A Surprisingly Accessible Treatment For Migraines

…and other items from this week’s health news:

Cannabis’s very good stats for migraine relief

Migraine attacks are thought by many people to be “just a bad headache”, but in fact, there’s a lot more to it than that, and they’re also famously resistant to a lot of usual headache-relief medications and other remedies.

So, what’s new? Researchers (Dr. Dawn Buse et al.) tested cannabis vs placebo for the treatment of migraine, and got great results:

How it worked: 92 participants used vaporized cannabis containing 6% tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and 11% cannabidiol (CBD), which are considdered relatively low potencies.

And the results?

• 67% of participants experienced a reduction in migraine pain within two hours of treatment
• 35% of participants became completely pain-free after treatment

These benefits lasted for up to 48 hours across 247 treated migraine attacks, and in terms of safety, no serious adverse events were reported during the study.

Read in full: Cannabis shows anti-migraine benefits

Related: Migraine: When Headaches Are The Tip Of The Neurological Iceberg

Alcohol use disorder: what are the key factors affecting relapse?

Long-term relapse in alcohol use disorder was most strongly linked to a gradual reduction in recovery focus or vigilance, making it the most prevalent and potent risk factor. As for what this looked like, it often involved deprioritizing recovery-related attitudes and routines, alongside disengagement from mutual-help groups and other recovery supports.

In other words, rather than a sudden failure as such relapses are generally assumed to be, it was usually more of a slow erosion of commitment to ongoing recovery maintenance.

That, perhaps, explains why psychological and social factors also play a major role, particularly worsening mental health symptoms, loneliness, social isolation, and increased exposure to alcohol-related environments, generally increasing in the year leading up to relapse:

Read in full: Key risk factors identified for long-term relapse in alcohol use disorder

Related: Which Addiction-Quitting Methods Work Best?

Not “basically just steam” after all

Vapes have enjoyed a (so far, it seems, well-earned) reputation of being less harmful than cigarettes. One of the ways in which they are considered less bad healthwise is when it comes to passive consumption, i.e., second-hand smoke/vapour. In the case of smoke, it’s smoke, and whatever else is in it, everyone knows smoke is bad to inhale, right? Whereas vapour… Steam inhalation is good for the health, no?

And in this case: no

As it turns out, secondhand vape plumes can contain ultrafine particles loaded with metals and reactive peroxides that interact to form lung-damaging free radicals. Additionally, volatile organic compounds in vape vapor can react with indoor ozone to form peroxides, which then interact with metals to generate reactive radicals.

It gets worse: because ultrafine particles can penetrate deep into your lungs and reach fluid-lined alveoli, they may damage lung tissue and impair lower respiratory function. And, paradoxically, ultrafine particles carry higher proportions of metals and peroxides than larger particles.

Read in full: Secondhand vape plumes could form lung-damaging radicals

Related: Vaping: A Lot Of Hot Air?

Take care!