With spring comes warmer weather, rain showers, fresh flowers and the dreaded seasonal allergy symptoms. Frequent sneezing and itchy eyes are common this time of year, and some people may even experience intensified or continual migraine. It’s important to know, however, whether or not ongoing...
Pain is cited as the most common reason Americans access health care. It is a leading cause of disability and it is a major contributor to health care costs. It is important that your voice is heard if we are to improve the care of people with headache and other pain conditions.
The National Headache Foundation joins 56 other organizations in the Partners for Understanding Pain. The partnership is organized by the American Chronic Pain Association and is committed to helping those with chronic, acute, and cancer pain lead better lives. It strives to create greater understanding among health care professionals, individuals and families struggling with pain, the business community, legislators, and the public that pain is a serious public health issue.
The National Headache Foundation has been supporting clinical and basic science research in headache and its causes for over 25 years. These grants have served as springboards to obtaining over $7 million in federal funding of headache-related research. Newer resources have facilitated the application process and the review process.
Grants are now available, up to $100,000 per protocol, for research support. We are focusing the current campaign to protocols dealing with cluster headaches. This effort is supported by the Hope Schwab Fund in partnership with the National Headache Foundation.
Individuals with asthma who also experience episodic or occasional migraine may be more likely to develop chronic migraine, according to a National Headache Foundation-sponsored study, recently published online in the journal Headache.
“If you have asthma along with episodic or occasional migraine, then your headaches are more likely to evolve into a more disabling form known as chronic migraine,” said Vincent Martin, MD, professor of medicine in UC’s Division of General Internal Medicine, co-director of the Headache and Facial Pain Program at the UC Neuroscience Institute and lead author in the study. Dr. Martin is Vice President of the National Headache Foundation.
The study found that approximately 12 percent of Americans have migraines, and approximately 40 percent could benefit from preventive therapies. (1) Of migraine sufferers in the study, only one in five currently use preventive therapy. (1) Nine out of 10 migraine sufferers report they can’t “function normally”...