News for those who suffer with migraine headaches: the FDA has recently approved Botox as a treatment protocol for this condition. We asked Dr. Charles Matthews, a board certified neurologist and Director of the North Carolina Comprehensive Headache Clinic, to explain the likely benefits of this decision. “But first,” he said, “my usual caution: Botox …
Are migraine headaches a sign of inflammation? Are they exacerbated by stress? And linked to disease states? When we have questions about headache, generally, and in migraine headache in particular, we always seek answers from Dr. Charles Matthews. Some researchers think that aging is actually a form of stress. >> read more >>
To learn more about the impact of our genes on migraine headaches, however tenuous it may be, we turned to our expert on the subject, Dr. Charles Matthews. “When most genetic problems ’cause’ disease, it’s usually severe progressive childhood illnesses. For those common illnesses that most of us have — migraine, heart disease, common forms …
Caffeine acts as a stimulant by displacing adenosine in the brain. Notice the similarity of the words “caffeine” and “adenosine.” Adenosine — you may recall from high school biology — is involved in ATP (adenosine triphosphate) and energy cycling in cells. However, the actions of caffeine are complex and not fully understood. A daily caffeine …
Seeking the cause of a headache is the first priority at the Headache Clinic — an important task considering the very wide variety of possible causes. While potentially serious, these causes are rarely encountered in routine clinical practice. Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever, Lyme disease, chronic mononucleosis, and other undetected systemic infections may present with headache. …
Is finding the cause of headache basically a trial and error process? Who better to answer that question than Dr. Charles Matthews, the founder of the North Carolina Comprehensive Headache Clinic in Raleigh. The answer to the query, it turns out, is “yes and no.” >> read more >>
Is finding the cause of headache basically a trial and error process? Who better to answer that question than Dr. Charles Matthews, the founder of the North Carolina Comprehensive Headache Clinic in Raleigh. The answer to the query, it turns out, is “yes and no.” >> read more >>
Does diabetes trigger migraines or other headaches? In a simpler world, that question might evoke an uncomplicated “yes” or “no” response. But the human body and mind are masterpieces of complexity that puzzle the most talented among us. >> read more >>
Dr. Charles Matthews doesn’t hesitate for a second to say that, over the past several decades, his patients have been invaluable teachers. He is the founder and director of the North Carolina Comprehensive Headache Clinic. As it turns out, his patients have been especially instructive about bio-identical hormone replacement therapy, as he reveals in this …
This is a story about a patient I’ll call Vickie and a rare type of very severe headache called hemicrania continua. But mostly it’s about the lessons healers learn when seeking a healing path for their patient. After 30,000 outpatient visits as a director of the Headache Clinic, Vickie taught me something new about headache. >> read …