When Red Hallman's head hurt, he couldn't run his business or go about his other activities.
"It just takes you out," he said during a visit to Carolina Rheumatology & Neurology in Myrtle Beach, S.C. "You can't function. You can't do anything."
Hallman, the owner of Red's Cosmetic Hair Salon and Dental Spa, said each headache's severity drove him to a halt.
Dr. Frank Benz, a neurologist treating Hallman, said headaches' debilitating effects extend to lost wages, affecting families' welfare.
Some headaches would go from head to toe and last a few hours or days, Hallman said. Benz pointed between his own eyes to show where Hallman's migraines start, moving around the head and down his back.
Benz has prescribed medication, but also helped Hallman learnways to avert his typical migraine symptoms of numbness, tingling,slurred speech and vision impairment.
Avoiding stress, getting enough rest and avoiding chocolatehave helped Hallman. He and Benz often modify medication and dosage tocustomize his combat.
"Now, there's more medications to easier integrate into one'slifestyle," Benz said.
Most people referred to him by other physicians suffer frommigraines. He not only isolates other possible causes and healthissues, but looks at their lifestyles.
"You have to tailor-make the treatment based on the type ofheadache they have," he said. "To me, two headaches a month is toomuch."
Avoiding Migraine Triggers
Benz said migraines are often triggered by external forces,including roaring winds, cigarette smoke, a flash of bright sunlight,perfume and other aromas, a switch from regular to decaffeinatedcoffee, even barometric pressure changes.
Peggy Musick of Surfside Beach has seen various doctors formigraines in the past 10 years, especially with her two brainaneurysms.
"We do know that with my kind of headaches, a lot of it isbrought on by weather conditions," she said. "I can tell you a daybefore that front arrives, because my head tells me."
She sees Benz for Botox injections for her headaches everythree months. Botox is often used to prevent migraine attacks.
"It's wonderful to have a life again," she said.
Musick also has found topical therapy through heating ricebean bags in the microwave, as well as washing and massaging her headwith hot water.
Dr. Leslee Hudgins, a neurologist who practices in Conway andLoris, estimates headaches make up about 40 percent of office visits.
She said beside migraines, she has noticed a trend of reboundheadaches, "a daily headache" that sometimes worsens with pills.
Hudgins said if a person has to take over-the-countermedications several days in a row, "your body tricks itself intothinking you need them."
Prescriptions might be a process of trial and error, withadjustments in dosage.
"Don't give up on it," she said.
Daily exercise and adequate sleep can keep headaches at bay,Hudgins said, and poor posture can bring them on.
"Neck muscle tightness can cause tension headaches," she said.
Hudgins rattled off a list of popular pleasures, such ascaffeine, aged cheeses, lunch meats such as bologna and salami withmany nitrates, red wine, and canned soups heavy in salt, that can bringon headaches.
Cluster headaches might trouble men more, Hudgins said.
"It's an ice-pick sensation that comes and goes," she said,explaining that such spells can last months.
She urged anyone with chronic headache problems to keep ajournal to help medical professionals in their analyses.
"What time of day? How frequent? Locations, whether they gofrom right ot left, front to top?" Hudgins suggested. "Does anythingrelieve it? What's going on around the headache? Sometimes people haveexercise-induced headaches. Sometimes it's lack of exercise."
Migraines: 'A big deal'
Donna DeFilipito of Surfside Beach, a junior at ColumbiaCollege, said, "For me, the hardest thing is dealing with people whodon't know migraines are a big deal."
Noting stress is a big factor, DeFilipito said she also avoidssmoky settings and allergens, and always goes to bed at a regular time.
"You have to modify your life a little bit -- a lot, really,"she said.
Maureen Murphy of Conway said migraines had plagued her for 15years, but she manages them with a pill twice daily.
She knows the havoc candles, incense and overhead lights playon her head.
"If you can think about what did set that off, then maybe it'snot just something internal," she said. "It might be a small thing thatsets it off. Don't ignore it."
Sitting for an exam Friday with Benz in Murrells Inlet, S.C.,Cynthia Whitten of Myrtle Beach said migraines slammed her after a loneonset seizure in 2005.
Whitten said she had stopped riding her Harley-Davidson andhorses. Folding her hands inward in a fetal position, she said, "I saton the couch like this. For me not to want to go saddle up, that'sbad."
She has found taking her prescription drugs consistently andallowing them several months to work has let her reclaim her pastimes.
When Whitten feels a migraine coming on, she takes hermedicine right away.
"I don't mess around," she said.
The brain never stops fascinating Benz, a doctor for eightyears.
"It's a lot of wiring," he said. "I used to be in theengineering field. This is a kind of engineering with hardware andsoftware. That's the makeup of the brain: a very complex computer."
For more information, contact the National HeadacheFoundation (www.headaches.org).
Contact Steve Palisin at 843-444-1764 or spalisin@thesunnews.com.
Source: The Sun News,Myrtle Beach, S.C. Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune InformationServices. Powered by YellowBrix.
