migraines news stories on Newser

Bachmann Offers Doctor's Note to Downplay Migraines

John Johnson — Wed, 20 Jul 2011 17:23:31 CDT

Michele Bachmann is trying to put the migraine issue to rest quickly: She released a letter from her doctor today in which he says her migraines "occur infrequently" and that she's got them under control with two common prescription drugs that she takes as needed, reports the Huffington Post . The...

Bachmann: My Migraines Are Not a Problem

John Johnson — Tue, 19 Jul 2011 19:39:19 CDT

Michele Bachmann is dismissing the notion that severe migraines frequently incapacitate her, reports Politico . She does get the headaches, but "they are easily controlled" with prescribed medication, she said. "Let me be abundantly clear—my ability to function effectively has never been impeded by migraines and will not affect my...

Could Debilitating Migraines Bring Bachmann Down?

Evann Gastaldo — Tue, 19 Jul 2011 07:12:34 CDT

An odd issue regarding Michele Bachmann has come to the surface, causing some to question her ability to serve as president of the US: severe headaches. Bachmann suffers from migraines, three sources tell the Daily Caller , and the stress-induced episodes are fairly frequent and quite debilitating. One former adviser says...

Headache Gives British Woman a Chinese Accent

Kevin Spak — Mon, 19 Apr 2010 16:25:00 CDT

As if migraine sufferers didn't already have enough to worry about, a woman in Plymouth, England, recently had a headache so powerful that it replaced her British accent with a Chinese one. As ridiculous as it sounds, doctors say she actually has a rare condition known as Foreign Accent Syndrome,...

Migraines, Depression May Share Genetic Link

Emily Rauhala — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 09:47:56 CST

Conventional wisdom holds that bad headaches lead to bad moods, but a new study points to a genetic link between the two. "Most people think that migraine patients are depressed because they have headaches," one researcher tells Time . "We found that there is a genetic predisposition by people with migraines...

Cindy McCain Declares War on Migraines

Kevin Spak — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 11:30:00 CDT

Cindy McCain has publicly survived everything from miscarriage to stroke to a painkiller addiction—but the malady she took aim at last week was one she's endured in secret: migraines. “I’ve missed part of my life,” she told an American Headache Society luncheon. “People don’t really understand, because a headache’s...

Docs Urge Caution on Plastic Surgery for Migraines

Drew Nelles — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 12:52:45 CDT

The New York Times weighs in today on the recent study that showed plastic surgery to be effective in curing, or at least cutting the frequency of, migraine headaches. Headache specialists are intrigued but concerned that even if they're not good candidates, patients will rush to have the forehead lifts,...

Plastic Surgery May Cure Migraines

Harry Kimball — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 13:22:01 CDT

A novel plastic-surgery procedure on the forehead could cure migraines entirely, Time reports. The surgery removes certain muscles—or “migraine triggers”—around the trigeminal nerve branches, which some think are the source of the painful headaches; it also smoothes wrinkles. In a recent study, more than half of 49 migraine...

Migraine Sufferers Have Lower Breast Cancer Risk

Kevin Spak — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 13:00:59 CDT

Finally, some good news for migraine sufferers: Those awful headaches come with a reduced risk of breast cancer, according to a new study. The researchers aren’t sure why that would be the case, but they suspect a connection with estrogen and other hormones. “It’s pretty clear that migraine, like breast...