Migraine and Vitamin D

Dr. Gominak in Texas has some interesting ideas about Migraines, Sleep, and Vitamin D

see new publication by Dr. Gominak Nov 2011 Poor sleep and lack of vitamin D - Nov 2011

CLICK HERE for her web page on Migraines and Vitamin D

Notes from PDF CLICK HERE for PDF

• Migraine pain transmitters are mutant genes that turn on the pain receptors that evolved to be activated only with concussions.
• If you do not have a migraine gene, a sleep disorder will not cause headache pain.
• "Most patients with daily headache have a primary sleep disorder, either sleep apnea, restless leg syndrome or periodic limb movements of sleep.” Page 35
• 'Most patients have vitamin D deficiency with or without accompanying B12 deficiency.

Measure D 25OH, B12, iron, and replace all that are low (page 35)

• Vitamin D 70- -85 nanograms/ ml.
• B12 > 500/ml.“

Any migraine theory has to explain (page 37)

• Why do migraines start at puberty?
• Why do they start in boys and girls around the same age but get much better in boys?
• Why are they worse around the menses?
• Why are they much worse perimenopausal?
• Why do they go away after menopause?

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20+ VitaminDWiki pages with MIGRAINE in the title

This list is automatically updated

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See also in VitaminDWiki

• Vitamin D and Migraine – Nov 2010
• All items in category Headache and vitamin D48 items
• Sleep and vitamin D - Jan 2011 also by Dr. Gominak
• Overview Brain and vitamin D
• Cluster headaches virtually eliminated in 7,000 people with high-dose vitamin D and cofactors - Feb 2022

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Note: Magnesium is more than a cofactor for vitamin D

• Overview Magnesium and vitamin D
• Headache with vitamin D may mean you need Magnesium
• Google Scholar had 28,200 studies of Magnesium and Migraine as of Jan 2022
  • Why all migraine patients should be treated with magnesium - 2012
  • Dietary magnesium and migraine in adults: A cross‐sectional analysis of the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 2001–2004 (2021)
  • Dietary Intake of Calcium and Magnesium in Relation to Severe Headache or Migraine - 2021
  • Magnesium compared to conventional therapy for the treatment of migraines - 2021
  • Is high-dose magnesium supplementation helpful in adolescents with migraine? - 2021

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Migraine disability doubled 2005 to 2019 - May 2024

Medscape

• "Although prevalence remained roughly the same during the 30 years, the proportion of people with migraine and moderate to severe MIDAS disability (grades III-IV) has trended upward across studies during part of the study period, increasing from 22% in 2005 to 42% in 2018."
• ..."possible explanations include changes in study methodology from mailed questionnaires to web surveys or the decline in participation rate in web surveys. It is also possible that people with migraine may be more willing to report disability than they used to be, authors wrote."

Study can be viewed (but not printed or downloaded) @ https://headachejournal.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/head.14709
[https://www.perplexity.ai/search/has-there-been-9CuVxqO_SR.vxKjDZH3YpA|Perplexity agrees that there has been an increase in migraine disability

• "Another 2023 GBD study showed the global incidence of migraine increased by 40.1% from 1990 to 2019. While some countries showed decreasing trends, 9 out of 204 countries had increasing incidence trends over this period. "

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Frequent migrane headaches result in more unemployment - Jan 2022

Relationships between headache frequency, disability, and disability-related unemployment among adults with migraine
Journal of Managed Care & Specialty Pharmacy Volume 29, Number 2. https://doi.org/10.18553/jmcp.2023.29.2.197
Authors: Robert E Shapiro, MD, PhD, Ashley A Martin, PhD, Shiven Bhardwaj, PharmD, Heather Thomson, MBA, MS, Martine C Maculaitis, PhD, Carlton Anderson, PhD, and Steven M Kymes, PhD skym at lundbeck.comAUTHORS INFO & AFFILIATIONS

BACKGROUND: Migraine is the second most common cause of disability worldwide. Understanding the relationship between migraine and employment status is critical for policymakers, as disability-related unemployment is associated with eligibility for private or governmental disability insurance payments and other associated support for those unable to work because of disability.

OBJECTIVE: To assess the association between migraine frequency and selfreported employment status and overall disability in a US representative survey.

METHODS: Using data from the 2019 National Health and Wellness Survey (NHWS) (Kantar Health), adults in the United States (aged 18-65 years) reporting at least 1 migraine day in the past 30 days were categorized by headache frequency: low-frequency episodic migraine (LFEM) (≤4 days/month), moderate-frequency EM (MFEM) (5-9 days/month), high-frequency EM (HFEM) (10-14 days/month), or chronic migraine (CM) (≥15 days/month). A control group of adults without migraine with similar baseline characteristics was identified by propensity score matching. Disability-related unemployment was defined as participants responding "short-term disability” or "long-term disability” to occupational status on the NHWS. The frequency of short- or long-term disability was then evaluated across headache frequency groups. In addition, participants were asked to assess migraine-related disability via the Migraine Disability questionnaire (MIDAS).

RESULTS: A total of 1,962 respondents with LFEM, 987 with MFEM, 554 with HFEM, and 926 with CM were included in this analysis, along with 4,429 matched controls. Headache frequency was associated both with increased MIDAS score and with employment disability (P < 0.001); 12.3% (n = 114 of 926) of participants with CM reported employment disability, as did 4.4% (n = 86 of 1,962) of the LFEM group and 6.9% (n = 306 of 4,429) of matched controls. There was considerable discordance between the proportion of participants classified as disabled via MIDAS vs those reporting employment-related disability.

CONCLUSIONS: More frequent migraine headaches are associated with a higher likelihood of self-reported short- and long-term employment disability and overall migraine-related disability, suggesting that health and economic policymakers must seek ways to maximize the employment opportunities for people living with migraine that may benefit from novel preventive treatments.
 Download the PDF from VitaminDWiki

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See also web

• FDA approved TMS device for headache - Dec 2013
  Based on a single RCT and diary entries of 100 people
  Side effects from the device were rare, the FDA said, but included "single reports of sinusitis, aphasia (inability to speak or understand language) and vertigo."
  Rare? with only 100 people, Minor?
• Migraines and EEGs not changed after raising Vitamin D levels to >20 ng (need >50 ng)
  • An assessment of the relation between vitamin D levels and electroencephalogram (EEG) changes in migraine patients - Jan 2022 PDF