Month: November 2013

New recommendations for migraine treatment focus on avoiding harmful and unnecessary care. The recommendations were made by the American Headache Society. They say that opioid painkillers used to treat migraines pose a danger of addiction. Long-term use of over-the-counter pain relievers is not wise, the recommendations say. People should take them no more than twice a week. Regular, frequent use poses risks to the kidneys, liver and stomach. The group recommends MRIs over CT scans to help diagnose migraine. About 12% of Americans get migraines. They are three times as common in women as in men. The recommendations were published in the November-December issue of the journal Headache. HealthDay News wrote about them November 21.

A new study finds that most men and women have similar chest pain or discomfort when they are having a heart attack. But there are other conditions that can cause chest pain. The study did not find any details about the type of pain that could help doctors tell whether a heart attack is the cause. The study included about 800 women and 1,700 men who went to emergency rooms with severe chest pain. Researchers asked detailed questions about their pain. The questions included where exactly the pain was located, whether it spread beyond the chest and what it felt like. About 18% of the women and 22% of the men were actually having a heart attack. Men’s and women’s answers to the detailed questions about symptoms also were mostly similar. No specific details about the chest pain were definitely linked with a greater chance of having a heart attack.