Surgery May Help Teens With Frequent Migraines, Study Contends

By Valerie DeBenedette
HealthDay Reporter

THURSDAY, June 25, 2015 (HealthDay News) — Migraine surgery may be an effective choice for teens who haven’t gotten relief from standard treatment, a small study suggests.

In the study, researchers at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine in Cleveland reviewed the medical records of 14 patients, with an average age of 16.

In teens with migraine who haven’t responded well to other treatments, “migraine surgery may offer symptomatic improvement of migraine headache frequency, duration and severity in patients with identifiable anatomical trigger sites,” wrote the study’s authors.

However, at least one headache expert questioned the value of the procedure, citing a possible placebo effect.

Results of the study were published in the June issue of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery.

Migraines are recurring bouts of moderate to severe head pain, according to the U.S. National Institutes of Health. As many as 8 percent of children and teens experience migraines, according to background information in the study.

Options for treating migraine in teens include over-the-counter pain relievers, the nasal medication sumatriptan (Imitrex), and a preventive medication called topiramate, according to the study authors. A previous study found that nearly one-quarter of teens treated still had migraines after treatment.

The current study looked at whether or not surgery might be an effective option for these teens.

The surgery involved is actually a plastic surgery procedure that decompresses a nerve or releases a trigger point that is believed to cause the migraine. The surgery was developed after doctors noticed that migraine patients who underwent certain cosmetic procedures, such as a forehead lift, had fewer headaches afterward, according to the study’s lead author, Dr. Bahman Guyuron, an emeritus professor of plastic surgery at Case Western. Guyuron developed the techniques used in the migraine surgery.

There are several sites in the head and face that are considered common trigger sites for migraines, Guyuron said. Before surgery, patients are asked to keep a diary of their migraine symptoms and to note where headaches start. The trigger site can also be confirmed either by injecting a small amount of local anesthetic at the site to see if a migraine eases up or by using a Doppler ultrasound device to check blood vessels that might be impinging on nerves.

All of the procedures were performed by Guyuron. Follow-up averaged more than three years.

Five patients were free of migraine symptoms after their surgery, the findings showed. For those still experiencing headaches, the average frequency of migraines for the teens over a 30-day period went from 25 to five. The duration and severity of their headaches also decreased. One patient didn’t have improvement in the frequency of headaches, but did have less severe headaches with shorter duration, according to the study.

Still, not every teen who has migraines is a candidate for surgery, the study authors pointed out. Surgery should be reserved for teens whose migraines have not responded to other treatments and who are likely to continue to have them as adults, Guyuron said.

“Some teenagers outgrow migraine headaches,” he said. It is important to look at pattern of migraines in the family. If family members have migraines that continue past the teen years, “it is almost a given that the teenager will continue to have migraines in adulthood,” he said.

However, the surgery, which is performed by plastic surgeons, is controversial for both teens and adults among headache and migraine specialists.

Migraine surgery is not reversible and can have long-lasting implications, said Dr. Andrew Hershey, a spokesman for the American Migraine Foundation, and director of neurology at the Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center. He said there have been flaws in how the studies of the surgery in adults have been done, such as a lack of a control group.

This study of migraine surgery in teens didn’t have a control group, which means the results may be due to a placebo effect, Hershey added. “The placebo effect can be as high as 70 percent with kids’ disorders,” he said. Because migraines come and go naturally, it may seem that there has been an improvement, he explained.

“This is not a proven treatment,” Hershey stated. He added that the surgery is expensive and may not be covered by health insurance.

Guyuron said he doesn’t think the results are due to a placebo effect.

“I have at least 400 patients without migraine headaches for at least 14 years,” he said, adding that several studies of migraine surgery have been published showing good results.

More information

For more on migraines and their treatment, head to the Migraine Research Foundation.

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6 Easy Tips for Clean Eating on a Small Budget

Photo: Getty Images

 

Ever thought about cleaning up your diet but worry about the price tags on all that healthy food? You’re not alone. Whole Foods Market, often nicknamed “Whole Paycheck” for its prices, recently announced the launch of a new, budget-friendly store geared toward millennial shoppers who share these cost concerns.

“It’s really challenging for people to make the right choices when price is sometimes the thing that strikes them in the face,” says Academy of Nutrition and DieteticsSpokesperson, Libby Mills, MS, RDN, LDN, a nutrition and cooking coach in the Philadelphia area.

RELATED: You Could Save $43 a Month by Cutting Food Waste

But is there really merit to the claims that cost makes eating clean unattainable for budget-minded people? And how can you reap the benefits if you’re not willing to fork over huge amounts of cash?

The Price of Clean Eating

If you’ve ever walked down the snack food aisle or visited a convenience store, you know that you can buy a jumbo-sized bag of chips for less than the price of a bag of baby spinach. A recent Cambridge University study found healthy foods to be three times as expensive per calorie as unhealthy foods. And researchers from the Harvard School of Public Health found that healthier diets rich in fruits, vegetables, fish and nuts cost about $1.50 more per day — or $550 more per year — than the least healthy diets rich in processed foods, meats and refined grains.

RELATED: How to Spot Trans Fat Hiding in Your Food

As far as organic foods are concerned, while they will cost you more than their non-organic counterparts, the price gap is getting smaller, says Allison Enke, RD, a product compliance and nutrition analyst for Whole Foods Market. “In general, as demand for organic products has grown and volume has increased, prices have become more competitive over time,” she says.

Clean Eating on the Cheap

While clean eating can be a money sucker if you let it, it doesn’t have to break the bank. These tips and shortcuts will help you plan and shop smarter, so you can save those hard earned dollars for something more fun than groceries (or, you know, for paying your rent).

RELATED: The Beginner’s Guide to Clean Eating

1. Emphasize in-season produce. During harvest time, the costs of in-season produce often drop due to increased availability, explains Enke. That also happens to be when fruits and vegetables are at their peak in terms of both flavor and nutrition. If you’re not sure what’s in season when, staff in the produce department can usually help point shoppers in the right direction. During summer months, organic strawberries, stone fruits (like peaches, apricots, cherries and plums) and melons are some of the best values, Enke notes. 

2. Know when to skip organic. Certain foods, such as corn, onions, pineapples, avocadoes, and cabbage absorb a minimal amount of crop chemicals and are OK to buy conventionally grown. Others known as the “dirty dozen,” including apples, strawberries, grapes, celery and peaches, can have high levels of pesticide residue, so splurging on organic will eliminate your chance of consuming chemicals.

RELATED: 12 Brilliant Meal Prep Ideas to Free Up Your Time

3. Don’t be afraid of store brands. Unlike knockoff handbags and clothing, you don’t have to sacrifice quality when choosing store brand products at the supermarket. Whole Foods Market’s 365 Everyday Value line, for example, features more than 3,000 food products, almost half of which are organic. Other brands to look for at supermarkets include Safeway’s O Organics, Trader Joe’s, Stop & Shop’s Nature’s Promise and Wegmans Organic.

4. Buy in bulk. Buying up supersized quantities of everyday staples like grains, beans, nut butters, spices and olive oil can help you score big savings, Enke says. “[It] also helps eliminate excess packaging and reduce spoilage and waste, which means even more savings,” Enke says. Grains, such as rice, barley and quinoa, are especially good bulk buys, because they’ll double in size once cooked, explains Mills. 

5. Take advantage of frozen convenience. Frozen fruits and vegetables can be a great, affordable option when it comes to eating clean on a budget, says Mills. “Whether it’s summer or winter they are often more nutritious than the fresh vegetables and fruits,” she says. That’s because they go right from the farm where they’re picked to the processing company where they’re flash frozen at the peak of ripeness, so there’s very little time for the produce nutrients to deteriorate from air exposure. Plus, retailers will often have their store brand of frozen fruits and veggies for sale, which means you can stock up at an additional discount.

RELATED: Could Microwave Meals Actually Be Good for You?

6. Save some for later. Preparing leftovers can help cut back on food waste, and will allow you to take advantage of produce when it’s at its peak (and cheapest), says Mills. “If your casserole calls for tomatoes during tomato season when they’ll be at the height of flavor, nutrition and most available, then why not make a double recipe of that casserole?” she says. “When you’re done eating for the evening package the leftovers in usable quantities and freeze it for another time.”

More from Life by DailyBurn:

20 Kitchen Gadgets to Make Healthy Eating Easy

How to Eat Health for Less Than $4 a Day

The Breakfast That Could Help You Eat 50 Percent Less at Lunch

Life by DailyBurn is dedicated to helping you live a healthier, happier and more active lifestyle. Whether your goal is to lose weight, gain strength or de-stress, a better you is well within reach. Get more health and fitness tips at Life by DailyBurn.

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Move of Week: Sumo Jump Squats

Don’t have access to a gym? No problem. With plyometrics or jump training, you can get in a sweat sesh pretty much anywhere. That’s because these moves typically require very little space and equipment. One of our faves: the Sumo Jump Squat. Add it into your next circuit to rev your heart rate, blast fat and sculpt some seriously toned legs and glutes.

Here’s how to do it: Stand with feet wider than hip-width apart and toes turned out. Keeping back straight, bend knees, push hips back and lower down into a squat. Explode up off the ground, jumping as high as you can while raising your arms overhead. Land back in the sumo squat position; repeat exercises for 30-60 seconds.

Trainer tip: Make sure your knees don’t go past your toes.

Try this move: Sumo Jump Squats

Have more time? Try this full 7-Move Bikini Body Workout also led by Health‘s fitness expert Kristin McGee.

RELATED: The Summer Body Tone-Up Workout

 

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The Adorable Reason This Rapper’s Holding a Breast Pump

What does rapper George Moss do after a show? Wash out his wife’s breast pump, naturally!

On Monday evening, the Michigan artist snapped a bathroom-mirror selfie holding up a pair of flanges and posted it to social media. He captioned it, “If you ever wonder what #rappers do when they get off stage, they clean breast pumps for their wives so their baby can eat.” He also added a “#thuglife” for good measure, and thought nothing more of it.

But nursing mothers all over the Internet thought a lot about it—all positive. Today, Moss’s post has more than 42,000 likes and 1,500-plus comments on Facebook, and the breastfeeding community is singing his praises.

RELATED: Gisele’s View on Breastfeeding Has Our Bras in a Twist

“Oh, be still my heart,” wrote Jamie Lynne Grumet on her blog I Am Not the Babysitter. (You may remember Grumet from the cover of Time where she was pictured nursing her three-year-old son back in 2012.) “Love this guy,” read a post accompanying Moss’s pic from online breastfeeding community, The Leaky Boob. Meanwhile NormalizeBreastfeeding.org’s Facebook page added this caption:”If you’ve ever wondered what REAL #breastfeeding support looks like…”

Allow us to chime in: Way to go, dad! The process of pumping breast milk is time-consuming enough on its own. Thoroughly washing the machine’s complex array of parts (mine has eight) is just another added challenge. It’s especially tricky in a public restroom. (To dry the 40-inch tubing on my Hygeia pump, for example, the manufacturer recommends I swing it over my head like a “cowgirl with a lasso.” Seriously?) I imagine most pumping mamas would welcome more help with the clean-up.

RELATED: How Breastfeeding Could Improve Babies’ Dental Health

Moss totally gets it. In a subsequent Facebook post he redirected all the praise to his wife, Michelle: “This woman AMAZES me! Through all the pain & soreness, frustrations, stress, etc. of trying to breast feed and pump, she gets up in the middle of the night to nurse a hungry baby”—five-month-old son Judah, that is:

We think this man’s pretty amazing, too.

RELATED: Mila Kunis Calls Breastfeeding ‘A Great Workout’

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Female Bosses May Not Push Pay Parity

THURSDAY, June 25, 2015 (HealthDay News) — New research suggests that having a female boss doesn’t necessarily translate into higher wages for working women.

A study from the University of California, Berkley found that working under a female manager may actually lower women’s salaries.

It may be naive to assume that an increase in the number of women in leadership roles will automatically close the gender wage gap, the study authors suggested. Instead, fundamental change may require organizational cultures that support gender equality.

The study involved 1,700 full-time employees in the United States. The participants worked for a leading company in the information services industry between 2005 and 2009. Researchers examined the participants’ demographics as well as their job data, such as their salary, manager, annual performance evaluations and bonuses.

The study will be published in an upcoming issue of the American Journal of Sociology.

The study authors theorized that female employees may fare worse under a female boss when women worry that other people won’t view them as part of a valuable group.

“A high-performing woman might, for example, worry about being devalued because of her association with a low-performing female subordinate,” study co-author Sameer Srivastava, an assistant professor at Berkeley’s Haas School of Business, said in a university news release. “This might lead her to undervalue the subordinate’s contributions.”

More information

The U.S. Department of Labor has more about the gender wage gap.

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Small Talk Can Boost Business Deals for Men, Study Says

THURSDAY, June 25, 2015 (HealthDay News) — Small talk can help men get better business deals, but the same may not be true for women, a new study says.

Among men, small talk before negotiations creates social bonds and increases the chances of good results, the researchers found.

“We saw a boost in positive negotiation outcomes for men when they engaged in small talk before the negotiation. Even a little small talk contributed to getting a better deal,” Alexandra Mislin, a professor of management at American University, said in a university news release.

The reason small talk appears to benefit men more than women may be due to expected gender behaviors and stereotypes. Because women are viewed as more communicative, they’re considered more likely to make small talk, and therefore earn no “social boost” for doing so before negotiations, according to Mislin.

Small talk is less expected from men, so they may get an added benefit from it, the researchers said.

One situation where small talk may prove useful for men is during salary negotiations with an employer.

Based on the study findings, “we suggest that people negotiating employment contracts, particularly men, think twice before skipping the small talk,” Mislin said. “While both men and women may experience benefits from small talk when negotiating salary, men might walk away with a better deal.”

The study was published recently in the journal Basic and Applied Social Psychology.

“Our findings reinforce the notion that men and women in the same situation, engaging in the same behavior, can experience different reactions because of different behavioral expectations associated with their gender,” Mislin said.

“But our research also suggests that there may be areas where violating stereotypes is beneficial, as we see here for the men who engage in small talk,” she added.

More information

Harvard University has more about negotiation skills and personality.

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In Wake of High Court Ruling, What’s Next for Obamacare

By Dennis Thompson
HealthDay Reporter

THURSDAY, June 25, 2015 (HealthDay News) — The Affordable Care Act will grow stronger in the next few years, now that the U.S. Supreme Court has upheld the controversial health reform law for a second time.

That’s the consensus from both supporters and detractors of the legislation.

John Graham, a senior fellow with the free-market National Center for Policy Analysis, said the Supreme Court’s decision Thursday essentially brings to an end efforts to repeal the law through the legal system. The law, championed by President Barack Obama and fellow Democrats and denounced by Republicans as fatally flawed, is often called Obamacare.

“For opponents of Obamacare like myself, we can now let go of the fantasy that the judges are going to solve this problem for us,” Graham said. “We are going to have to solve it ourselves, through the political process.”

Ron Pollack, executive director of Families USA, a pro-Obamacare group, said the end of the legal battles will bring a sense of legitimacy to the Affordable Care Act. This will make it easier for the law to weave itself ever more firmly into the fabric of American life, he said.

The high court’s ruling “means the Affordable Care Act is not just the law of the land, but that it will remain the law of the land,” Pollack said. “It is a stable part of America’s health care system.”

Now that insurers know that Obamacare isn’t going away, they can begin making business decisions based on the law, allowing it to become the “stable operating platform for insurance in this country,” said Dan Mendelson, chief executive officer of Avalere Health, a health care advisory firm.

“It sends the message to insurance companies that they can invest in this system and it will be durable, at least for the next few years,” Mendelson said.

Republicans, despite Thursday’s ruling, reiterated their pledge to work for the repeal of the Affordable Care Act.

In its decision Thursday, the Supreme Court upheld the legality of tax subsidies for an estimated 6.4 million Americans who signed up for health insurance under the Affordable Care Act. The major point of contention in the case was whether people in states that failed to set up their own health marketplaces, or exchanges, to buy insurance under Obamacare could qualify for the tax credits if they used the federally run HealthCare.gov online exchange.

Opponents of Obamacare insisted that, as the 2010 law was written, the tax credits could only come with insurance purchased through online exchanges operated by individual states. But, only 13 states and the District of Columbia created their own exchanges. Most states that chose not to create exchanges are headed by Republicans.

In the run-up to Thursday’s decision, the Obama administration insisted that Congress intended the tax credits to be available to all eligible buyers, whether they used the federally run HealthCare.gov exchange or a state-established exchange.

Thursday’s ruling marks the second time the Supreme Court has decided in favor of the Affordable Care Act. In 2012, the court found the law constitutional.

Supporters of Obamacare said Republicans now will face mounting pressure to approve Medicaid expansion in their states, which would further strengthen the Affordable Care Act. Currently, 21 states have refused to accept federal funding available through Obamacare that would expand Medicaid down to low-income adults who make 138 percent of the federal poverty level.

In a Rose Garden speech following the Supreme Court’s decision, Obama promised to continue urging GOP state leaders to accept the Medicaid expansion — and the Affordable Care Act itself.

“The law is working and it’s going to keep doing just that,” said Obama, calling the Affordable Care Act a success story similar to Social Security and Medicare. “This is health care in America.”

The National Center for Policy Analysis’ Graham said he’s hopeful that Republicans will work with Obama to amend and improve the Affordable Care Act over the next couple of years.

There’s not much chance of major political movement on the matter, given that Obama has vowed to oppose any bill that would unravel the law. But Congress and the president might find common ground on some issues that would revise the law but not weaken it, observers said.

The House of Representatives already has approved repeal of a 2.3 percent sales tax on medical devices, such as artificial hips and pacemakers. The tax is designed to help fund the Affordable Care Act, but has been criticized as unfairly burdening device manufacturers. The bill has some Democratic support, mainly from states where the manufacturers are located, but its passage is still uncertain.

The two political parties also might be able to hammer out a compromise on a mandate that requires businesses with 50 or more employees to provide health insurance. Or there might be movement on an excise tax set to take effect in 2018 that would penalize employer-provided health plans that provide a too-rich array of benefits, health industry experts said.

“We have at least two years or more of Obamacare, and there are things that can be done,” Graham said. “I don’t think Republicans in Congress should be afraid of putting forward amendments to Obamacare and be accused of caving in to Obamacare,” he added.

“Obama has said he will consider changes. The majority in Congress should give it a shot,” Graham concluded.

Added Mendelson: “You’ve got still a majority in the Congress that believes the law should be repealed. Until there is some level of acceptance, you will not have an environment that is conducive for legislative calibrations.”

The Affordable Care Act likely will serve as an issue in the 2016 presidential race, but in the meantime health care reform will continue to march forward, experts said.

Operators of the online health insurance exchanges likely will turn their attention toward practical policy matters that improve and expand coverage, industry experts said.

“Looking ahead, while this [the Supreme Court ruling] is a major victory for exchange markets, critical challenges remain for future years,” said Caroline Pearson, senior vice president at Avalere, where she heads Health Reform and Policy Practice.

“Exchanges need to focus on increasing enrollment and attracting younger, healthier individuals in order to ensure that a variety of affordable health plan options participate in the market,” Pearson said.

Younger participants are viewed as vital to the success of the Affordable Care Act. The reason: they tend to be healthier, and their premiums are designed to help counterbalance the expenses of older Americans, who are more likely to be sick.

More information

To learn more about the Affordable Care Act, visit HealthCare.gov.

To read more about Thursday’s Supreme Court decision, click here.

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Lower leg raise for abs and core

This move is a killer for abs and core! Practise regularly and you'll progress quickly.

How to
Lie on your back and extend your legs. Avoid placing your hands under your glutes and instead push your belly button down and spine towards the ground. Focusing on keeping the back planted on the ground.

Squeezing your abs and glutes at the same time will help you stay strong.

Raise your legs to 90 degrees and slowly lower them towards the ground, pausing just above the ground or at the point before you need to let them fall.

Keep practising this one as you can progress really quickly.

Photo credit: Nikki Fogden-Moore

NEXT: 7 core exercises with a twist>>

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The Totally Normal Reason This Baby’s Trapped in a Tube

What’s cuter than a squishy, rosy-cheeked baby? A squishy, rosy-cheeked baby squeezed into this bizarre x-ray machine!

The image—which no, isn’t Photoshopped—popped up on Reddit earlier this week, and quickly spread around the Internet, with people questioning what was going on and whether this kiddo was safe.

As it turns out, the cherubic baby is in the oddly-named Pigg-O-Stat device, which securely holds a child in place during X-rays to minimize their squirming so technicians can get the image they need the first time rather than exposing a baby to continued radiation over multiple tries. (The child’s legs are dangling below him, out of frame.)

RELATED: Is It Too Late For A Baby?

The Pigg-O-Stat has actually been in use since 1960, though not universally, and numerous commenters who saw the photo on Imgur confirmed that their own infants have had to wedge into the tube-like device, and were shocked at this lil’ goober’s calm and cool attitude during the process. One commenter noted: “Had a scare last year, can confirm: babies do not like this contraption.” From another: “My daughter lost her mind when she had to have a chest xray in one of those. I think I cried more than she did.”

While the results of said x-ray were not posted, hopefully they showed that this sweet chubster is totally fine, and will live a long life filled with endless good-natured ribbing about having been a real-life, Internet-famous test-tube baby.

RELATED: Choose the Sex of Your Baby (and Other Myths)

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Deadly Fungus Killing U.S. Snakes Similar to That Seen in Bats

THURSDAY, June 25, 2015 (HealthDay News) — For years, a deadly fungus has been decimating bat populations across the United States. Now scientists say a similar, often fatal, fungal infection is killing snakes as well.

The snake fungus, called Ophidiomyces ophiodiicola and the bat fungus, known as Pseudogymnoascus destructans and called “white-nose syndrome,” both emerged about a decade ago.

The fungi inhabit different environments and prefer different temperature and humidity ranges, the scientists said. However, they do share traits that allow them to live in a variety of habitats and infect various species of snakes and bats.

“The fungus killing these snakes is remarkably similar in its basic biology to the fungus that has killed millions of bats,” study co-author Andrew Miller, of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, said in a university news release.

“It occurs in the soil, seems to grow on a wide variety of substances, and it possesses many of the same enzymes that make the bat fungus so persistent,” he explained.

“The snake fungus has the ability, just like the bat fungus, to live as a saprobe, consuming dead organic matter,” Miller said. “It doesn’t need the animal to live, but it’s out there attacking the animal now. Why is it doing it? I don’t know.”

Both types of fungus emerged in North America in the mid-2000s and are sweeping across the United States and parts of Canada. The fungal infection in bats has a death rate of more than 90 percent.

The fungal infection in snakes feeds on keratin, found in snake scales. Infection causes scabs, nodules, abnormal molting, ulcers and other skin and tissue damage, the researchers said, and the death rate is 100 percent.

Whether every North American snake is vulnerable is unclear. According to the researchers, snakes affected by the fungal disease include northern water snakes, eastern racers, rat snakes, timber rattlesnakes, Eastern massasaugas, pygmy rattlesnakes and garter snakes.

“We know that the fungus is out there, we know that it’s killing snakes, but is it killing healthy snakes or is it killing snakes that are already weakened from some other cause?” said study co-author Matthew Allender, who was the first to report the snake fungal disease in rattlesnakes in Illinois.

Habitat loss, pollution, severe weather and stress from human encroachment may all worsen snake health, potentially making them more susceptible to disease, he said.

The beleaguered snakes do have human allies: Allender co-chairs a recently formed group, linked to Partners for Amphibian and Reptile Conservation, to help research and fight the fungal threat.

“This is a collaborative effort among biologists, veterinarians and habitat managers to actually assess the risks and minimize the effects of disease,” Allender said.

The study was published recently in the journal Fungal Ecology.

More information

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has information about fungal diseases in people.

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