Headache
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Fourteen female dental hygiene students (seven with episodic tension-type headache and seven who rarely or never experienced headache) wore an ambulatory electromyographic recorder and completed hourly subjective ratings of pain and negative affective states for six days while they carried out their normal daily activities. Three of the days were designated as high stress days by virtue of the fact that the students were required to take a major course examination or undergo a clinical evaluation on that day. The remaining three days were designated as low stress days by virtue of the fact that no unusual demands were made on the students, and they simply attended lectures as usual. ⋯ Headache group subjects reported significantly higher levels of pain compared to the control group, but their pain ratings did not differ between high and low stress days. Subjective ratings of negative affective states (anxiety, anger, sadness, and frustration) were significantly greater on high stress days compared to low stress days. Headache group subjects also exhibited a tendency to report higher levels of negative affective states than did control group subjects, but only in the case of frustration was the .05 level of statistical significance achieved.
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Randomized Controlled Trial Clinical Trial
Epidural blood patch in the treatment of post dural puncture headache: a double blind study.
A randomised double blind controlled trial of 'epidural blood-patch' as treatment for post-dural puncture headache is presented. The method was successful in 11 out of 12 cases on its first application, the twelfth patient being relieved by a second procedure. None of six patients reported benefit from a 'sham' procedure. The rationale for the use of the technique is discussed.
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We reviewed the medical records of 283 cocaine users consecutively admitted to a municipal hospital and identified 37 patients (13.1%) complaining of headaches. These patients were divided into three groups. Three patients had migraine-like headaches and transient hemiparesis associated with cocaine use. ⋯ The four remaining patients had other headaches. Based on these findings, we conclude that: (1) Headache is a common complaint in hospitalized cocaine users; (2) Cocaine may occasionally trigger a syndrome which resembles hemiplegic migraine. The potential mechanisms of this syndrome will be discussed; (3) Hospitalized cocaine users who present with headaches most frequently have depression with suicidal ideation, often associated with cocaine withdrawal; and (4) Structural brain disease in these patients may result from a variety of causes.
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Comparative Study
Long-term effects of training in relaxation and stress-coping in patients with migraine: a 3-year follow-up.
Research on the short-term effects of psychological interventions in migraine indicates improvement rates of 50 percent. Yet long-term follow-ups are scarce: the studies extending to three years provide evidence for the maintenance of effects, but these studies evaluate the benefits of rather complex psychological treatments and the samples include other types of headache. We compared the effects of single-method psychological interventions upon migraine. ⋯ Although more research is needed to substantiate our findings, the results suggest that, thus far, there is little reason to favor multimodal training or more complex psychological treatments over single-method psychological interventions in migraine. Also, our results do not support the assumed superiority of cognitive-behavioral treatment over psychophysiological treatment. Research on factors predicting long-term effects of psychological interventions in migraine may profit from considering separate variables on skill rehearsal and skill employment (instead of employing a global measure of home practice), and from a measure for post-training external stress.
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Comparative Study
EEG spectral analysis and time domain descriptors in headache.