Mayo Clinic News Source

Friday, August 16, 2002

A New Wrinkle on Botox - Helping Migraine

Crippling pain. Intense nausea. It hurts so much you can't stand up, eat or go to work. Sound awful? It's a migraine headache. If you haven't experienced one you can't imagine how debilitating it is. "The key to helping migraine sufferers is prevention," says Dr. Eric Eross, a neurologist at Mayo Clinic in Scottsdale. "Once the migraine has started, it can be like a run-away train — very hard to get under control."

Ongoing studies show that Botox injections given in the forehead and temple every three to five months decrease the frequency and severity of a migraine and enable standard migraine treatment medications to work better for patients. Botox is more commonly used to reduce wrinkles and tremors.

Here are some facts about migraine:

• It's estimated that migraine affects more than 28 million Americans, and is three times more common in women than men.
• Migraine is more prevalent than asthma, osteoarthritis and diabetes in the U.S. population.
• Migraine costs American employers approximately $13 billion each year because of employee absence.
• 42 per cent of migraines are erroneously diagnosed as sinus headache and are not properly treated.

Mayo Clinic Scottsdale neurologist David Dodick, M.D., says Botox probably works because it's absorbed by the pain sensitive nerve endings and stops the chemical reaction that causes the headache. But for most patients it's not how Botox works, it's the thrill of having their quality of life restored.

Age and Infertility - Professional Women Playing 'Beat the Timeclock'

You've done a good job with birth control all these years. You're independent, have launched your career, and have a good grip on most aspects of your life. Now you want to have a baby. Just stop the birth control, right? Depending on your age it's not always that easy.

"Infertility therapies, which have been revolutionized since the first baby was born from IVF in 1978, have opened the door for many couples who would be left childless to conceive," says Anita Singh, M.D., chair, Center for Reproductive Medicine at the Mayo Center for Women's Health in Scottsdale. "Still, even with the tremendous increase in success with infertility treatments, if you want to have a child, it's best not to delay!"

Consider these statistics:

• If you're younger than 30, you have about a 20 percent chance of becoming pregnant each month.
• There's a gradual decline, and after 40 you only have a 5 per cent chance to conceive each month.
• Other factors can cause problems with conceiving — sexually transmitted diseases, extreme levels of exercise, severe stress, too little body fat and eating disorders, to mention a few.

Dr. Singh says a fertility evaluation is recommended for women 35 or older who've been unsuccessful in getting pregnant for six months or more. It's important to carefully investigate treatment options available and to research a fertility center's success rates, she adds. With good planning and new innovations in fertility treatments, there are many options available to couples.

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