Migraine Treated

The first line of treatment is always to try and identify trigger factors, which means keeping a careful record of events, mainly of foods that have preceded an attack. Particular foods are identified as migraine triggers in about 20 per cent of sufferers. The large female preponderance within migraine sufferers points to the importance of hormonal factors, such as the menstrual cycle, which are not modifiable. Many women also find that the oral contraceptive pill worsens attacks, and if so it should be stopped. (Women who get migraines with aura, severe migraines regularly lasting over 72 hours despite treatment, or migraines that are treated with ergot medicines should not take the contraceptive pill.) People suffering a migraine should try to rest in a dark, quiet room. Treatment of migraine is most effective if given at the start of an attack. Treatments for sufferers aged under 18 may differ from older patients, so it's important to discuss this with the pharmacist before buying any over the counter remedies. They are all prescription medicines, with the exception of sumatriptan, which can now be bought from pharmacies as Imigran recovery. These drugs cause the blood vessels around the brain to contract, therefore counteracting the dilatation that seems to part of the initial migraine process. They come in various forms, including nasal sprays, injections and tablets that dissolve on the tongue, which can be useful if nausea and vomiting are a problem during the migraine. It's worth noting that using any painkillers for headaches or migraines too often or for too long can actually make the headaches worse. If you find you're getting frequent migraines and are often taking painkillers, it's important to consult your doctor for advice. Often several kinds of medication need to be tried and perhaps combined before the most effective treatment for each individual patient can be found. Alternative therapies, such as homoeopathy and acupuncture, are popular even if the evidence supporting their effectiveness is poor or absent. The herbal remedy feverfew has shown some efficacy in preventing migraine and is available over the counter as Migraherb. Lifestyle and dietary advice are always important.

Coffee Lowers Risk Of Prostate Cancer

Men who are heavy coffee drinkers are at lower risk for prostate cancer, says a study. The researchers found that those who consumed six or more cups a day were almost 20 percent less likely to develop prostate cancer over two decades than those who drank none, according to New York Times Friday. Scientists at Harvard University followed 47,911 men who periodically described their coffee consumption. More important, the heavy coffee drinkers were 60 percent less likely than the non-drinkers to develop a lethal form of the disease, it said. Even men who drank just one to three cups of coffee benefited: They were nearly 30 percent less likely to develop lethal prostate cancer, the study said. It did not matter whether the coffee was caffeinated or decaffeinated. The study, published online Tuesday in The Journal of the National Cancer Institute, is one of the first to link coffee consumption to a lower risk of prostate cancer. 'We're not yet telling men to drink more coffee,' the daily quoted the lead author of the study Kathryn M. Wilson, research fellow at the Harvard School of Public Health, as saying. 'But there's mounting evidence that if they do, they don't have to worry about it,' she said. Coffee is a major dietary source of antioxidants, and other studies have suggested that drinking it is associated with health benefits, including a lower risk of Type 2 diabetes.

Cheap diabetes drug could elp Fight Breast Cancer

A low cost diabetes drug could benefit breast cancer sufferers. Anthony Howell, director of the breakthrough breast cancer research unit at the University of Manchester, said: 'We have some way to go but we hope that drugs like metformin will be saving lives of breast cancer patients over the next few years.' Scientists have developed a new test that identifies patients who could benefit from the cheap treatment, reports the journal Cell Cycle. They found that the people whose cancer cells 'fed' off high-energy compounds were more likely to see their tumours spread than to die, the Telegraph reports. This meant they could be helped by being given metformin, which stops the 'fuel supply' for aggressive cancer cells. Howell's counterpart, Michael Lisanti at Manchester, said: 'We've shown that the saying, 'you are what you eat' holds true for cancer. The food cancer cells consume is crucial to how well a patient does and what treatment they need.' 'However, patients could benefit from metformin, which cuts off this fuel supply. There is more work to do but this test could be an important new way of tailoring treatments to a patient's needs, across a range of cancers.' Last year it was reported that metformin was being tested to see if it can stop the growth of lung cancers. Researchers from Manchester and Thomas Jefferson University in the US studied 219 breast cancer patients and worked out which ones had tumours that fed on high-energy foods, known as ketones and lactate, found in healthy cells.