When Symptoms Change: Warning Signs to Watch For

Key Questions
  • What are 9 dangerous conditions that cause headache?
  • When should someone go to ER?
  • Who are more at risk of a potentially dangerous secondary headache?
  • How common are serious or potentially fatal headaches?
  • What is the difference between primary and secondary headaches?
  • What does SSNOOPP mean and why is it important?
  • What are the causes of thunderclap headache?
  • What is a Chiari malformation and how does it relate to headache?
  • Does correcting a Chiari malformation improve headache?
Interview Notes

Find more about William Young, MD and his work here:

They Don’t Get It: Educating Family & Friends on Migraine

Key Questions
  • Why is our own self-education about migraine so important?
  • How is the experience of migraine different in those who are informed versus those who are not?
  • Where does migraine education begin?
  • Why don’t most doctors teach or tell us more?
  • How are relationships affected by migraine?
  • Why is being proactive with friends and family so important?
  • How can we be more proactive in our migraine condition?
  • How can internal challenges like guilt be managed?
  • Why do we often hurt those closest to us more than others?
  • Where can we find more support outside close friends and family?
  • What is the best prescription according to Former Surgeon General C. Everett Koop?
  • What are some practical tips to maintain the friendships you want to keep?
  • How can those with migraine better navigate dinners, parties, or movie nights?
  • What works best: making up an excuse or telling the truth about why we had to cancel?
  • What should we expect from ourselves?
  • No one is perfect. How do we know what are reasonable expectations in ourselves?
  • What are coping skills? Do they really work?
  • What do you use to help you cope more effectively?
  • How can migraine sometimes lead to depression, anxiousness, and isolation?
  • How do we know when to let go of a relationship?
Interview Notes

Find more about Teri Robert and her work here:

TMD/TMJ Jaw-Related Headache Issues

Key Questions
  • What is the difference between TMJ and TMD?
  • What are some of the signs and symptoms of TMD?
  • How can Botox help relieve the symptoms of TMD?
Interview Notes

Find more about Paul Mathew, MD and his work here:

Surviving Weather-Related Migraine

Key Questions
  • What do we understand about the pathophysiology of what’s happening when lightning triggers a migraine?
  • Are there seasons when people might be more vulnerable to weather or migraine might be more prevalent?
  • What do we know about mold and migraine?
Interview Notes

Find more about Vince Martin, MD and his work here:

Menopause, Hormones and Migraine

Key Questions
  • What are hormones?
  • How do a woman’s hormones change over time?
  • Is it true that for those with menstrual migraine, attacks will fade after menopause?
  • What determines whether you will improve in menopause or not?
  • Why can perimenopause be difficult with migraine?
  • What myth is there are about menopause and estrogen levels?
  • What role does estrogen play in monthly migraine attacks?
  • What is the average age of perimenopause and menopause?
  • Do women with hormonal migraine have abnormal hormones levels?
  • How do you know if you have abnormal hormonal function and balance?
  • How can hormonal migraine be managed?
  • What is the most important first step to treatment?
  • What is HRT? And how can it be used?
  • What are bioidentical hormones and how safe are they?
  • What type of medical expert should someone work with for hormonal migraine?
  • How effective are treatment options?
  • How can a hysterectomy make migraine worse?
  • What supplements and natural alternatives have been shown to help?
Interview Notes

Find more about Anne MacGregor, MD and her work here:

Daily, Unresponsive Refractory Headache

Key Questions
  • What are the common types of daily unremitting headache?
  • Which is commonly misdiagnosed?
  • Which is often left undiagnosed?
  • How are headaches classified?
  • What is primary headache versus secondary headache?
  • What is rebound headache?
  • How can headaches that occur on 15 days a month or more be treated?
  • What treatment options are there for New Daily Persistent Headache?
  • When is an in-patient stay at a headache clinic worth considering?
  • What risks do people with refractory headache have?
  • What is a chronic pain state and what treatments could be utilized for this?
  • What are the S.E.E.D.S. for success in headache management?
Interview Notes

Find more about Juliana VanderPluym, MD and her work here:

Migraine, Heart and Stroke Risk

Key Questions
  • What do you do if you have migraine and a family history of heart disease, stroke or high cholesterol?
  • What treatments are on the horizon for people with both migraine and heart problems?
  • What are some lifestyle modifications that people can make to help reduce both the likelihood of migraine and heart problems at the same time?
Interview Notes

Find more about Juliana VanderPluym, MD and her work here:

Concussions, Brain Injuries and Migraine

Key Questions
  • What are some of the most common and surprising ways that people get head injuries that can lead to migraine?
  • How does a traumatic brain injury affect migraine?
  • Is it possible or advisable to screen young athletes for genetic vulnerability to migraine, concussion, and accumulated brain injury?
Interview Notes

Find more about Joel Saper, MD and his work here:

6 Medications That Can Make Migraine Worse

Key Questions
  • How do oral contraceptives exacerbate migraine frequency or symptoms?
  • What treatments do patients and physicians need to be cautious of that could cause harm to someone with migraine or headache?
  • What is the best way for a patient to coordinate their care across a variety of different doctors?
Interview Notes

Find more about Andrew Charles, MD and his work here:

Migraine Triggers, Protectors and Severity Modifiers

Key Questions
  • How good are we at predicting our own migraine triggers?
  • What are risk factors and how do we figure out our own?
  • How complicated is the relationship between risk factors for the frequency of migraine attacks and risk factors for the severity of migraine?
Interview Notes

Find more about Alec Mian, PhD and his work here:

Migraine, Vision and Occipital Neuralgia

Key Questions
  • What is the difference between migraine aura and occipital neuralgia?
  • Can visual symptoms occur in between migraine attacks?
  • What is cortical spreading depression and how does it relate to migraine aura?
Interview Notes

Find more about Kathleen Digre, MD and her work here:

Understanding the Gut-Brain Connection in Migraine

Key Questions
  • How can Ayurvedic medicine help ease the pain of migraine?
  • Why is the gut called the “second brain” and how does it relate to migraine?
  • What percentage of those with migraine have gastric reflux symptoms and why?
Interview Notes

Find more about Trupti Gokani, MD and her work here: