Tag: migraine

Update on Energy Medicine Pain Patches: Jovi and Its Targeted Marketing Strategy

For many women, cramps are a regular feature of their menstrual periods. Jovi is being marketed as a cure. It isn't. It's just more energy medicine pain patch nonsense.

/ April 20, 2021

A Pattern of Deceptive Video Ads for Supplements

I've been seeing a pattern of deceptive videos that promise to reveal a secret but make you watch the entire video to learn what it is. They feature alarmist stories, emotional language, and testimonials, but no actual science. They make claims that can't be believed.

/ February 9, 2021

Visual Stress

The Opticalm Clinic claims to diagnose and treat visual stress with colored lenses and other aids. Visual stress is a poorly defined, questionable condition and Opticalm's claims are not backed by scientific evidence.

/ August 11, 2020
Acupuncture needles

Acupuncture for Migraine Unconvincing

The evidence for the effectiveness of acupuncture in migraines remains unconvincing, and a new study changes nothing.

/ April 1, 2020

Keto Diet for Neurological Disorders

Does the ketogenic diet work for epilepsy or other neurological disorders? While the consensus is that it probably does, the evidence is surprisingly thin.

/ February 20, 2019

Corrigendum. The Week in Review for 05/28/2017.

More measles in Minnesota. Yet another form of acupuncture: Snafu. CAM cancer studies are of poor quality. The future of CAM is LSD.

/ May 28, 2017

Acupuncture and Migraine – New JAMA Study

Yet another poorly designed acupuncture study with dubious results is being presented as if it were compelling evidence.

/ February 22, 2017

A Credible Placebo Control for Chiropractic Research

The research on chiropractic has been far from rigorous. One of the problems is that studies of spinal manipulation therapy (SMT) can’t be double blinded, and it is very difficult to even do single blinding. So most studies resort to non-manipulation control groups like “usual care” or “wait list” or “pain medication.” Those studies are practically guaranteed to lead to false positive...

/ October 11, 2016

How Not to Treat Migraine

Last week I gave a quick overview of standard treatment options for migraine, a severe form of recurrent headaches. As promised, this week I will address some common treatments for migraine that I don’t think are supported by the evidence. Acupuncture Acupuncture is the CAM modality that, it seems to me, has infiltrated the furthest into mainstream medicine, including for the treatment...

/ February 4, 2015

Treating Migraines

I am a headache specialist and so I receive many questions, through SBM, NeuroLogica or listeners of the Skeptic’s Guide to the Universe, about how to best treat headaches, or about a specific, often unusual, treatment. Migraines and severe headaches are very common. According to the latest statistics: 14.2% of US adults 18 or older reported having migraine or severe headache in...

/ January 28, 2015