The Migraine Brain: Your Breakthrough Guide to Fewer Headaches, Better Health [Hardcover]

Carolyn Bernstein (Author), Elaine McArdle (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 16, 2008

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.

Editorial Reviews

From 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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Review

"As a family doctor, I welcome this wonderful book, which can help patients reduce the impact of migraine on their lives. "The Migraine Brain" explains the subject well and makes understandable a complex condition. It is comprehensive and filled with practical tips for feeling better." -- Erica Swegler, M.D., 2006 Texas Family Physician of the Year

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 368 pages
• Publisher: Free Press; 1 edition (September 16, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1416547681
• ISBN-13: 978-1416547686
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 6 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (44 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #140,994 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

63 of 68 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Having A Headache?, September 29, 2008

By 

K. Jadon - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Migraine Brain: Your Breakthrough Guide to Fewer Headaches, Better Health (Hardcover)

From: www.BasilAndSpice.com

Book Review: The Migraine Brain: Your Breakthrough Guide to Fewer Headaches, Better Health (Free Press, 2008)

By Carolyn Bernstein, M.D. and Elaine McArdle

With the publishing of The Migraine Brain, a precedent has been set for better prevention and treatment of migraine patients. Written by Carolyn Bernstein, herself a migraine sufferer, but also the Founder and Director of the Women's Headache Center at Cambridge Health Alliance, Dr. Bernstein empathizes with those who are struck down by the mind-numbing pain of migraines.

Dr. Bernstein refers to those with the headaches as migraineurs, and as a neurologist on the faculty at Harvard Medical School, she has treated thousands of fellow sufferers.

The Migraine Brain seeks to express to readers how to:

* Prevent migraines
* Find their triggers
* Reduce pain and duration of the migraine
* Understand her/his own brain

Bernstein's Points to ponder:

* One in every four households in the United States includes a person who get migraines. It is the ninth leading cause of disability among women, and is also one of the most painful conditions. Some women quoted in the book said that natural childbirth was easier than a migraine.
* Migraine costs the United States $1 billion a year in health costs and about $13 billion in loss of industry.
* Most migraine sufferers do not realize they have the condition as it is often misdiagnosed or underreported.
* Within the last 15 years, new medications have revolutionized migraine treatment.
* Alternative medical treatment, like yoga, ice massage, acupuncture, and biofeedback has been found to help.
* Even the famous get migraines. Recognize any of these? Terrell Davis, Troy Aikman, Serena Williams, Kareem Abdul-Jabar, Ben Affleck, Whoopi Goldberg, Carly Simon
* Foods like chocolate and red wine do not begin migraines, rather for some, foods set off abnormal brain chemistry, which begins the migraine.
* At a 3 to 1 ration, more women than men get migraines due to a difference in our brains. 1 in 20 elementary school children get migraines.
* Those with migraines are more likely to be depressed.

The Migraine Brain is divided into three large sections, each covering a different aspect of the migraine. Part one helps the reader decide if hers is a true migraine, learn how to find anything that triggers the condition ( Dr. Bernstein lists her own top ten), and covers how female hormones play a part throughout life. There is also a short but important section for men.

Part two discusses how to find the right physician to help you; explains the variety of medications--those that prevent, abort, and rescue; mentions in-hospital treatment; covers recent natural alternative methods for migraine relief.

Part three helps the reader set up her personal wellness plan. Topics covered are family, sex, mental health, travel, home environment, and work.

The Migraine Brain is the kind of book I really like, because it is written by a doctor who is also a researcher, but more important than this, she is a self-advocate--Dr. Carolyn Bernstein truly understands the disease. We all know someone who suffers, sometimes needlessly because of lack of information. By reaching out to both her patients and other readers, Dr. Bernstein has handed them a tool which will empower their lives. I highly recommend The Migraine Brain, and will pass my copy along to my aunt who has suffered her entire life with migraines.

5 Stars

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars after 22 years with migraine this book changed everything, December 23, 2008

By 

Claudine Hellmuth "Author of Collage Discover... (Washington DC) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Migraine Brain: Your Breakthrough Guide to Fewer Headaches, Better Health (Hardcover)

I have had migraine since I was 12 and I am 34, that is 22 years of migraine. I get about 2-3 a week. So you'd think I'd know a lot about migraine. Not until I read this book!

After all this time, I have never had a Dr explain what happens when you get a migraine. Or why some medicines work for some people and not for others. After reading this book I look at my migraines in a different way and I have taken new steps using advice from the author to try to reduce the number of migraines I get.

I love this book and have been recommending it to everyone who has migraine!

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Refreshing, Supportive, and Informative Book, December 2, 2008

By 

R. Speer - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Migraine Brain: Your Breakthrough Guide to Fewer Headaches, Better Health (Hardcover)

As a long-time migraine sufferer, I would highly recommend this book. Some of the book treads on basic ground, but the author's manner of talking about migraines & her emphasis on the fact that it's a "whole body" phenomenon is very refreshing. And, it's not one of those hokey, useless books that tries to tell you, "Do x, and your migraines will disappear" (ha! Oh, if I had a penny for every book that purports to give a silver bullet to us migraine sufferers....!!). The book emphasizes the need for a holistic (that is, comprehensive) approach to migraine management -- what we can do to support our overall health in order to mitigate or lessen the impact of migraines on our lives -- and offers some practical strategies for living with migraines (e.g., how to increase your family's understanding of the disease and how it affects our functioning). And, I found her review of various therapies (medical and "alternative") very instructive. It's a well-researched, solid book from a highly-credentialied physician, and I would highly recommend it. Also, the author is a migraine sufferer, so she "gets it."