New Mayo Clinic Book Helps You Manage Headache Pain

Friday, September 10, 2004

ROCHESTER, Minn. — In the United States, headache makes the top-20 list of the most common complaints heard by family practitioners. A new book, Mayo Clinic on Headache, provides people fighting recurring and chronic headaches easy-to-understand information, including options for managing their headaches. Mayo Clinic on Headache is available for $16.95 by calling 800-291-1128 and mentioning order code 283, or visiting www.MayoClinic.com and clicking on the link for books and newsletters or in your local bookstores.

Over 45 million people in the United States suffer chronic or recurring headaches. Because of the diversity of headache problems, it's sometimes difficult for even health care practitioners to relate to the disruption headaches can cause in some people's lives. In fact, headache is one of the most common reasons why people miss work. On average, people who have migraine headaches miss more than four workdays per year. This doesn't take into account the loss of productivity from people who stay at work while fighting a headache.

There are more than 300 types of headache with many different causes, different kinds of pain and different onsets and frequencies. Headaches are frequently underdiagnosed or misdiagnosed. Mayo Clinic on Headache discusses the mechanisms that produce headache pain and different treatments involving medications and non-medication therapies, including those aimed at relieving pain and those for preventing pain.

Other chapters in the book include: - Warning signs and when to see a doctor - Medications for acute pain relief and for headache prevention - Effective non-medication treatment options - Avoiding medication overuse and rebound headaches - Conditions that cause secondary headaches - Trigeminal neuralgia and other forms of facial pain - Headaches in women, children and older adults

Much of the information in Mayo Clinic on Headache comes from the experiences of headache specialists in the Departments of Neurology at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn.; Jacksonville, Fla.; and Scottsdale, Ariz. This book was published as part of Mayo Clinic's commitment to providing quality health information. Revenues from this book help support Mayo Clinic's medical research and education programs.

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To obtain the latest news releases from Mayo Clinic, go to www.mayoclinic.org/news. MayoClinic.com (www.mayoclinic.com) is available as a resource for your health stories.

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To obtain the latest news releases from Mayo Clinic, go to www.mayoclinic.org/news. MayoClinic.com is available as a resource for your health stories.