Mark Weatherall It began with a phone call from the Daily Mail. Or, to be precise, from a freelance medical journalist who was writing an article for the Daily Mail. She had been talking to a woman called Chloe, with an interesting neurological problem: she was, she said, a “woman who sees snowflakes even when it’s sunny”. … Read more
In October 2021, I received an email out of the blue from Lindsey Evans, Publishing Director at Headline Publishing Group in London, who publish health and lifestyle books under the Headline Home imprint. She was keen to launch a series of health books, written by experts in their medical fields, and each having a title … Read more
“I don’t know how you do it,” says one friend, trying to sympathise. “I don’t know why you do it,” says the other. He has always been more cynical. “Spending all your time with sick, scared, angry and ungrateful people. Not to mention all the negative media coverage. And all for a fraction of what … Read more
Headache as a feature of Covid-19 Headache is common in patients with Covid-19. In the first review of the neurological aspects of Covid-19, a study of 214 patients in Wuhan with confirmed SARS-Cov-2 infection, Mao et al noted headache in 28 (13.1%) patients.(1) This figure has subsequently been replicated in a metanalysis of over 3000 … Read more
In previous blogs, I have described how calcitonin gene related peptide (CGRP) was found to be a lynchpin molecule in migraine, and how this led to the development of the new class of monoclonal antibody migraine treatments. I mentioned in passing that, in the early 2000s a new class of drug – the gepants – … Read more
Information continues to accrue on the potential neurological effects of infection with SARS-Cov-2, the virus that causes Covid-19. In the last few days, three papers have appeared detailing cases of acute inflammatory neuropathies associated with Covid-19. A paper in the New England Journal of Medicine presents five Italian patients with Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS),(1) a condition … Read more
In a blog published yesterday, I summarised the current medical and scientific literature on the known or suspected direct neurological effects of SARS-Cov-2. It’s a fast-moving situation: in the last 24 hours the New England Journal of Medicine, perhaps the most prestigious general medical journal there is, has published a letter from a team of … Read more
There is as yet very little in the published literature on the neurological consequences of Covid-19 (the disease caused by infection with SARS-Cov-2). The first extensive report – a retrospective consecutive case series of 214 patients from Wuhan, China, with either moderate or severe COVID-19, was published in JAMA Neurology in early April 2020.(1) Of … Read more
Following the Government’s advice today to avoid all “non-essential” travel, I have made the decision to conduct all London Headache Centre consultations remotely until further notice. I will be very happy to review new and old patients via telephone, Skype, or other video conferencing methods. Consultation slots will continue to be available by contacting The … Read more
In the last blog, I told the story of the development of monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) against CGRP, from their first appearance in the literature in 2007 to their licensing in the USA and Europe in 2018-19. In the third blog in this sequence I will go into a little more detail on the evidence for … Read more