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

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Authors: Carolyn Bernstein, Elaine Mcardle
Publisher: Free Press
Category: Book

List Price: ~~$25.00~~
Buy New: $15.34
You Save: $9.66 (39%)

New (37) Used (10) from $15.24

Avg. Customer Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

3 reviews
Sales Rank: 1341

Media: Hardcover
Edition: 1
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 368
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.2
Dimensions (in): 9.3 x 6.2 x 1.2

ISBN: 1416547681
Dewey Decimal Number: 616.84912
EAN: 9781416547686
ASIN: 1416547681

Publication Date: September 16, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: Brand New, Perfect Condition, Please allow 4-14 business days for delivery. 100% Money Back Guarantee, Over 1,000,000 customers served.

Also Available In:

•	Kindle Edition - The Migraine Brain: Your Breakthrough Guide to Fewer Headaches, Better Health
•	Paperback - The Migraine Brain: Your Breakthrough Guide to Fewer Headaches, Better Health

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Editorial Reviews:

Product Description
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.

Customer Reviews:

5 out of 5 stars

A Refreshing, Supportive, and Informative Book December 2, 2008
1 out of 2 found this review helpful

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."

3 out of 5 stars

disappointing October 5, 2008
25 out of 38 found this review helpful

I had high hopes for The Migraine Brain after seeing Dr. Bernstein on the Today show. She talked about the brain of someone with migraines being different than others. This topic she does cover well in her book; Chapter 2, The Migraine Brain - How It's Different and What That Means for You contains useful information I hadn't read anywhere else before.
However, what was disappointing is that she states on pages 15-16 that migraine is a chronic illness, meaning you cannot get rid of it. Not only is this not true, many people have recovered from migraine, but on the dustcover of the book itself is a quote from Dr. Christiane Northrup where she refers to herself as a FORMER migraine sufferer. Dr. Northrup elaborates on this topic in the movie You Can Heal Your Life.
Another part of the book that could be considered inconsistent is in Chapter 5- Female Hormones and Migraines Through the Life Cycle. In this chapter Dr. Bernstein suggests periodic preventive meds when you "know" a migraine is expected during your monthly cycle. However in Chapter 9 on page 163 she asserts that preventive drugs only work if you take them every day.
I have been suffering with migraines for over 20 years now and taking the triptan Zomig for about 8 years, it works for me about 70% of the time. Dr. Bernstein states on page 174 that you must take a triptan as soon as you feel a migraine coming on in order for it to work. Not only is this NOT true, but for my daughter and I our migraines must be in full swing for the medication to work. So it would be safer to say that triptans work differently for different people.
Basically the only thing really new in this book is the chapter on the brain itself. Still not a bad book, but a few revisions could make it great book, as it is quite comprehensive.

5 out of 5 stars

Having A Headache? September 29, 2008
35 out of 39 found this review helpful

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

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