The journal of headache and pain
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Migraine is a type of primary headache widely known for its impact on quality of life of patients. Although the psychological aspects of the disease are receiving increasing attention in current research, some of them, as alexithymia, are still seldom explored. This study aimed to provide evidence on the relationships between markers of depression, anxiety, alexithymia, self-reflection, insight and quality of life in migraine. ⋯ The results highlight the relevance of considering psychological variables in the routine healthcare practices for migraine patients in general, while keeping steady attention to individual case features.
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The interictal deficit of habituation to repetitive visual stimuli in migraine patients could be due to deficient intracortical inhibition and/or to low cortical pre-activation levels. Which of these abnormalities contributes more to the habituation deficit cannot be determined with the common methods used to record transient visual responses.We investigated lateral inhibition in the visual cortex during the migraine cycle and in healthy subjects by using differential temporal modulations of radial windmill-dartboard (WD) or partial-windmill (PW) visual patterns. ⋯ These results are in favour of a migraine cycle-dependent imbalance between excitation and inhibition in the visual cortex. We hypothesize that an interictal hypoactivity of monaminergic pathways may cause a functional disconnection of the thalamus in migraine leading to an abnormal intracortical short-range lateral inhibition that could contribute to the habituation deficit observed during stimulus repetition.
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Primary headaches, attention deficit disorder and learning disabilities in children and adolescents.
Primary headaches and Learning difficulties are both common in the pediatric population. The goal of our study was to assess the prevalence of learning disabilities and attention deficit disorder in children and adolescents with migraine and tension type headaches. ⋯ Learning disabilities and ADHD are more common in children and adolescents who are referred for neurological assessment due to primary headaches than is described in the general pediatric population. There is an association between headache diagnosis and school achievements.
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Sinusitis is the most frequent misdiagnosis given to patients with migraine.Therefore we decided to estimate the frequency of misdiagnosis of sinusitis among migraine patients. ⋯ Many migraine patients were misdiagnosed as sinusitis. Strict adherence to the diagnostic criteria will prevent the delay in migraine diagnosis and help to prevent chronification of the headache and possible MOH.
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Headache is the most common cause for chronic or recurrent pain in childhood and adolescence. Chronic pain may have a long-term effect on adolescents. It might contribute to functional limitations, such as poor school attendance, and it may adversely affect development of healthy social relationships. The aim of our study was to examine the cross- ethnic variation in the prevalence of headache in a non- clinical sample of adolescents in Northern Israel and to learn about its association to other somatic complaints. ⋯ Headache is a frequent complaint among adolescents in Northern Israel. Jewish adolescents reported having headaches more frequently than their Arab peers. Those who suffered from frequent headaches also reported having significantly more other somatic complaints than adolescents without headaches. Girls had more somatic complaints then boys in the two ethnic groups.