Transcript generated automatically by AI and may contain errors.
Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
Welcome to Chasing Life. Around the world, more than 40% of people suffer from headaches. It's a real problem.
Chapter 2: What percentage of the global population suffers from migraines?
We're talking 3.1 billion people around the world who miss work. They miss school. They miss some of life's biggest moments because of headaches. This throbbing pain that occurs in their head behind their eyes, sometimes on one side, sometimes on the other. It can be really, really confusing for people. They can appear out of nowhere and they can be really, really disabling.
Tough to diagnose and then tough to treat. So today we're talking to Dr. Alexander Moskop. He's author of the book called The End of Migraines and he's the founder and director of the New York Headache Center. He's going to tell us why headaches hurt, what's really happening in your head, and what you can do about it. Again, this affects a lot of people.
I'm Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN's chief medical correspondent, and this is Chasing Life. Well, thank you. Welcome to Chasing Life. Really appreciate it. Thank you. My pleasure. The numbers are pretty astounding. You know, 40% of the world's population, about 3.1 billion people suffering from headaches that are severe enough where they miss work, school, important activities in their life. Yes.
How do you know something is a migraine?
We have a very good strict definition, which is very useful for clinical research. So we do research and you have to fulfill certain criteria. But in practice, there's a very simple way. If it's a severe headache, vast majority of these people will have migraine. If you have a little nausea, that's migraine.
If the pain is throbbing, if you feel sensitive to light and noise, you don't have to have all of these symptoms. One or two is enough to make it a migraine. Usually on one side of the head or the other? About 60% of people get it on one side, 40% get it on both sides.
Interesting.
So it doesn't have to be on one side.
So you've identified now that someone has migraines. They have intense pain, it's throbbing, typically more likely than not going to be on one side. What is the first thing you sort of recommend then in terms of lifestyle?
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Chapter 3: How can you identify if a headache is a migraine?
So don't eat sweet foods or try and avoid as much as possible.
And that's what you said. The low carb diet helps you a lot. But tough to stay on. I know. I'm a sugar addict, too. But if I stay away for two weeks, I can handle it better.
If I start eating, it just keeps going. So in your own life, I'm sure, just like me, you tried the lifestyle changes. Did you have to go on medicines? And if so, how did you decide what to start with?
Well, I tried the typical years ago. First of all, I should say that my headaches started when my kids were born. I used to get the visual aura without the headache in my 20s, which occurs to people with migraines. About 20% of people with migraines get the visual warning before the headache starts. And then the kids, you know, lack less sleep and stress.
So my migraines started and I would take over the counter stuff, didn't work.
Such as like nonsteroidals and things?
Advil, yes, ibuprofen, that is. Didn't work, not at all. But luckily, Sumatriptan, that's the first migraine-specific drug that we have, works like a charm. I take a pill at the earliest sign of migraine, and I don't skip a beat. So I would take that, headache goes away, but then I thought, why am I taking this? So my cure, magical cure, and you write about it in your book, and that's meditation.
And not just meditation. When I was doing 10, 20 minutes a day, it did not work. When I went up to 30, that was my cure for migraines. 30 minutes every day, sometimes up to 45. And no more migraines, literally none, except when I drink wine or do something that I know will trigger.
So... Am I to understand that probably one of the best-known headache doctors in the country meditates for migraines and has essentially cured yourself of those headaches?
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Chapter 4: What lifestyle changes can help prevent migraines?
So we know that when you meditate... This is the only time when your brain gets a break. Because even in sleep, your brain constantly working and connecting and dreaming.
Sort of a cleanup time. Can you just talk me through your routine? So when do you meditate? How do you meditate?
So I recommend everyone to do it first thing in the morning. Brush your teeth and sit down without checking your phone. And that's when I do it. I do what's called Theravada or just think about your breath. Buddhist meditation, in and out. And you get distracted. One important message to your viewers and listeners, you will never stop thinking.
They've done imaging studies of advanced meditators, people who meditate all the time for a long time. The longest they can go without a thought, based on the scan, is 10 to 20 seconds. You think that they sit for an hour and another thought crosses their mind. Not happening. So I tell people the only bad session is the one you didn't do.
Even if you sit and your mind keeps running, just keep doing it. After years of doing it, you will benefit tremendously.
I tell you this story not to brag in any way, but I did have a chance to meditate with the Dalai Lama once.
Yeah, I read it in your book. Yeah.
That was scary in a way because it's kind of like saying you're going to go play baseball with Mickey Mantle or somebody, you know. And then he said to me that he still has trouble meditating, you know, and he meditates for hours a day.
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Chapter 5: What dietary factors contribute to migraine triggers?
But you're focused on your breath. 30 minutes sort of seems to be the dose, if you will.
Yeah, some people may need less.
10 to 20 minutes did not do it for you.
No. I tell people, though, start with five. because they say, I'm busy, I don't have time. If you tell them meditate 30 minutes, no way, not happening. So just establish a habit of five minutes every morning. And then you can extend it. Even five minutes brings great benefits.
How does somebody know when they should see someone like you? Again, headaches, 40% of the population, billions of people around the world. Most of them are not going to require brain surgery or something invasive. But at the same time, it could be a warning sign. So how do they know when they should actually see you? Right.
Well, whenever you have your first severe headache, you should see a doctor. And as a neurosurgeon and neurologist, we know the scary words, the worst headache of my life, usually suggests there could be a bleeding into your brain, hemorrhage. So we always tell people immediately go to the emergency room if it's the worst headache of your life.
If the headaches recur and you've had them for years, the time to come to a doctor when they begin to interfere with your life.
or you're taking too many over-the-counter medications, because there are people who are living on over-the-counter drugs, and they think it's fine because the headaches are controlled, but then they'll get an ulcer and get other complications, the kidney problems and liver problems from all the painkillers.
So the other time is, even if the headache does not interfere with your life, but you're taking too much medicine, that's another time to come and see a doctor.
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