Avoid Spring Migraines
The brain of migraineurs likes consistency. All kinds of changes can potentiate migraines: changes in sleep times, number of hours slept, changes in airpressure, temperature, humidity, fragrances, can all cause migraines in some people.
Beware of hotter days. A team of researchers at Harvard found that an increase in temperatures occurred 24 hours before increases in admissions to emergency rooms for treatment of migraines.
Beware of allergy season, sinus or allergy headaches can lead to migraines.
Tips to avoid “Spring” migraines:
1. To avoid airborne allergens in your home, clean or change A/C filters
2. If you are allergy prone, make sure your allergy meds are handy.
3. With higher temperature, dehydration occurs even if we don’t feel dehydrated. Dehydration is a big cause of migraines. Drink lots of water 
4. Stick with a sleep schedule, try to got to bed at the same time as much as possible and determine what number of hours is best for you. Both too little and too much sleep can increase migraine risk.
5. Light (photophobia) is a major contributor to migraine risk. Purchase a polarized, high grade pair of sunglasses and wear a hat with a brim to keep out even more light.
6. Be careful of new fragrances that you introduce not only in perfumes but moisturizers as well.
Follow these tips, use your Migrelief and enjoy the fun and beauty of Spring.
MigreLief 
April 2, 2010 at 2:17 pm
Hi Guys!
Thanks for all the good info. I have been diagnosed with Transformed Migraines. Do you know how these differ from the Classic Migraines? Is it true that they don’t have any triggers?
Also interested in how or if your product can help me.
Thanks!
Darlene
April 7, 2010 at 3:18 pm
Hi Darlene, I will email you information on Transformed Migraines. Pay attention to the paragraphs addressing improving sleep quality and the one about depression being present in a number of people with transformed migraines. Be aware that using too many pain killing medications for your daily transformed migraines will make the condition worse and more chronic. Though not known for sure, it is possible that MigreLief might help. The only way you will know is to try it. We are very interested in your situation and would like to see if MigreLief helps. Order it from our product site http://www.MigreLief.com and give it a try for 90 days. If it does not work we will return your money. (Sending Transformed Migraine Info to your personal email address).
April 12, 2010 at 2:29 pm
I would love information about transformed migraines as well. Thank you.
April 13, 2010 at 8:27 pm
Jodi, Per your request, Transformed Migraine Info below. I hope you find it helpful. Curt Hendrix, M.S. C.C.N. C.N.S
Transformed Migraines
Transformed migraines are chronic, daily headaches with a vascular quality (meaning that they are throbbing in nature). Most people who experience transformed migraines have a history of migraines, usually beginning in childhood or early adolescence. The onset of daily transformed migraine headaches generally occurs in people during their 20s and 30s.
Many people with a previous history of migraine will suddenly report the headaches are less severe but are more frequent, until they begin occurring daily. This change may be caused by the daily use of pain relievers. Some people with transformed migraines report having severe episodes accompanied by nausea and vomiting, much like migraines. Often, it is difficult to differentiate between tension headaches and transformed migraines.
Because transformed migraines are difficult to diagnose, many people may be treated inappropriately. Treatment is further complicated because of the chronic nature of headache. Many people with transformed headaches have the tendency to overuse pain relievers, both prescription and over-the-counter, using these drugs daily with or without having a headache. This puts the person at risk for building up a tolerance to the drugs. Additionally, taking large amounts of pain relievers containing caffeine can experience rebound headaches.
In many cases, people suffering from transformed migraines have other health problems such as high blood pressure and depression which complicate treatment. Seeking care by an experienced, multidisciplinary health care team to coordinate treatment is essential to finding relief.
Transformed Migraine (TM) is Migraine disease which began manifesting in episodic Migraine attacks, increasing in frequency and changing characteristics, and resulting in almost daily less severe headaches punctuated by severe and debilitating Migraine attacks.
Patients with TM often share these characteristics:
A history of episodic Migraine beginning in their teens or twenties.
Most are women, 90% of whom have a history of Migraine with aura.
Medication overuse.
The process of transformation is often characterized by:
Migraine attacks that became more frequent over a period of months or years.
These attacks were accompanied by phonophobia, photophobia, and nausea, but these symptoms became less severe and less frequent.
Characteristics of TM:
A pattern of daily or almost daily headaches that seem to be a mixture of tension-type headaches and Migraine attacks.
Pain that drops in severity to mild to moderate.
Pain isn’t always accompanied by phonophobia, photophobia, or nausea.
Other Migraine symptoms may persist including unilateral pain, gastrointestinal symptoms, and aggravation by other triggers.
“Normal” episodic Migraines can increase in frequency and change in characteristics to produce almost daily headaches in addition to severe Migraine attacks. Medication overuse is a factor in approximately 80% of Transformed Migraine cases. Treatment generally involves discontinuing medications that are being overused and working to find effective preventive regimens. Often, when medication overuse is solved, the daily headache subsides and the Migraines return to being episodic and more easily managed.
Women who suffer from “transformed migraine” experienced a significant reduction in headache frequency and intensity after taking simple steps to improve their sleep behaviors, a University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill study has found.
“Transformed migraine is the most common form of chronic daily headache, and is the most common reason that patients seek treatment at headache clinics,” said Dr. Anne Calhoun, the study’s lead author and associate professor in the UNC School of Medicine’s department of neurology. Transformed migraine develops in individuals with episodic or occasional migraine, but these headaches progress over months or years to a daily or near-daily frequency and are particularly difficult to treat.
Calhoun and co-author Dr. Sutapa Ford, a clinical neuropsychologist at UNC, are presenting their results today (Friday, June 23) at the annual scientific meeting of the American Headache Society in Los Angeles.
Previous research shows that nonrestorative sleep and poor sleep habits are almost universally prevalent in women with transformed migraines. However, no prior study had investigated whether behavioral sleep modifications – such as eliminating TV watching or reading in bed and moving supper to at least 4 hours before bedtime – would have any beneficial effects for transformed migraine sufferers, Calhoun said.
To investigate this question, Calhoun and Ford recruited 43 women who were being treated for transformed migraine in the headache clinic at UNC Hospitals to participate in their study. Of these, 23 were randomized to receive behavioral sleep modification (BSM) instructions. Their instructions were to go to bed at the same time every night, at a time that allows for eight hours time in bed; eliminate TV watching, reading or listening to music while in bed; use visualization techniques to shorten the amount of time it took them to fall asleep; eat supper at least four hours before going to bed and limit fluid intake within two hours of bedtime; and do not take naps.
The remaining 23 women were randomized into the control group and received the following “sham” instructions: schedule a consistent suppertime, perform acupressure above the elbow for two minutes twice a day, record liquid consumption for three consecutive days, do five minutes of gentle range of motion exercises every morning, and have one protein serving at breakfast.
All of the women in the study recorded their headaches in standardized diaries and all received the usual medical care for their headaches in addition to the behavioral intervention. They received two follow-up visits, with the first one six weeks after beginning the behavioral intervention.
At the second visit, the BSM group reported a statistically significant 29 percent reduction in headache frequency and 40 percent reduction in headache intensity. They were also more likely to break out of the near-daily pattern of transformed migraine and revert to having only episodic migraine again. In contrast, the group who followed the “sham” instructions did not report any improvement, and no control group members reverted from transformed migraine to episodic.
After the second visit, the women in the control group were given the same BSM instructions as the other group. By the third and final visit, 43.6 percent of the women who received those instructions had reverted from transformed migraine to episodic migraine.
“We found that beneficial changes in sleep habits were associated with reduction in headache frequency and severity and with reversion to episodic migraine,” Calhoun said. “Therefore, behavioral sleep modification appears to be an effective treatment for transformed migraine when coupled with standard medical care.”
It is, most of the time, refractory to treatment with either triptans or anticonvulsants. Fortunately, however, there are drugs, and very good ones, for the treatment of transformed migraine. They are known collectively as tricyclic antidepressants (Amitriptyline, Imipramine, Nortriptyline, Desipramine, and Doxepin), and their employ is usually attended by diminution of headache, restoration of sleep, stabilization of appetite, and improvement in mood. That is to say, the victim returns to wellness. When this happens, those brain cells responsible for migraine are once again unfettered and free to exercise their periodic mischief.
This scenario plays out rather frequently. Many victims of migraine, through the course of their lives and their interludes of depression (the two diseases do seem to run together), will experience intervals of typical migraine and intervals of transformed migraine.
In learning about Migraines and headaches, we’ve learned that taking some medications more than two or three days a week can lead to medication overuse headache, aka rebound. We’ve also learned that medication overuse is a factor in 80% of cases of transformed Migraine.
Now, there’s additional evidence that any use of barbiturates such as Fioricet or opioids are associated with increased risk of transformed Migraine.
Dr. Marcelo Bigal and his team, knowing that medication overuse was believed to play a major role in Migraine progressing from episodic to chronic or transformed Migraine but limited solid limited data, undertook a study to assess the role of specific classes of acute medications (medications taken when a Migraine occurs) in episodic Migraine (EM) sufferers developing transformed Migraine (TM).
April 17, 2010 at 3:36 am
Thank you sooo much for replying and sending that great information on Transformed Migraines. It was very clear and easy to understand. I have never gotten that much info before and I am SO grateful. Thanks again,
Darlene Chizmar