On his blog, Dr. Brad Shook is proclaiming “Migraines are Curable!” He based this blog entry on a new research paper by Migraine expert Dr. R. Allan Purdy.
Although the title of Dr. Purdy’s article is “Migraine us curable,” Dr. Purdy is not saying that the disease is curable at this time. In fact, he states:
“At present there is no evidence that migraine is a curable disorder or disease and any thoughts in that direction have proven futile to date. Given that migraine clinically and pathophysiologically is a complex neurovascular phenomenon, it is of interest to explore its potential curability.”
To his credit, when I pointed this out to Shook by commenting on his blog, he did respond. However, he still states,
“This means the cause of you migraines may be from the loss of regulation of nerves around blood vessels in your head, which are regulated by your brain and brain stem! So if this proposed cause holds true, if you fix your brain you fix your migraine! I have observed in practice, that this, “brain problem” is in fact the cause of many migraines. There are other causes that have to be considered, and sometimes there is not an answer.”
He would also like readers of his blog to visit him to find their “cure.”
Truthfully, I don’t have a strong enough background in reading journal articles to really understand all of Dr. Purdy’s paper. I also don’t have the contacts in the Migraine medical community to ask for help. So, I have asked your friend and mine, Teri Robert, to take a look at Dr. Purdy’s paper, reach out to some of her contacts (if necessary), and comment on it. Teri’s mother (also a Migraineur) passed away last weekend, so her plate is quite full at the moment. She told me that she will, as soon as she can, take a look at Dr. Purdy’s paper and Dr. Shook’s blog and get back to me. I will definitely let you know what she says and post a link if she should decide to write about this issue herself.
In the meantime, I have to say that Dr. Shook’s blog title is misleading at best. Were he truly concerned about the health of his patients and potential patients, he wouldn’t be proclaiming that “Migraines are Curable!” when this disease is definitely NOT curable at this time.
Best,
Arabella ♥
Arabella,
Perhaps when we can get brain transplants maybe then we can talk about a cure… until then let’s pray for untoxic reliable treatments. I do remember when I was like him and thought people with migraines used it only as an excuse… until I was affected. That was more than half my life ago.
Hi Arabella,
Thank you for your passion on the subject of getting good and accurate information on migraines out to people. I’m not here to attack anyone, but only give people information to make educated decisions. But I deserve the opportunity to defend the comments you have made about my work and integrity.
First, you are incorrect. The title of Dr. Purdy’s paper is “Migraine is Curable!”, and it’s written exactly like that on the title of the research paper. Here is the link to the paper (http://www.springerlink.com/content/956p07h114678067/).
Second, I work from a place of contributing to information in a positive and constructive manner, and not making a snap judgement on someone’s work.
Third, as I stated before in my email response, if you are not familiar with the text, “Functional Neurology for Manual Practitioners” then you should read it. I respect the fact that you said, “Truthfully, I don’t have a strong enough background in reading journal articles to really understand all of Dr. Purdy’s paper” because functional neurology is a very specialized. An using functional neurological treatments is what I do to treat neurologically based migraines. There are less than 1000 functional neurologists in the world, and unless you are a functional neurologist, or have studied functional neurology as I have, you may not have the background to comment so harshly on this topic. Again, I appreciate your passion.
Chiropractors are leading the way in pioneering functional neurology treatments for central nervous system disorders, which many migraines are.
I know you are a migraine sufferer, and I wish you had the opportunity to be treated by someone that practices functional neurology.
I would appreciate it if you would kindly remove the harsh and negative comments you have made about me and my work.
Thank you for your passion, and desire on this subject.
Sincerely,
Dr. Shook
Dr. Shook;
My comments about your post were not harsh. Don’t twist my words.
I stand by what I said. You took the title of Dr. Purdy’s paper and made a huge jump from it. I’m not going to repeat what I said in my post here, but you need to look at the section of Dr. Purdy’s paper that I quoted.
You make it sound so simple, “if you fix your brain you fix your migraine!” But it’s not that simple. Nobody knows how to cure the problems with the brain. Nobody is even certain exactly what the problem is. There are good theories, but the research doesn’t yet exist that proves any theory to be the right one.
To say that Migraine disease is curable NOW is simply not true.
In any case, I will comment no further until Mrs. Robert has had a chance to review the paper and perhaps get some feedback from some of the Migraine experts with whom she has contact. I’m not certain, but Dr. Purdy may be among those experts.
Arabella
Dr. Shook,
You would appreciate it if Arabella “would kindly remove the harsh and negative comments?” What are you? Six-years-old? There was nothing harsh in what Arabella said, and your blog deserved the negatives.
“Chiropractors are leading the way in pioneering…?” Seriously? I work for a Migraine specialist and know many more. I’m sure they would beg to differ with you.
The fact that you took the title of the Purdy article totally out of context and are essentially claiming that you and your colleagues can cure Migraines would be laughable if it were not so insulting to the intelligence of all of us who know better.
Using the term “cureable” so blithely might get a few very despearte people into your office for an appointment, but it’s going to bite you right on the ass in the case of most of us Migraineurs who know better. This was the first of your blog posts that I’ve read, and I can guarantee that it will be the last.
I’m going to give you the benefit of the doubt and just believe that you’re misguided. As Arabella said, there are indeed very good theories of the root cause of Migraine disease, but when the top experts in the world aren’t sure which (if any) of them are correct, I find it beyond unlikely that you do. To say that “if you fix your braine you fix your Migraine” is one of the most unintelligent things I’ve ever seen a supposedly intelligent person say. If it were that simple, someone would have won a Nobel prize for it by now, and none of us would be suffering.
Abi
Dr. Shock,
You haven’t seen “harsh and negative” yet. Arabella was very respectful when she wrote about your blog. She made comments on Migraine not being curable, and she commented that you want people to come to you for treatment. Everything she said was true. How is that “harsh and negative?”
Her post probably took more traffic to your blog than you’ve ever had before. Arabella stated her opinion, but give people credit for being intelligent enough to look at your blog and make up their minds for themselves.
I’m going to be far more blunt that Arabella (she is, after all, a lady). I’m going to flat out say “Shame on you!” Shame on you for taking the title of an article written by a respected researcher in the field and using it out of context like you did.
As Abi said, if there were a cure for MIGRAINE DISEASE, the researcher who found it would have been given every scientific award there is, and we’d all know about it by now.
Shame on you.
Jon
Oh no, poor Teri. My thoughts are with her and her family.
Thank you Arabella, for continuing to speak the truth.
Sigh. Thanks for making the effort to educate another misguided writer.
I did not know about Teri’s loss. I’m so sorry to hear that.
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Teri Robert. Teri Robert said: Migraines are Curable – Here We Go Again, http://migrainetruth.wordpress.com/2010/07/02/curable-shook/ [...]
Sounds like they’re saying something similar to the old adage that you can live forever as long as you don’t die.
They’re saying that if you fix what causes migraine, then it’ll be cured?
Captain Obvious! Save us, Captain Obvious!
I apologize if I have offended any of you, and I appreciate all of the feedback on my post. Because of the surrounding controversy, and because of my interpretation of the paper as it applies to my work, I have removed the post from my blog. I am only trying to help people with migraines, and not be misleading.
The functional neurological approach to treating migraines does work very well for many people. I also order blood panels and look at the person from a functional medicine approach, as underlying metabolic conditions have to be addressed. Of course, diet and other known triggers have to be assessed and a comprehensive plan put in place. Finally, doing a biomechanical assessment and formulating a comprehensive treatment plan is the final step. Oxygen therapy is also used, and together, the combination of therapies (neurological, metabolic, and biomechanical) works very well.
I hope to continue learning and contributing to the available body of information available on migraines. I look forward to continuing to learn from the online community.
Again, thank you for your input, and I apologize if I have offended any of you, it was not my intention.
Sincerely,
Dr. Shook
Dr. Shook,
If you’re sincere about wanting to learn from the online community, I’d caution you to look more closely at the statements you make in your writings. I don’t think any of us were offended by the title of your blog, but were offended by some of the statements within the entry. Personally, your statement, “So if this proposed cause holds true, if you fix your brain you fix your migraine!” was one I found to be absurd and misleading, even if not intentionally misleading.
Then there was your statement, “Chiropractors are leading the way in pioneering…?” As I work in the field, I can only say that I found that statement incredibly arrogant at best. I’d be willing to bet that there are very few chiropractors who are even members of the preeminent organization for health care professionals who treat headache disorders, The American Headache Society.
Between those two statements, you couldn’t have alienated more people if you’d been trying.
I do applaud you for recognizing that your post offended so many people and removing it from your blog.
Good luck to you. Without an attitude adjustment, you’re going to need it.
Abi
Mr. Shook, you still seem unable or unwilling to distinguish between migraine management and migraine cure. To manage migraine does not effect either a cure or a healing.
I am retired on disability pension from Meniere’s Syndrome and Migraine. Like Teri Robert and others, I have had migraine since before elementary school. I’ve been under a doctor’s care since my early twenties. I will be fifty in December. I’ve been around the treatment block.
I haven’t read anything on your site or your comments here that amount to anything more than an offer to treat migraine. Many migraine treatments exist. Show us incontrovertible evidence that your treatment is superior to other treatments, please?
Or accept that you’ll be viewed as baiting the desperate by those of us who keep a watch out for each other.
Hi Parin,
The statements on my blog have been mistakenly taken out of context. I do not claim to cure anything, and never have, but only treat conditions. The title of my post was, “Migraines are Curable”, only as a statement that a new research paper was publish by that title, and that the researcher discussed the pathophysiology of migraines that I agree with, and that I treat. The actual title of the paper is “Migraine is Curable”, the difference in my title and the paper’s is a mater of “are” being plural, and “is” being singular. I never proclaimed to cure anything, and I never have.
There are many ways to treat and attempt to manage migraines, mine is one shared by many functional neurologists that also practice functional medicine. As far as I know, there are no control trials on these treatments, but clinically they work well for many patients. As you know there are many causes for migraines so you have to take a multifaceted approach.
The only thing I did wrong, was not to be extremely careful of how I worded the blog post, so that it’s content would not be mistakenly misconstrued or taken out of context. I will be more judicious in my wording for future blog posts.
I became a chiropractor because it’s my calling to help people, and I want to make a positive impact on the lives of others. There is nothing else I can say.
Dr. Shook,
You’re splitting hairs here. You say you never proclaimed to cure anything, but you did say, “…if you fix your brain you fix your migraine!” Sounds like a proclaimation of a cure to me. And, given that the exact origin and pathophysiology of Migraine are not yet fully understood and defined, that’s quite a statement!
Abi
If you really want to help and you’re really sorry to have offended people, lose the ego (Chiropractors taking the lead. A boat load of treatment experts and researchers in the field would be shocked to learn that one!) and take the time to learn from the real professionals in the field.
I was able to reach my doctor about your post and Dr. Purdy’s paper. Those of us here were not overreacting to what you said. That “if you fix your brain you fix your migraine!” was so over the top that you should be waddling around saying “Quack!”
If anyone really knew how to freaking fix the brain, we wouldn’t need blogs like Arabella’s. We’d all be “fixed.” Duh!
Jon
You live in the past,
No, Sultaneh, unlike you, I live both in the present AND in REALITY.
I’ve seen all your crap on various web sites. You’re too busy whining and blaming other people for your failures to live in reality.
I pity you. I pity you, but that doesn’t mean I’ll allow you to post your crap and links to even more crap here on my blog. You are not welcome here.
Arabella
Arabella,
When you emailed me, I subscribed to Shook’s blog feed, so I was able to read it at the time and reread it, even after he deleted it.
The title of his post didn’t bother me as much as some of what he said withing the post itself. I got a copy of Dr. Purdy’s paper, and I agree with you that Shook took some of what Dr. Purdy wrote totally out of context. I too found this paragraph especially troubling: “This means the cause of you migraines may be from the loss of regulation of nerves around blood vessels in your head, which are regulated by your brain and brain stem! So if this proposed cause holds true, if you fix your brain you fix your migraine! I have observed in practice, that this, “brain problem” is in fact the cause of many migraines. There are other causes that have to be considered, and sometimes there is not an answer.”
As some of your readers have said, if it were as easy as, “if you fix your brain you fix your migraine,” the whole world would know by now, and we could spend our time doing something else.
Good job!
Teri
Hello!
And what’s about a genetic component that causes the loss of regulation of the brain or brainstem?
You can try to fix your brain but without any success. Then there are other components to fix.
As long we don’t know exactly whow a migraine is functioning so we can’t cure a migraine.
Greetings from Germany.
Peter
Hello!
Dr. Shook wrotes:
“This means the cause of you migraines may be from the loss of regulation of nerves around blood vessels in your head, which are regulated by your brain and brain stem! So if this proposed cause holds true, if you fix your brain you fix your migraine! …”
And the question is:
Whow we can fix our brain if it is a genomic problem?
Repair our DNA?
I know only the prophylactic way to reduce migraine but heal it? No – as long as we don’t exactly know what’s happening in the brain during a migraine attac and how we cure it – we don’t have any clue and any success to cure migraine.
Greetings from Germany
Peter Schwirkmann