LONDON (PRWEB) September 07, 2018 -- In new data presented at MTIS, excessive yawning was associated with an increased risk of attack in 27 percent of individuals with migraine. Two hundred and fifty of 483 study participants were eligible for analysis. All of the participants were using the digital platform, Curelator N1-Headache, to track and analyze more than 70 factors associated with their migraines.
Among those who experienced repetitive yawning, the occurrence of a migraine attack was three times more likely than when yawning was not present.
Dr. Anne MacGregor, one of the study authors explains,“The presence of a very specific, consistently reliable premonitory symptom such as repetitive yawning provides an opportunity for an individual with migraine to stave off an impending attack. I advise my migraine patients who experience repetitive yawning to respond to this early warning signal by drinking a sweet fizzy beverage to raise their blood sugar. The advantage of Curelator is both to alert the patients as they record it and then track and see if that intervention is then accompanied by any change in the progression of migraine.”
Curelator’s N1-Headache is a digital platform that combines a simple smartphone data entry process with personalized N=1 analytics. After 90 days of data entry, the application generates Individual Trigger, Protector and No Association Maps for each user incorporated within a Personal Analytical Report. The information featured in the Personal Report enables patients and their clinicians to manage risk factors, assess therapeutic response to drugs and facilitate prevention of medication overuse.
Alec Mian PhD, the CEO of Curelator Inc. adds, “Curelator’s MTIS data is a promising first step in terms of underscoring the potential to respond to a migraine attack before it occurs. While the clinical literature has previously established repetitive yawning as a premonitory symptom of a migraine attack (e.g., Guven et al, Headache 2018;58:210-216), the ability to time an intervention that can prevent the occurrence or reduce the severity of an attack remains largely unexplored.”
Dr. Mian continues, “An unsolicited email from one of our users prompted the Curelator team to investigate the incidence of yawning among all of our N1-Headache users. That led to our data presentation. This is a brief excerpt from the note we received:
“Until this app I never realized excessive yawning was a signal that a migraine was on the way! In all my years I never linked the two events…By using Curelator I found out nuts are a protector for me. Many times, eating nuts will resolve my yawning. I think of this combo like some sort of magic trick.”
MacGregor observes, “Eating nuts is much healthier than a sweet fizzy drink but probably leads to the same result - raising brain sugar levels. Although it’s important not to draw overly broad conclusions from anecdotal reports, Curelator data identified an association between yawning and migraine attacks among several of my patients. One individual describes repetitive yawning as a ‘red flag’ to which she intervenes, either through the intake of fluids, sugar and caffeine or through medication, successfully reducing the number of monthly headache days from six to four, on average. The other takes symptomatic medication when yawning begins which, if taken in time, can prevent headache.”
Dr. MacGregor adds, “This kind of feedback can help us develop hypotheses for further investigation.”
Contact for additional information:
Sandy Bodner sbodner(at)curelator.com, Anne MacGregor, anne(at)annemacgregor.com
Sandy Bodner, Curelator Inc, http://www.curelator.com, +1 (617) 549-8523, [email protected]
SOURCE Curelator Inc
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