The Migraine Brain: Your Breakthrough Guide to Fewer Headaches, Better Health »

Carolyn Bernstein,M.D., is an assistant professor of neurology at Harvard Medical School and a staff neurologist at Cambridge Health Alliance in Cambridge, Massachusetts. A board-certified neurologist, Dr. Bernstein belongs to the American Academy of Neurology. In 2006, Dr. Bernstein won the Harvard Medical School Faculty Prize for Teaching Excellence, and in 2007, she was the recipient of the Leonard Tow Award for Humanism in Medicine given by Harvard Medical School and the Arnold Gold Foundation. In 2007, she also won the National Headache Foundation's Headache Healthcare Provider of the Year. In 2006, Dr. Bernstein opened her own headache clinic for women, the Women's Headache Center at Cambridge Health Alliance.

Elaine McArdle is an award-winning journalist, lawyer with a degree from Vanderbilt Law School, and migraineur who for twenty years has been writing for newspapers and magazines, including The Boston Globe, Boston magazine, and many others.

You know that your migraine isn't just a headache. But you may not know that migraine actually is a neurological disease. Affecting one in five women, one in twenty men, and one in twenty children, it's a debilitating, complex, and chronic condition that manifests in a combination of symptoms that can include excruciating head pain as well as other distinctive physical and emotional effects. Yet it's also a disease that you can get control of, improve, and manage, as Dr. Carolyn Bernstein has discovered in her seventeen years as a Harvard Medical School faculty member and practicing neurologist.

Praised for her excellence and compassion, the founder of the Women's Headache Center near Boston, and a migraine sufferer herself, Dr. Bernstein has helped hundreds of her patients get better. Now, with The Migraine Brain, the most comprehensive, up-to-the-minute book on migraines ever written, you will be able to do the same — reduce the frequency and intensity of your migraines, learn how to prevent and curtail them and how to recover from them more quickly, and mitigate migraine's effects on every aspect of your life: in the workplace and at home and during sex and travel. Every migraine is different because everyone who gets a migraine has a distinctive "Migraine Brain" with its own sensitivities and triggers. That's why it's so important for you to develop a personalized wellness plan to radically reduce the number and severity of your migraines.

Dr. Bernstein also explains why migraines happen, why they are so often misdiagnosed, and why so few people get the right treatment for them. She reveals the latest research that shows that Migraine Brains share a hypersensitivity to stimuli — the Migraine Brain can actually look different from others on a brain scan — and is more likely to experience a cascade of neurological reactions that give rise to the common clusters of migraine symptoms. This breakthrough medical knowledge makes treatment and recovery possible with new migraine-specific drugs as well as with complementary treatments such as yoga, biofeedback, and an exercise regimen.

With the extraordinarily thorough recommendations of The Migraine Brain in your hands, you will be fully equipped with all the latest information you need to understand migraines and to help your family and co-workers understand that migraine isn't just a headache: it's a serious, yet treatable disease.

Publishers Weekly

Bernstein, a neurologist who suffered her first migraines in her 20s, teaches at Harvard Medical School and is on staff at the Cambridge Health Alliance, where she founded the Women's Headache Center. With journalist McArdle, she presents a clear and comprehensive analysis of the migraine brain. Noting that there are about 30 million migraine sufferers in the U.S., Bernstein reveals that migraine is a complex neurological disease that affects the central nervous system. A severe headache is just one of its symptoms: others may be nausea, vomiting, visual changes or sensitivity to light or sound: the authors help readers identify the triggers that can bring on an attack (such as stress, insufficient sleep, menstrual periods or a host of other factors). Bernstein then helps the "migraineur" develop a personalized plan to "prevent, abort, or rescue." The authors include research on the new "triptan" meds, which can interrupt the neurochemical reaction of an attack and halt a migraine in its tracks, as well as info on preventive medications (i.e., beta-blockers and antidepressants) and such alternative methods as biofeedback and acupuncture. Bernstein approaches the reader as she might patients-"creatively, scientifically and sympathetically"-offering a range of tactics and treatments to help migraine sufferers control and mitigate their pain. (Sept.)

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Introduction-"I'd Rather Die Than Get Another Migraine" 1

Migraine Quiz 7

Part 1

Chapter 1 Is Yours a Migraine? 13

The Migraine Checklist 21

Or...Is It a Tension Headache? 27

Mixed Headaches 28

Sinus Headache-Migraine in Disguise? 29

Other Kinds of Headaches 32

Kinds of Migraine 34

When to Call a Doctor-Beware of Change 37

Chapter 2 The Migraine Brain: How It's Different-and What That Means for You 40

Cortical Spreading Depression-the New Science of Migraine 41

Questions for the Doctor 45

The Trigeminal Nerve 46

Migraine and Seizure 48

The Genetic Link 49

The Heart-Migraine Connection: "PFO" 49

Your Migraine Brain May Change Over Time 50

What Migraine Is Not 51

A Strange, Fascinating Disease 52

Migraine Lore, Famous Migraineurs, and More 54

Chapter 3 The Four Stages of a Migraine 58

The Four Stages 59

Stage 1 Prodrome 60

Stage 2 Aura-Visual and Other Changes 62

Stage 3 The Main Migraine or Pain Phase 66

Stage 4 Postdrome, or the Migraine Hangover 69

Building Your Migraine Profile 70

Chapter 4 Your Migraine Triggers 73

What's Your List of Triggers? 73

The Headache Diary 77

How to Avoid Your Triggers 80

My Personal Top Ten Migraine Triggers 97

Chapter 5 Female Hormones and Migraines Through the Life Cycle 101

The Role of Female Hormones 102

Are Your Migraines Related to Menstruation? 105

Migraines During Your Life Cycle 115

Planning for Pregnancy 115

Pregnancy 116

Perimenopause 122

Menopause 123

Chapter 6 Men's Migraines 124

Important News for Men with Migraine 129

Men: Taking Care of Your Health 134

Part 2

Chapter 7 Measuring Your Migraine: The Best Self-Tests 139

Your MigraineToolbox 141

Chapter 8 How to Find the Right Doctor 145

What Kind of Doctor Should You Choose? 148

How to Find a Headache Specialist 149

If You Can't Find a Headache Specialist 151

The Frist Appointment 152

Chapter 9 Medicines That Work 160

A Variety of Migraine Medications 161

Prevent, Abort, Rescue-the Three Types of Drugs 161

Preventive Drugs 162

Abortive Drugs 171

Rescue Drugs 176

Over-the-Counter Drugs 177

Surgery and Other Options 181

Chapter 10 When You Have to Go to the Emergency Room 183

How to Make Your ER Visit Successful-A Signed Doctor's Form 187

What to Take with You to ER-Your ER Kit 188

If You Are Admitted to the Hospital 189

Recovering from Migraine 190

In-Patient Treatment for Migraine 192

Chapter 11 Complementary and Alternative Treatments 193

Biofeedback 198

Other Relaxation Techniques 200

Acupuncture 201

Yoga 204

Meditation 206

Massage 208

Ice Massage 209

Magnesium 209

Riboflavin, Coenzyme Q10 210

Herbs and Herbal Supplements 210

Energy Healing 213

Part 3 Your Personal Wellness Plan

Introduction 215

Eight Steps to Wellness for Your Migraine Brain 218

Chapter 12 Exercise, Sleep, Nutrition, Relaxation 219

Exercise 219

Sleep 229

Healthy Eating 236

Relaxation and Stress Reduction 242

Chapter 13 Family Home, Sex, Mental Health 246

Living with a Migraineur 247

How to Make Your Home Migraine-Free 254

Sex and Migraines 259

Mental Health and Migraine 261

Chapter 14 Migraines, Work, and Travel 273

Work 273

Travel 284

Chapter 15 Migraine Makeover: Creating Your Own Personal Migraine Plan 295

Migraine Makeover: My Personal Treatment Plan 310

Appendix 319

Index 337