammation of soft tissue in the body, mainly pain in the neck and shoulders for migraineurs. By design, our Migraine Defense formula for the prevention of migraines includes an ingredient that contains Gamma Linolenic Acid (GLA) which is a substance the body needs to produce anti-inflammatory prostaglandins for pain reduction. For this reason, many of our clients who take Migraine Defense report that their body aches and pains have been reduced.

Reducing inflammation is not only important in defending against migraines, it is the number one remedy for fighting the daily aches and pains associated with migraines and or fibromyalgia.  For this reason, Tuliv has introduced a product for the specific purpose of helping to reduce inflammation in the body, called Tuliv EPO. For more information on Tuliv EPO click here or see the list of Tuliv Wellness products.

Fatigue is another major problem associated with either of these conditions or in life in general as we age. To overcome daily fatigue we recommend our product Tuliv T'Energy. T'Energy is a combination of natural substances in capsule form that provides for extended daily energy without the jitters that can come with energy drinks. For more information on Tuliv T'Energy click here or see the list of Tuliv Wellness products.

Whether you are suffering from the aches and pains of migraine or fibromyalgia, we feel that our products can be of great benefit to you. If you have questions, please contact me at lxhenry@Tuliv.net or call 1-866-367-5953 and ask for me.

Lyle Henry

New Migraine Guidelines Include Non-prescription Alternatives

From a report by Stephen D. Silberstein, MD

Neurologists and other physicians who care for patients with migraine must be prepared to offer appropriate preventive treatments… clinicians should be ready to offer therapies with the greatest potential to reduce the frequency, severity, or duration of migraines for that particular patient. The focus on non-prescription and non-traditional interventions for migraine is especially important. Although some clinicians are dismissive of complementary therapies, the comprehensive literature review undertaken for the guideline development shows that controlled trials have been conducted for some therapies. Furthermore, some of these trials show that these non-prescription agents may offer promise in the management of migraine. Those individuals interested in treatment alternatives can be directed to agents with evidence.

Full report at http://bmctoday.net/practicalneurology/2012/06/article.asp?f=new-guidelines-update-approach-to-episodic-migraine-prevention

Stephen D. Silberstein, MD is Professor of Neurology and Director of the Jefferson Headache Center at Thomas Jefferson University. He is a Fellow of the American College of Physicians (ACP) and the American Headache Society (AHS), and the American Academy of Neurology (AAN).

Today many doctors and clinicians include Tuliv Migraine Defense as part of the recommended migraine treatment plan for patients. For more information on Tuliv Migraine Defense and why physicians recommend it, see http://Tuilv.com

Sinus Headache or Migraine?

This article on sinus and migraine headaches first appeared on my blog 2009 and since then many other migraine researchers came to the same conclusion as I stated and most recently at the 54th Annual Scientific Meeting of the American Headache Society in Los Angeles a paper was delivered addressing the issue of misdiagnosing sinus/migraine headaches. For these reason, I felt I needed to bring this important message once again to the forefront.

People often wonder... Am I getting the correct diagnosis? Perhaps the most misdiagnosed migraine is the sinus headache. A study by the Mayo Clinic found that nearly 9 in 10 people who were diagnosed with sinus headaches were actually suffering from migraines.

Although some of the symptoms including congestion, pressure and pain in the forehead and around the eyes are similar. In most cases, the symptoms of a sinus infection are generally accompanied by fever, swollen lymph nodes and a persistent green or yellow nasal discharge. If you don't have those symptoms along with your headache, it is most likely a frontal migraine.

Doctors unwittingly and ineffectively treat the symptoms of a frontal migraine as a sinus infection through the use of antibiotics and prescription or OTC sinus remedies. More severe treatments often include sinus scrapings, surgeries, and nasal medication - all of which are of no avail because of the misdiagnoses.

In order to understand why a migraine feels like a sinus headache we need to review the problem area of a migraine. The pain of a migraine headache is felt when the blood vessels intertwined with the trigeminal nerves begin to expand and put pressure on the nerve endings. This trigeminal-vascular system runs from the temporal lobes along each side of the head and then branches out behind the eyes across the forehead, into the cheeks and down the jaw line. The ends of each side of this system meet to surround the sinus cavity.

As part of the migraine syndrome, the tiny hair-like blood vessels expand and swell around the sinus cavity causing a squeezing-like pressure on it which results in a feeling of sinus congestion and pain.

Much time and money, not to mention the amount of pain, is often spent on trying to fight the wrong cause of migraines. The true cause of migraines is not a problem with a person's sinuses (nor does it have anything to do with the jaw, teeth, or the neck as it is sometimes thought). Since migraines are genetic and caused by an abnormal responses to hormone production, there is no sinus remedy that will help prevent a migraine from occurring.

Tuliv Migraine Defense is the only anti-migraine product that builds a natural defense system in the body to help prevent migraines.

If you have any questions or would like to visit more about this subject or any aspect of migraines, please call 1-866-367-5953 (9 AM to 3 PM CST M-F) or send an email anytime to Questions@Tuliv.net.

Do you know someone who has complained about "sinus headaches"? If so, please forward this article to him or her.

Melatonin and Migraines

Does melatonin help prevent migraine or can it be a migraine trigger? 

Thank you, Cheri

_______________________________

HI Cheri,

Good question.

Melatonin is a natural hormone secreted from a gland called the pineal gland. For the most part we can think of melatonin as the hormone that induces sleep.

Hormones can be secreted in regulated cycles or sporadically in reaction to internal and even external needs. For example, adrenalin may be secreted when we are suddenly startled or a as reaction to a normal process of the body.

Melatonin is more or less a cyclical hormone that starts to get secreted around 4 o'clock in the afternoon and is the reason we may feel let-down around that time of the day. In England it is traditionally the time for afternoon tea as a pickup.

Melatonin starts to leave the body or is actually converted to another hormone, serotonin, around 4 o'clock in the morning. It appears that this melatonin conversion process can trigger a migraine headache. For this reason many people who get migraines, often wake up around this time with a full-blown headache. So from that point of view one could say that melatonin may be the blame for a migraine.

Having said that, it is interesting to note that melatonin can also help in the prevention of migraines when used properly. Because of the phenomena mentioned above, sometimes adding a small amount of timed-released melatonin at night appears to help the conversion process in the morning and thus prevent a headache. We find this to be especially helpful when a person is also taking our Tuliv Migraine Defense product for the prevention of migraines.

To read more about how the time of day affects migraines, see Morning Migraines

Lyle

Tuliv Migraine Defense

1-866-367-5953

www.Tuliv.com

Botox Proves to be Ineffective for Migraines

In our November 2010 Tuliv Times newsletter, I reported on the findings of our independent study on Botox that showed it had little or no effect on preventing migraines. Since then more than 35 different medical studies from around the world have confirmed our results and concluded that Botox is not effective for migraines.

Recently, new data was collected in a collaborative study between researchers in the U.S. and Japan that found "Botox is largely ineffective as a treatment for chronic migraines." According to the report released last week in the Journal of the American Medical Association, "chronic migraine sufferers saw only a slight dip in frequency when using the drug."

Lead researcher Dr. Jeffrey Jackson from the Medical College of Wisconsin in Milwaukee and his team reviewed 27 different studies including over 27,000 migraine patients. For those suffering daily headaches, Botox reduced frequency by one to two days a month or about a 5% success rate. Those with less frequent migraines saw no appreciable change.

A similar study by the American Academy of Neurology showed that Botox did little or nothing to help those with migraines. According to the study's author, "Based on currently available data, botulinum toxin (Botox) injections should not be offered to patients with episodic migraine and chronic tension-type headaches," said Dr. Markus Naumann, head of the Department of Neurology at Augsburg Hospital in Germany. "It is no better than placebo injections for these types of headache."

Since Botox has now been shown to basically do nothing for migraines, why do some doctors continue to recommend it and patients still try it? Most patients are not aware of the fact that Botox will do virtually nothing for their migraines and high dollar marketing by the manufacturer to both doctors and patients may account for the perceived popularity of Botox. (Let's face it, Botox for migraines has been very profitable for the maker as well as the medical professionals who inject it).

At Tuliv, we continually measure the performance of our migraine prevention product Tuliv Migraine Defense as well as supplements that go along with it. Based on this, we have developed an easy nine point personal assessment to help predict a person's success with Migraine Defense. Please see Migraine Appraisal.

Pieces of the Migraine Puzzle

You would think by now that the migraine headache syndrome would be completely resolved since it has been studied throughout history and produced a long list of remedies and cures. Babylonian writings dating back to 3000 BC described migraines in detail as well as papyrus scrolls from around 1550 BC that gave detailed accounts that are remarkably similar to what modern migraine sufferers describe.

The Egyptians may have realized the mechanics of a migraine because they believed that relief could be provided to the headache sufferer by compressing the scalp and collapsing the blood vessels that were causing the pain. Aside from compressing the scalp, the idea of collapsing (constricting) blood vessels is the purpose of triptans (i.e. Imitrex, Relpax, Maxalt, etc.) used today to abort migraines.

Today there are still many different ideas about why some people get migraines. For thousands of years it has been known that there is a hereditary connection and within this decade much work has been done to identify and name the actual genes of the DNA that are attributed to migraines.

When we look at the chemical process involved in a migraine, we turn our attention to a substance called CGRP which oozes from the inner walls of the tiny blood vessels intertwined with the trigeminal nerve in the head. CGRP makes the vessels expand and puts pressure on the nerve endings, all of which is felt as the pain of a migraine headache.

It appears that when certain cells containing the migraine gene receive directives from what are called hormone messengers they somehow signal the production of CGRP. Since how the nucleus of a cell works is still unknown, understanding how this process works remains a mystery. Migraine Defense was developed as a way to lessen the negative effect of this process and therefore work to prevent migraines.

Outside forces called "migraine triggers" can also start the production of CGRP and cause migraines. This appears to happen most often when there is an increase in the level of nitric oxide and/or tyramine in the body. Therefore, whatever can be done to keep either of these from increasing can help to reduce the number of migraine occurrences.

Many of the products people use daily may be triggering migraines. These include medications, health products such as probiotics, dietary supplements, HRT, and even many of the products recommended by naturalists and homeopathics that do not understand migraines.

At Tuliv, we often ask our clients to provide us with the brand names of any products they take so that we can investigate and see if any contain substances that may cause the generation of CGRP. In doing so we are not only helping that individual but we are providing information that can help you and others.

Since it is the goal of Tuliv to help those who suffer from migraines have a better life, in the coming weeks Tuliv will introduce new "Migraine Safe" products.

Chronic and Transformed Migraines

You may have heard the terms "chronic" or "transformed migraines" that appear to describe the type of headaches you are experiencing.

Chronic headaches generally occur on an almost daily basis and can seem to be a continuous headache that feels to only vary slightly in its intensity during a 24-hour period. Basically, a chronic migraine presents a constant headache battle for the migraine person.

Transformed migraine is another term for the same type of headache where the migraine condition initially began as episodic migraines that progressed in frequency to more than 15 headaches per month. The term transformed migraine once referred to chronic headaches that had transformed into headaches that no longer responded to medications.

When we look at the headache pattern of a person who gets migraines, we can easily identify how the pattern changed
over time. Tuliv research has identified these as stages of migraines that relate to a person's age or more precisely the hormonal changes that generally start at puberty or a major hormone shift brought on by hormone based birth control, the end of a pregnancy, or hysterectomy.

Our research on the life patterns of migraines, which involved more than 1,000 interviews, showed the transformation from episodic to chronic migraines most often occurs at around the age of 40 (give or take a few years either way). This is mainly due to the changes in the secretions of LH and FSH hormones by the pituitary gland for both men and women which signals the start of peri-menopause. To learn more about the significant role of this gland in the life-cycle of migraines see: Migraine Patterns

A person suffering from chronic migraine syndrome is always more susceptible to external triggers. For this reason, he or she must be more cautious of anything that can trigger a headache, especially triggers
that can elevate the elements involved in the chemical process of a migraine. For example, we know that when the level of nitric oxide or tyramine increases in the body, a person with chronic migraines is more likely to have a headache occurrence than a person who only suffers from episodic headaches.

In a recent study conducted by Tuliv, it was found that 65% of the respondents who had 15 or more headaches a month were also taking some form of probiotics or acidophilus. Probiotics and acidophilus always elevate the level of nitric oxide in the body. Nitric oxide is a powerful vasodilator and intricate component of the chemistry of a migraine. Again for those who only get episodic migraines, this may not be a problem, but for those who have chronic migraines this can be a huge contributing factor that should be avoided. To learn more about reducing migraines see: Making Prevention a Priority.

Chronic and transformed migraines account for about 70% of the types of headaches in patients helped by Tuliv Migraine Defense. Migraine Defense was initially developed for the purpose of stopping and preventing chronic migraines and continues to prove each day to be the number one most effective migraine prevention remedy for chronic and transformed migraines.

We are always ready and willing to help you find the information you need and answer any questions about migraines. You can reach us by email at Questions@Tuliv.com or by phone at 1-866-367-5953. There is never a cost or obligation for our services.