We're excited to be exhibiting at the American Headache Society's scientific conference in Los Angeles this week. This is the third AHS meeting we've attended since we started TheraSpecs, and we always look forward to talking directly with the doctors and nurses who are dedicated to treating patients with headache and migraine.

I'm also eager to learn more about the latest headache and migraine research. Here are some of the topics that have caught my eye:

Peri-Menopause & Menopause Increase Risk of Migraine Attack Frequency by 50-60% If you're a woman, you've probably been told that your migraine attacks will lessen with menopause. This latest study of 3,603 women questions that assumption. Researchers found that women tend to have more frequent migraine attacks during peri-menopause and menopause than they do in pre-menopause. Eight percent of pre-menopausal women had 10 or more headache days a month, while 12.2% of peri-menopausal and 12% of menopausal women did.

Chronic Migraine Impacts Marriage & Parenting Substantially If you've experienced chronic migraine, you won't be surprised by the findings from this study of 994 people with chronic migraine. The results speak loud and clear:

• 73% thought they’d be better spouses without chronic migraine.
• 64% felt guilty about being easily angered or annoyed by their partners due to migraine
• 67% avoided sexual intimacy with their partners at times due to migraine
• 59% felt they would be better parents if they did not have chronic migraine
• 61% reported that they became easily annoyed with their children due to headache
• 54% of respondents reported that they had reduced participation or enjoyment on a family vacation due to headache in the past year
• 20% cancelled or missed a family vacation altogether

Deployment-Related Traumatic Brain Injury Strongly Associated With Migraine Iraq and Afghanistan veterans who received a traumatic brain injury while deployed have a much higher rate of migraine than those without traumatic brain injuries. In those with deployment-related TBIs (DTBIs), 89% of headaches were migraine, while only 40% were migraine in people without DTBIs. Everyone with a DTBI reported significantly greater frequency and intensity of headache pain than those without DTBIs.

Combining Biofeedback & Relaxation Therapies With Medication Provides Greater Relief for Adolescents With Chronic Migraine Adding cognitive behavioral therapy in the form of biofeedback, relaxation and stress reduction to amitriptyline in an adolescent’s chronic migraine treatment reduced their migraine frequency and disability and improved their school functioning. After 12 months, 86% of those who received cognitive behavioral therapy had a 50% or greater reduction in their number of migraine days.

Data on Nerve Decompression Surgery “Not Convincing” Nerve decompression (also known as migraine trigger site deactivation) has gotten a lot of popular press, but headache specialists and researchers have remained skeptical. A review of the published research that claims the procedure is effective led Harvard researchers to conclude the data were “not convincing.” They maintain that trigger point deactivation should be considered experimental and that patients considering it should have it performed in a clinical trial.

Stigma & Personality Factors May Impact Migraine Treatment Efficacy Migraine is a heavily stigmatized illness. Combined with certain personality factors, these negative and unfair beliefs that society holds about migraine can actually influence the efficacy of a person’s migraine treatment. Researchers found this to be true for both obsessive compulsive disorder and “disaffiliativeness” (dislike of people).

Despite High Rate of Concussions, Retired NFL Players Lack Access to Effective Migraine or Headache Treatment Former NFL players have a significantly higher incidence and frequency of headache, migraine and chronic migraine than the general population, but they lack access to headache specialists and neurologists. Despite the high rate of on-the-job traumatic brain injury, retired players are not receiving standard headache treatment.