Migraines affect nearly 15 percent of the world's population. This indispensable guide presents the medical approaches that can help prevent them, in a comprehensive, easy-to-understand style. It aims to inform sufferers in the clearest possible terms about how to prevent, treat, and explain their migraine suffering.

Dr. Elizabeth Leroux is a neurologist specializing in headache medicine. She directs the Headache and Migraine Clinic at the Centre Hospitalier Universitaire in Montreal, where she works in the management and research of headache symptoms. Convinced that migraine treatment can be improved, she is an active member of the Canadian Headache Society and the founder of Migraine Quebec, a web resource for migraine sufferers. She lives in Montreal.

• FOREWORD 


• INTRODUCTION - Understand More, Live Better 


• CHAPTER 1 - Migraine or Headache? 




• Diagnosing Headaches 


• Diagnosing Migraine 


• Other Diagnoses 




• CHAPTER 2 - History of Migraine and its Epidemiology 




• Migraine in Society 


• Why is Migraine Not Taken Seriously? 




• CHAPTER 3 - Symptoms and Biology of a Migraine Attack 




• Research Techniques 


• On a Macroscopic Level: Brain Structures 


• On a Microscopic Level: Electricity and Chemical Communication 


• Phases of a Migraine Attack 




• CHAPTER 4 - Categories of Migraine and Links to Other Diseases 




• Migraine Type by Attack Frequency 


• Chronification Factors 


• Migraine and Other Diseases 




• CHAPTER 5 - Complex Therapeutic Choices 




• Doctor-Patient Communication: A Tall Order! 


• How Do You Choose the Right Therapeutic Approach? 


• A Holistic Approach to Migraine: The Three Pillars of Treatment 


• A Few Basic Concepts About Medications 


• Treatment Effectiveness: Scientific Studies, the Placebo and Nocebo Effects 


• Medications and Natural Products 


• Interventions that Are Difficult to Study Scientifically 


• Keeping an Open Mind and Collaborating 




• CHAPTER 6 - Anti-Migraine Lifestyle Habits 




• Attack Triggers 


• Anti-Migraine Lifestyle Habits 




• CHAPTER 7 - Killing the Attack 




• The Goal of Migraine Attack Treatment 


• Available Treatments 


• Other Techniques: Optimizing the Treatment 


• A Few Thoughts About Migraine Attack Treatments 


• The Status Migrainosus: An Attack Without End 




• CHAPTER 8 - Preventing Attacks 




• Available Treatments 


• How are Preventive Treatments Used? 


• Neuromodulation, a New Approach 


• The Obstacle Course 




• CONCLUSION - Education, Collaboration, Facilities and Research! 


• ABOUT THE AUTHOR 


• TO LEARN MORE... 


• RESOURCES 


• ILLUSTRATION CREDITS