Cataloged copy has "Note to reviewers: these are advance reading galleys. Changes may be made before the book is printed"--P. 4 of cover.

Headaches in women is truly a major health issue. Every year, over 22 million women in the United States suffer from migraine headaches. A concise and practical handbook that gives female headache sufferers all the tools they need to work with their healthcare providers to properly diagnose types of headache and develop the best possible treatment plans.

Fifteen specialists serve as chapter authors, covering sex hormones and genetics, as well as the social, cultural, psychiatric, and psychological factors that contribute to headache disorders. Their approach is evidence-based, but where there are gaps in research, the authors provide advice based on expert consensus and clinical experience. Each chapter opens with a case report that synthesizes the chapter's treatment recommendations, as well as key points listing the chapter's contents. The main body of the chapter features an introductory overview, a closing summary, tables, and an extensive list of suggestive reading.

The brain is the most complex organ in our body. Indeed, it is perhaps the most complex structure we have ever encountered in nature. Both structurally and functionally, there are many peculiarities that differentiate the brain from all other organs. The brain is our connection to the world around us and by governing nervous system and higher function, any disturbance induces severe neurological and psychiatric disorders that can have a devastating effect on quality of life. Our understanding of the physiology and biochemistry of the brain has improved dramatically in the last two decades. In particular, the critical role of cations, including magnesium, has become evident, even if incompletely understood at a mechanistic level. The exact role and regulation of magnesium, in particular, remains elusive, largely because intracellular levels are so difficult to routinely quantify. Nonetheless, the importance of magnesium to normal central nervous system activity is self-evident given the complicated homeostatic mechanisms that maintain the concentration of this cation within strict limits essential for normal physiology and metabolism. There is also considerable accumulating evidence to suggest alterations to some brain functions in both normal and pathological conditions may be linked to alterations in local magnesium concentration. This book, containing chapters written by some of the foremost experts in the field of magnesium research, brings together the latest in experimental and clinical magnesium research as it relates to the central nervous system. It offers a complete and updated view of magnesiums involvement in central nervous system function and in so doing, brings together two main pillars of contemporary neuroscience research, namely providing an explanation for the molecular mechanisms involved in brain function, and emphasizing the connections between the molecular changes and behavior. It is the untiring efforts of those magnesium researchers who have dedicated their lives to unraveling the mysteries of magnesiums role in biological systems that has inspired the collation of this volume of work.

A neurologist specializing in headache treatment outlines ten simple techniques to help relieve and prevent migraines, including drug therapy, lifestyle enhancements, and complementary therapies, including supplements, diet, and exercise.

A cultural, social, and medical history of migraine. For centuries, people have talked of a powerful bodily disorder called migraine, which currently affects about a billion people around the world. Yet until now, the rich history of this condition has barely been told. In Migraine, award-winning historian Katherine Foxhall reveals the ideas and methods that ordinary people and medical professionals have used to describe, explain, and treat migraine since the Middle Ages. Touching on classical theories of humoral disturbance and medieval bloodletting, Foxhall also describes early modern herbal remedies, the emergence of neurology, and evolving practices of therapeutic experimentation. Throughout the book, Foxhall persuasively argues that our current knowledge of migraine's neurobiology is founded on a centuries-long social, cultural, and medical history. This history, she demonstrates, continues to profoundly shape our knowledge of this complicated disease, our attitudes toward people who have migraine, and the sometimes drastic measures that we take to address pain. Migraine is an intimate look at how cultural attitudes and therapeutic practices have changed radically in response to medical and pharmaceutical developments. Foxhall draws on a wealth of previously unexamined sources, including medieval manuscripts, early-modern recipe books, professional medical journals, hospital case notes, newspaper advertisements, private diaries, consultation letters, artworks, poetry, and YouTube videos. Deeply researched and beautifully written, this fascinating and accessible study of one of our most common, disabling—and yet often dismissed—disorders will appeal to physicians, historians, scholars in medical humanities, and people living with migraine alike.

Migraine is an extremely common condition affecting 28 million Americans. Fully 1 in every 6 adult women suffers from this malady. Patients with migraine are frequently seen in the Emergency Room and Urgent Care Clinic for acute treatment of their headaches. Headache generally accounts for nearly 3 % of all ER visits, resulting in almost 3.5 million visits annually. There currently are no widely used guidelines for the treatment of patients with headache in the ER or UCC, and reducing the number of CT scans remains a key goal for administrators in many ER or urgent care settings. In one study, 35 drugs, alone or in combination, were used to treat migraine. The most common medication class used was narcotics, which were used in 25% of the visits. The next two most commonly used classes were antiemetics and NSAIDs. Only 5% of patients seen for headache received headache-specific medications during their visit. ER and Urgent Care physicians generally have little or no formal training in treating these patients. Consequently, they often feel less comfortable ruling out secondary causes of headaches and using appropriate headache treatment medications and procedures. Since many patients have received narcotics in previous visits, providers may view them as drug seekers. Patients seen in ERs and UCCs for acute treatment of their headaches often report high levels of dissatisfaction. They often end up in the ER or UCC because they don’t have a formal treatment strategy for their severe headaches. Health plans and insurance agencies are often frustrated by the high cost of fragmented care for patients with headaches. Because of the environment that most ER and UCC providers operate in, many unnecessary scans and tests are done because of uncertainty of the diagnosis and unfamiliarity of the patient. Primary care physicians are also frustrated by patients with headaches presenting to them after being seen in the ER or UCC, wanting a refill of their narcotics that they were given. Many patients don’t follow up with their PCPs and simply keep returning to the ER/UCC for their treatment. In short, all involved in the care for patients with headache are frustrated by the current system. The care for these patients is clearly not optimal. It doesn’t have to be that way. There are a wide variety of effective treatment options available, but are underutilized in the acute setting. With these treatment options, patients no longer have to be treated only with parenteral narcotics, only to perpetuate the cycle of suboptimal care described above. This concise handbook covers all aspects of acute headache care, including care of the child and adolescent with acute headaches, treatment of pregnant and breastfeeding women with acute headaches and appropriate evaluation of secondary headaches. In addition, two other novel chapters are included: one on caring for older patients with acute headaches as well as a chapter describing how to ensure a seamless transition of the patient back to a headache interested provider. Representing an important milestone in the care of patients with headache, this is the first concise handbook available to exclusively address the issue of headache treatment in the acute care setting. Including protocols and strategies that can be used right away, Management of Headaches in Emergency Room and Urgent Care Settings: Diagnosis and Management provides information about lesser known, but effective strategies such as greater occipital nerve blocks that can be easily learned and incorporated in the acute care setting. It emphasizes the continuity of care that is so vital to keep headache patients from returning to the ER and UCC for acute treatment.