Archive for March 11th, 2009
As with all the auto-immune illnesses, high doses of steroid usually sort out the problem very quickly indeed; the pain goes, the ESR drops, the headaches disappear and the risk of blindness vanishes. The good news is that the response is speedy: the bad news is that you may need to take steroids for a [...]
The prevention of head injury and brain haemorrhage is simple, but often neglected. If you are given head protection in your job, or for driving a motorcycle or pushbike, then me it – it’s not macho to do without. Motorbike helmets are deceptive – they are very effective in reducing head injury, but they rapidly [...]
Classical migraine is common migraine plus an aura. The most frequent type of aura is disturbance of vision – blurring of vision, flashing lights in front of the eyes, moving zig-zag lines, distortions of vision or blank spots in the field of view. Other aura symptoms include tingling or numbness in fingers, lips or tongue, [...]
For most febrile illnesses, paracetamol and/or aspirin, fluids, and bed rest are all that is needed. Don’t worry if the patient doesn’t eat for a few days; it doesn’t matter. Even in small children a period of up to a week without food is unlikely to cause any problems; after all, that’s what fat stores [...]
Cluster headache is a one-sided pain centred on one eye. As well as pain there is redness of the affected eye with weeping, a running or stuffed-up nose, sweating of the face and forehead, and sometimes a drooping eyelid with-a constricted pupil on the affected side. The headache lasts for between fifteen minutes and three [...]