Understanding Your Migraines: A Guide for Patients and Families

Twelve percent of the world's population is affected by migraines, tallying up to more than 35 million people in the US alone. The World Health Organization lists it among the top ten most disabling conditions. But even with those numbers, why are we still plagued with this disorder and what can we do, in our daily lives, to manage this devastating and demoralizing brain illness? Understanding Your Migraines: A Guide for Patients and Families addresses, in clear prose: · The impact migraines can have on your life, and your family's; · How to communicate and work with your medical team to make sure nothing is overlooked in your quest to conquer your migraines; · Non-medicinal and new experimental ways to reduce migraine symptoms; · The special and important cases of dealing with migraine during pregnancy, in children, and in adolescents; · How you can find online and community resources for learning more. Understanding Your Migraine: A Guide for Patients and Families brings together the expertise of two eminent headache neurologists, Dr. Morris Levin and Dr. Thomas Ward, who have each been caring for headache patients for more than 35 years. Peppered with patient cases to show how to successfully deal with a variety of headache issues, the authors address common concerns in an easy-to-read and comprehensive manner, making this a must-have on every bedside table.

Table of Contents:
Table of Contents Chapter 1 Introduction to Migraines Chapter 2 What Kind of Headache Do I Have? Chapter 3 Do I Have Migraine? Chapter 4 The Nature of Migraine Chapter 5 The Impact of Migraine - And What Are the Goals in Managing Them? Chapter 6 The Best Medical Treatments to Relieve a Migraine Headache Chapter 7 Non-Medicinal Ways to Relieve Migraine Pain Chapter 8 Preventing Migraine: Medical Choices Chapter 9 Non-Medicinal and Alternative Approaches to Preventing Migraines Chapter 10 Migraines in Children and Adolescents Chapter 11 Migraines During Pregnancy and Breast-Feeding Chapter 12 Frequent Migraines - How Chronic Migraine Differs from Episodic Migraine Chapter 13 Newer and Experimental Treatments of Migraine and Other Headaches Chapter 14 The Usual Headache (Tension-Type Headache) Chapter 15 Unusual Headaches: Cluster Headache, Other "Trigeminal Autonomic Cephalalgias", and New Daily Persistent Headache Chapter 16 Head Injuries and Headaches Chapter 17 How to Communicate with Your Medical Team Chapter 18 Migraine Resources

About the Author :
Dr. Morris Levin serves as chief of the Division of Headache Medicine and director of the Headache Center at UCSF Medical Center. He specializes in the management of all forms of facial pain and headache, including migraine, cluster headache, cervicogenic headache (neck-related headaches) and post-traumatic headaches. His research interests include cervicogenic headache, post-concussive headache, diagnosis in headaches, and medical education in neurology. Dr. Levin earned an undergraduate degree at Stanford University and his medical degree at Chicago Medical School. Subsequently, he completed a residency in neurology at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York, followed by subspecialty training at the Montefiore Hospital Headache Unit and Michigan Head-Pain and Neurological Institute. He is board certified in neurology and pain medicine by the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology. He is also certified in Pain Medicine by the American Board of Pain Medicine and holds board certification in Headache Medicine from the United Council for Neurologic Subspecialties. Dr. Thomas N. Ward grew up in Portsmouth, NH where he attended the public school system. He graduated from Dartmouth College cum laude in 1975 and from Dartmouth Medical School with honors in 1980. He was elected a member of AOA. He was an intern and resident in Internal Medicine at Albany Medical Center from 1980-1982 then a resident in Neurology from 1982-1985 at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center. Subsequently he practiced Neurology at Laconia Clinic in Laconia, NH until returning to Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center in 1989 where he founded their headache clinic. He retired from DHMC in June 2016.Dr. Ward is a Fellow of the American Headache Society and of the American Academy of Neurology as well as the American Neurological Association. He is Treasurer of the Headache Cooperative of New England and certified in the subspecialty of Headache Medicine by the United Council for Neurologic Subspecialties. He was Professor of Neurology at the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth. He is the Editor in Chief of the journal Headache: the journal of head and face pain.

Review :
"This book is for patients, but alas I cannot think of a clinician or health care professional doing headache neurology who would not benefit from reading it and having it on hand or in a pocket. Bookstores have a scarcity of good patient books, and this one should be popular and retain its education value for years... So I would recommend it and say take it with you to your doctor, and if you are a headache doctor then take it with you to your office." -- R. Allan Purdy MD, FAHS, Headache "Finally, a book that takes years of clinical experience and decades of scientific discoveries and boils them down into simple, easy-to-understand language, giving patients insight they can use to manage their headaches successfully. Understanding Your Migraines gives hope to the most challenging-to-treat headache sufferers." -- Rami Burstein, PhD, John Hedley-Whyte Professor of Anaesthesia and Neuroscience, Harvard Medical School and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center "This book is useful in that it reinforces what we clinicians tell our patients but also provides education on topics that may not have not been broached during the visit." -- Lawrence C. Newman, MD, Director, The Headache Institute, Mount Sinai St. Luke's "Migraine is a common, disabling, and often misunderstood disease. For those contending with migraine, it is a challenge to find current and reliable information on what migraine is, and what it isn't, and what measures will bring it under control. Understanding Your Migraines now provides welcome and authoritative guidance from two renowned migraine doctors and researchers." -- Robert E. Shapiro, MD, PhD, Professor of Neurological Sciences, Larner College of Medicine, University of Vermont