Fibromyalgia: aetiology, diagnosis, symptoms and management

Fibromyalgia is believed to affect about 2% of the UK population, predominantly women, and is characterized by the symptoms of widespread musculoskeletal pain, persistent fatigue, non-refreshing sleep and generalized stiffness. It is also accompanied by a variety of associated symptoms which can appear baffling to both patient and doctor alike. Research into this often dismissed syndrome has increased exponentially over the last two decades and the evidence is growing to support an underlying pathology involving pain amplification, sleep abnormalities, hormonal imbalance and autonomic nervous system dysfunction. This review looks at diagnosis, research and current treatment options and offers an insight into the patients' experience with the medical and nursing professions.     

Migraine: management aetiology and diagnosis

Migraine is an episodic condition that significantly affects the quality of life of those who experience it. The headache may manifest with or without sensory or visual aura. This article explains what migraine is, why it differs from other headaches and what drug therapies are available to treat it. It also includes health promotion advice on the best ways to prevent attacks. The author stresses that the impact of migraine on quality of life should not be underestimated. It is vital to give control back to sufferers rather than let migraine control them.     

Cluster headache and paroxysmal hemicrania: differential diagnosis

The utility of the differences between cluster headache (CH) and paroxysmal hemicrania (PH) is limited by the considerable overlap of their clinical characteristics. We compared 54 patients with CH and eight patients with PH in terms of demographic features, characteristics of headache attacks, associated autonomic features, temporal forms of disorders, and response to verapamil. According to our results, clinical features that distinguished CH and PH patients were: maximal pain localization, ocular in CH patients and extra-ocular in PH group; mean attack duration was longer and mean attack frequency was lower in CH patients in comparison with PH patients. Conjuctival injection was the only autonomic sign seen more frequently in CH patients. There were more CH patients with episodic and more PH patients with unremitting form of the disorder in examined groups. Although statistical analysis pointed out a significant difference between these clinical features, there was no clinical characteristic that exclusively belonged to one of these headache entities. Demographic characteristics (age, gender, social background), the other headache attack features (nocturnal attacks, interattack tenderness), the other autonomic signs, as well as the response to verapamil did not differ significantly between two groups.     

Paediatric atopic dermatitis: parameters of aetiology, diagnosis and management

Atopic dermatitis is not merely a skin condition. It can have a profound physical and psychological effect on the child and his/her family. This article discusses aetiology of the disease and describes appropriate management strategies.     

Overview of diagnosis and management of paediatric headache. Part I: diagnosis

Headache is the most common somatic complaint in children and adolescents. The evaluation should include detailed history of children and adolescents completed by detailed general and neurological examinations. Moreover, the possible role of psychological factors, life events and excessively stressful lifestyle in influencing recurrent headache need to be checked. The choice of laboratory tests rests on the differential diagnosis suggested by the history, the character and temporal pattern of the headache, and the physical and neurological examinations. Subjects who have any signs or symptoms of focal/progressive neurological disturbances should be investigated by neuroimaging techniques. The electroencephalogram and other neurophysiological examinations are of limited value in the routine evaluation of headaches. In a primary headache disorder, headache itself is the illness and headache is not attributed to any other disorder (e.g. migraine, tension-type headache, cluster headache and other trigeminal autonomic cephalgias). In secondary headache disorders, headache is the symptom of identifiable structural, metabolic or other abnormality. Red flags include the first or worst headache ever in the life, recent headache onset, increasing severity or frequency, occipital location, awakening from sleep because of headache, headache occurring exclusively in the morning associated with severe vomiting and headache associated with straining. Thus, the differential diagnosis between primary and secondary headaches rests mainly on clinical criteria. A thorough evaluation of headache in children and adolescents is necessary to make the correct diagnosis and initiate treatment, bearing in mind that children with headache are more likely to experience psychosocial adversity and to grow up with an excess of both headache and other physical and psychiatric symptoms and this creates an important healthcare problem for their future life.     

Overview of diagnosis and management of paediatric headache. Part II: therapeutic management

A thorough evaluation of headache in children and adolescents is necessary to make the correct diagnosis and initiate treatment. In part 1 of this article (Özge et al. in J Headache Pain, 2010), we reviewed the diagnosis of headache in children and adolescents. In the present part, we will discuss therapeutic management of primary headaches. An appropriate management requires an individually tailored strategy giving due consideration to both non-pharmacological and pharmacological measures. Non-pharmacological treatments include relaxation training, biofeedback training, cognitive-behavioural therapy, different psychotherapeutic approaches or combinations of these treatments. The data supporting the effectiveness of these therapies are less clear-cut in children than in adults, but that is also true for the data supporting medical treatment. Management of migraine and TTH should include strategies relating to daily living activities, family relationships, school, friends and leisure time activities. In the pharmacological treatment age and gender of children, headache diagnosis, comorbidities and side effects of medication must be considered. The goal of symptomatic treatment should be a quick response with return to normal activity and without relapse. The drug should be taken as early as possible and in the appropriate dosage. Supplementary measures such as rest in a quiet, darkened room is recommended. Pharmaco-prophylaxis is only indicated if lifestyle modification and non-pharmacological prophylaxis alone are not effective. Although many prophylactic medications have been tried in paediatric migraine, there are only a few medications that have been studied in controlled trials. Multidisciplinary treatment is an effective strategy for children and adolescents with improvement of multiple outcome variants including frequency and severity of headache and school days missed because of headache. As a growing problem both children and families should be informed about medication overuse and the children’s drug-taking should be checked.     

Cluster headache. Premonitory symptoms

The emergence of symptoms which may precede by days the onset of a series of painful attacks of cluster headache is not often reported in the medical literature. In this report, four patients who described these premonitory symptoms are presented. The importance of premonitory symptoms is emphasized, for they provide a means to institute an early prophylactic therapy and the possibility of clarifying the physiopathology of this primary headache.     

Cluster headache management with methylphenidate (Ritalin)

The authors report rapid cluster headache relief in a 43-year-old man with a 5-year history of refractory cluster headache. The patient described complete headache relief within 10 minutes of taking 10 mg of methylphenidate (Ritalin) when used to abort the onset of his headaches. Subsequently, a scheduled Ritalin dose taken each morning was sufficient to prevent his nightly headaches. In addition, 1 week of prophylactic methylphenidate therapy halted the series of cluster headaches. This is the first reported case of relief of cluster headaches with methylphenidate.     

Cluster headache, hypothalamus, and orexin

Cluster headache (CH) is a highly disabling condition resulting in severe, recurrent unilateral bouts of pain and accompanying autonomic symptoms. This review describes some current views regarding the underlying pathophysiology covering the pain and cranial autonomic (parasympathetic) activation, and highlights the potential importance of the hypothalamus in CH. The hypothalamus is known to modulate many functions and has been shown to be involved in the pathophysiology of a variety of primary headaches, including CH. Hypothalamic structures are likely to underlie the circadian and circannual periodicity of attacks and contribute to the pain and autonomic disturbances. We discuss the hypothalamic involvement in CH and modulation of trigeminovascular processing and examine the emerging involvement of the hypothalamic orexinergic system as a possible key pathway in CH pathophysiology.     

Cluster headache

Cluster headache is a stereotypic, primary headache disorder that is marked by repeated short-lasting attacks of severe, unilateral head pain and associated autonomic symptoms. Cluster headache is probably due to an abnormality in the circadian hypothalamic generator with subsequent trigeminovascular activation. We have reviewed the clinical manifestations, pathophysiology, gender differences, and treatment options in cluster headache.     

Cluster headache

Cluster headache is a relatively rare episodic headache disorder.Although traditionally it is believed to be a male-related disorder,the sex ratios are changing toward a more even balance. The disorder is characterized by bouts of daily headaches with pain-free remissions for extended times. Though attacks are brief, they are severe and typically are associated with autonomic symptoms.Medical therapies are the mainstay of treatment, with the goal being prevention of headaches in a cycle. Acute therapies, although effective, may be limited in usefulness because of attack frequency.Intractable cases may benefit from histamine desensitization and surgical treatments.     

Cluster headache

Cluster headaches are characterized by attacks of strictly unilateral severe pain which is orbital, supraorbital, temporal or in any combination of these sites associated with one or more of the following, ipsilateral conjunctival injection, lacrimation, nasal congestion, rhinorrhea, forehead and facial sweating, miosis, ptosis, and eyelid edema. Most patients are usually unable to lie down, restless or agitated during an attack. The attacks last 15-180 minutes and occur from once every other day to 8 times a day. Cluster periods usually last for weeks or months separated by remission periods, however about 10-15% of patients have chronic symptoms without remission. Age at onset is usually 20-40 years and prevalence is 3-4 times higher in men than in women. Acute attacks involve activation of the posterior hypothalamic gray matter. Pharmacological treatment for cluster headache can be abortive, prophylactic, or a combination of both methods.     

Colorectal cancer. Part 1: Epidemiology, aetiology, screening and diagnosis

Colorectal cancer causes significant mortality and morbidity in industrialised countries. Screening populations at an average risk of developing colorectal cancer by faecal occult blood testing can significantly reduce mortality. Nurses have a crucial role to play in educating the public about the warning signs of colorectal cancer and promoting uptake of screening.     

Cluster headache: relation to and comparison with migraine.

Numerous factors, such as location of pain, sex, frequency and pattern of occurrence, and symptoms, distinguish cluster headache from migraine. Cluster headache is characterized by severe unilateral periorbital pain. Attacks lasting from several minutes to several hours occur many times a day over a period of weeks to months. Opinions differ as to whether cluster headache is a variant of migraine or a completely different disorder. For relatively mild attacks, abortive treatment with ergotamine tartrate is usually successful. Cases which do not respond to abortive measures require prophylaxis.