August 27th 2025
Your daily dose of the clinical news you may have missed.
TMD Associated With Frequency of Migraine and Chronic Daily Headache
September 11th 2009Patients with migraine are more likely than nonmigraineurs to have temporomandibular disorder (TMD). According to the results of a new study presented at the 14th annual International Headache Conference in Philadelphia, TMD may also be associated with increased headache frequency.
Exploring the Influences of Artists Who Experience Migraine With Aura
September 11th 2009It is only within the past 40 years that the term "migraine art" was introduced; yet artists may have been creating works inspired by migraine aura since the Stone Age. Early depictions of migraine continue to influence newer artists with this illness. This is a natural progression that is common in all types of art, according to Klaus Podoll, MD, senior physician in the department of psychiatry and psychotherapy, University Hospital Aachen, RWTH Aachen University, Germany. But Dr Podoll has found that artists with migraine are often particularly attracted to the works of other artists who share their migraine experiences. These shared experiences "act like a filter," contributing to the an artist's perspective and leading to "elective affinities between migraine-inspired artists," he said.
Woman With Multiple Head and Neck Injuries
September 10th 2009A 35-year-old woman presented to the emergency department (ED) with 2 black eyes, facial swelling, and other injuries (Figure 1). She said that she had been in an all-terrain vehicle accident the day before, in which she hit her face on the handlebar. She said she had lost consciousness for an unknown period and since the accident had experienced headache, dizziness, nausea, and pain over much of her body.
Carotid Dissection From Weight Lifting
June 5th 2009A 37-year-old man was brought to the emergency department (ED) after he had 2 near-syncopal events. The first occurred in the morning and rapidly resolved; the second occurred later in the day at work. The night before he had a headache and neck pain. In the ED, he reported left arm and leg weakness and was noted to have left facial droop.
Podcast: New Treatments for Headache: IHC Research Highlights
March 29th 2009Highlights from the International Headache Congress are presented by Stephen D. Silberstein, MD, professor of neurology at Jefferson Medical College and director of the headache center at Thomas Jefferson University, Philadelphia, as well as chair of the congress organizing committee.
Fever in a Woman With an Abnormal White Blood Cell Count
January 2nd 2009The patient has a small-fiber sensory neuropathy that is managed with lamotrigine. She is a physical therapy student who has frequent patient contact. She drinks alcohol occasionally but denies smoking and illicit drug use; she says she is not sexually active.
Woman With Severe Headache and Left-Sided Weakness
December 2nd 2008A 47-year-old Hispanic woman with severe headaches of 1 month’s duration presents to the emergency department (ED). The pain encompasses the entire head, is constant and crushing (10 on a scale of 1 to 10), and has progressively worsened.
Headache Secondary to Epidural Abscess
November 2nd 2008Two weeks before admission, he had visited the emergency department (ED) because of the headache. Migraine was diagnosed and ibuprofen had been prescribed. The headache persisted despite NSAID therapy, and the patient returned to the ED 2 days later.
Of Estrogen, Alzheimer's, and Male and Female Brains
March 2nd 2008I have read both that the male brain has no estrogen receptors and that testosterone is converted to estrogen in the brain. Where does the truth lie? And what role, if any, does estrogen play in preventing Alzheimer disease in both men and women?
SSRIs and Triptans: Safe as Combination Therapy?
February 1st 2008Depression was diagnosed 6 years earlier in a 37-year-old woman; it has been successfully managed since then with fluoxetine and outpatient psychotherapy. Since her teenage years, the patient has also experienced sporadic (fewer than 3 or 4 per year) mild or occasionally severe headaches, which she has usually self-treated with over-thecounter (OTC) agents or "just slept off."
Does the Brain Have to Pay for the Heart's Procedures?
November 1st 2007The development of more sophisticated testing modalities now permits the identification of coronary artery narrowing in asymptomatic adults. The images obtained in these studies provide potential targets for intervention-based therapy.
Woman With Short-Lasting, Strictly Unilateral Headaches
October 1st 2007A 47-year-old woman complains of severe headaches that involve only the right orbital, temporal, and occipital areas. She describes the pain as sharp and stabbing, and she rates its severity as 9 or 10 on a 10-point visual analog scale.
Elevated Hematocrit in Man Receiving Hemodialysis
June 1st 2007A 50-year-old man with end-stage renal disease secondary to long-standing hypertension had an elevated hematocrit and progressively increasing hemoglobin levels. For the past 7 years, he had been receiving hemodialysis 3 times a week. He denied headache, flushing, easy bruising, bleeding, nausea, vomiting, chest pain, dyspnea, and other symptoms. He was not receiving exogenous erythropoietin.
Two Women With Severe Headaches: Different Symptoms, Similar Approaches
May 1st 2007The headaches vary in severity, but she usually has severeheadaches (8 on a 10-point visual analog scale[VAS]) once or twice a week; she describes the latter assevere throbbing or pounding pain on the top of thehead but also involving the occipital and frontalareas and occasionally one or the other temple.