Author Event: Dr. Gary Ruoff
Kalamazoo doctor and author Gary E. Ruoff, MD, will discuss the latest techniques to prevent headaches and manage pain at Barns & Noble in Kalamazoo, Michigan on March 23. Following the discussion, Dr. Ruoff will be signing copies of his new book, Knock Out Headaches.
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EVENT DETAILS:
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Dr. Gary Ruoff Discussion and Book Signing
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March 23, 2013, 1:30 pm
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Barnes & Noble
6134 South Westnedge Avenue
Portage, MI 49002
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Store phone number, for more information: 269-324-1433
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Knock Out Headaches helps patients identify the warning signs that indicate they need to be treated, educates them on the different types of headaches and available treatment options, suggests strategies to enable optimal doctor-patient partnerships, and provides support stories from other patients who have succeeded in managing their headache symptoms. Covered within the book are the most recent advancements in headache research, diagnosis and treatment, from traditional medications to progressive, alternative techniques.
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“I wrote this book because too many headache sufferers are living with the idea that just having something to take the edge off is enough. It’s not enough,” said Dr. Ruoff. “Patients should be headache free or be able to conduct themselves on a daily basis without disability. They should be able to do everything that they want to do without worrying about their headaches.”
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Knock Out Headaches has been praised as a crucial resource for both headache patients and the important people in their lives. Dr. Vincent T. Martin from Head Wise magazine said, “The book Knock Out Headaches, written by Gary Ruoff, MD, is a ‘must read’ for individuals who suffer from migraine…Overall, I was quite impressed with this book and would recommend it for any patient who is having problems controlling their headaches.”
Enjoy the New Year and Avoid the Headache!
by Jeremy Sterling with Dr. Gary E. Ruoff
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As the year wraps up, we at Spry wanted to share with you some of Dr. Ruoff’s hints for how to enjoy your New Year’s Eve celebrations without worrying about a follow-up headache. This post originally ran on December 31, 2011.
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This week, people across the globe will ring in the New Year with celebrations great and small. For some, this is a time for quiet introspection, to humbly reflect on the accomplishments of the passing year, and then forge lofty goals and resolutions for the year to come. For others, New Year’s Eve is the best night of the year to ignore goals and resolutions, let down their hair, stay out all night, and party, party, party!
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The indulgences of the evening can present a special set of challenges to people who are prone to suffering from headaches. Many festive foods, drinks, and activities can serve as triggers for headaches, and while you’re busy enjoying your night on the town, it’s quite easy to inadvertently mix together several different components that can create extremely unpleasant problems inside your head.
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I asked our author and headache expert, Dr. Gary E. Ruoff, to give us a few suggestions. Are there simple choices we can make that might increase our chances of avoiding that nasty New Year’s Eve headache? Here’s his response:
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We would all like to have a good time on New Year’s Eve. However, the migraineur needs to be careful. The combination of alcohol, cheese, and other foods—as well as staying out until the wee hours of the morning—can produce enough triggers to bring on one whopper of a headache. Alcohol further causes dehydration, which can compound the problem.
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If you want to celebrate, do not drink red wine or champagne. I would suggest a high-end clear vodka instead. Stay well hydrated by drinking lots of water, maintain your food elimination list, and try to come home at a decent hour.
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Good luck!
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Happy New Year from all of us here at Spry Publishing! We look forward to sharing with you in again in 2013!
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For more on headaches from Dr. Ruoff, check out his book, Knock Out Headaches.
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9 Things to Tell Your Physician about Your Headaches
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Dr. Gary Ruoff has worked with pain and headache management for much of his career as a family care physician. His new book, Knock Out Headaches, details his extensive knowledge about how to communicate with your physician about your situation, manage your headaches, and find a way to “get your life back.” In the following excerpt, Dr. Ruoff is back with more information about how to communicate with your doctor about your headache by keeping a headache diary.
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The first step in treating your head¬aches is to understand them. By keeping a thorough diary of your headaches, you and your physician will be able to identify triggers and recognize patterns, which will lead to a more successful treatment plan.
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Use a scale of 0 to 10 to indicate the level of pain you experience: 0 being no headache, and 10 being the most severe head¬ache you’ve ever had. Use these general guidelines for pain: severe headaches keep you home from work and in bed; mod¬erate headaches allow you to stick it out, but you are suffering quite a bit; and mild headaches are noticeable but do not interfere with your tasks.
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When keeping a diary, you should:
1. Record the date and time the headache began.
2. Indicate the intensity of the pain, using the 0 to 10 scale, as well as what part of the head is affected, including your neck and shoulders.
3. Notice what you were doing when the headache began—exercising, working, resting, or reading, for example.
4. List any associated symptoms, such as phonopho¬bia (sensitivity to sound), photophobia (sensitiv¬ity to light), nausea, or vomiting.
5. Note what you ate or drank in the 24-hour period prior to the onset of your headache, par-ticularly known dietary migraine triggers.
6. Jot down what you were feeling before the head¬ache occurred—were you angry, sad, stressed out, or feeling depressed?
7. Explain what you did to make yourself feel bet¬ter, such as resting in a dark room, or taking OTC painkillers or migraine medications. Did these help? Did anything make you feel worse—physical activity, bright lights, or loud noises?
8. For women, note whether you are on your men¬strual period or what day of the cycle you are on.
9. Record when the headache subsided.
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Be sure to put your headache diary somewhere handy and noticeable, such as the refrigera¬tor or next to your bed, so you don’t forget to use it. Fill out the diary for at least a month before you bring it to your physician. Sometimes, certain patterns or triggers are readily apparent, and other times, it may take months. Be patient and hang in there.
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Jessica Snyder joined the Spry Wellness Blog as a contributor in 2012. She is currently working to obtain an undergraduate degree in English and Communications at the University of Michigan.
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Read other articles by Jess Snyder
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Knock Out Headaches Releases, Available for Review
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Knock Out Headaches Releases, Available for Review
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October 2, 2012, Ann Arbor
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Spry Publishing and headache expert Gary E. Ruoff, MD, today released Knock Out Headaches, a book that provides education, support, and inspiration to sufferers of chronic pain from headaches.
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Knock Out Headaches helps patients identify the warning signs that indicate they need to be treated, educates them on the different types of headaches and available treatment options, suggests strategies to enable optimal doctor-patient partnerships, and provides support stories from other patients who have succeeded in managing their headache symptoms. Covered within the book are the most recent advancements in headache research, diagnosis and treatment, from traditional medications to progressive, alternative techniques.
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The book also features a foreword by Seymour Diamond, MD, Executive Chairman and Co-Founder of the National Headache Foundation.
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Review copies of Knock Out Headaches are currently available to interested media. Dr. Gary Ruoff is available for interviews for print, radio, or television. His area of expertise is pain management and he is qualified to comment on a wide variety of topics in that subject area.
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Read the entire release.
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Dr. Gary E. Ruoff is a founder of the Westside Family Medical Center in Kalamazoo, Michigan, and presently serves as Director of Clinical Research at that facility. His main research interest is pain therapy and management, including headache and acute and chronic pain. Dr. Ruoff serves on several advisory boards for pain and pain therapy and has received numerous awards for his research work.
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Meet Dr. Gary Ruoff
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Dr. Gary Ruoff, MD, is a family practitioner in Kalamazoo, Michigan, and he has devoted much of his career to headache and pain management. In his new book, Knock Out Headaches, Dr. Ruoff shares his knowledge on how to manage your headaches so that you can move beyond just dulling the pain to being able to function fully. I talked to Dr. Ruoff to learn more about him and what motivates him to keep practicing and learning about headache management.
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Can you tell us a little bit about yourself?
I have been married for 47 years with two children. My son is a physician in primary care and sports medicine, and my wife and daughter work in education. When I’m not working, I’m playing piano, collecting stamps, and doing other interesting things I think are necessary to keep a focus in life.
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What made you want to do what you’re doing?
Headaches are a situation that I have a lot of respect and empathy for, and the willingness to help patients take care of headache and pain problems. That’s probably the real reason why I’m doing what I’m doing.
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Why did you feel you had to share the information in your new book?
Too many of my patients were living with the idea that just having something to take the edge off is enough. It’s not enough. Patients should be headache free or be able to conduct themselves on a daily basis without disability. They should able to do everything that they want to do without worrying about their headaches.
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What is your favorite piece of information that you share in your book and why?
What I like about the information in Knock Out Headaches is that it empowers the patient to direct the care of their headache through non-pharmacological means and through questions to take to their doctor in order to properly make a diagnosis and develop appropriate treatment.
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What tips or advice would you share with your readers?
Lifestyle change is essential! They must go to bed and wake up at same time, eliminate caffeine, chocolate, MSG, and things like NutraSweet. “Oh, there’s nothing I can eat! I can’t do this!” they may say. But the patient has to stick to some lifestyle changes in order to take care of their headaches.
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How does your family feel about the book?
Two members of my family suffer from migraines so they are looking forward to it. My family feels it’s fantastic that there will be more resources to help the patients who suffer so greatly from their headaches.
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What do you wish people would ask you about more?
I would hope that they would ask me more about the etiology of headaches and how they come about. Patients have to realize that it’s not their fault. It’s not that they have so much stress and anxiety; it’s actually inherited. Headaches are in the genes. If the patient is extremely sensitive to sensory stimuli—such as light, sound touch and taste—all of these may affect the patient when given the correct circumstances, forming a migraine.
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Jessica Snyder joined the Spry Wellness Blog as a contributor in 2012. She is currently working to obtain an undergraduate degree in English and Communications at the University of Michigan.
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How to Talk to Your Doctor about Your Headaches
by Jess Snyder
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Do you often experience headaches?
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Are you frustrated because nothing will fix your migraines and you are ready to give up?
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Dr. Gary Ruoff has spent his life helping headache sufferers to receive an accurate diagnosis and find a way to reduce or even alleviate their migraines. In his upcoming book, Knock Out Headaches, Dr. Ruoff offers this information on how to talk to your physician:
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“It sounds easy enough: you go to the doctor because you want to get better, and your doctor prescribes some type of treatment to help you do just that. But the process is far from simple.
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The first time you meet with a physician you may undergo a headache consultation which should delve into your medical history, all of your medications and treatments, and your dietary and sleeping habits. You may also be asked to submit to certain lab tests.
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It may seem like information overload, but gathering this data helps the doctor form a complete picture of you and your condition. This data gathering serves two purposes:
• For your physician to get to know you and for you to get to know him or her.
• To establish a baseline, or level of “wellness,” which will later be used as a comparison.
The more prepared you are, the more productive your visit will be. Don’t rely on your memory; write your answers down and bring them with you. If you have been keeping a headache diary, bring that along. List any specific concerns or questions you may have.
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Think about lifestyle issues. How much caffeine or how many alcoholic beverages do you drink each week, particularly red wine and champagne? How much MSG, and artificial sweeteners do you consume? Have an honest discussion with yourself regarding these issues.
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Before you go to this initial appointment, take some time to answer the following questions:
1. When did the headaches start?
2. How often does the headache occur?
3. What does the pain feel like?
4. Where is the pain located?
5. Are your present headaches becoming more severe or more frequent?
6. Is there anything you can identify that makes the headache worse, such as certain foods, drinks, activities, situations, etc.?
7. Do you have any other symptoms along with your headache, such as nausea, vomiting, dizziness, sensitivity to light or sound, or tingling of the extremities?
8. What do you think is causing your headaches?
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Being prepared with as much information as possible prior to seeing your doctor will help him/her to make a more accurate diagnosis. Also, don’t be afraid to voice your fears. Remember, honest communication is essential in this partnership.
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It is, most often, the headache sufferer who comes back to thank me for “giving me my life back.” Why are headache patients so grateful? Because many of them have reached a point of surrender. Perhaps you have also reached that point. If so, I urge you not to give up.”
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Do you feel like your doctor understands you? What is the best way that you have found to talk with him or her?
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Read other articles by Jess Snyder
What Triggers a Headache?
Five Things to Remember in Your Child’s 504 Plan
5 Ways to Avoid Phishing Scams
Internet Bullying
Pancreatic Hope
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Jessica Snyder joined the Spry Wellness Blog as a contributor in 2012. She is currently working to obtain an undergraduate degree in English and Communications at the University of Michigan.
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What Triggers a Headache?
by Jess Snyder
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Are you running out of patience with your migraines? Have you tried everything and the headaches still keep coming?
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Dr. Gary Ruoff understands the pain of a migraine. In his upcoming book, Knock Out Headaches, he details many tips and strategies to help with migraine management. In the following excerpt, Dr. Ruoff discusses headache management and what triggers to look out for.
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Two of the most important concepts in headache management are thresholds and triggers. Each headache patient has a threshold for particular triggers, and when that threshold is exceeded a headache will occur. Let’s use the example of a glass of water—the threshold is the top of the glass and the water represents potential migraine triggers. If you keep pouring “water” into the glass, you will eventually reach the point of overflowing, causing a headache.
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What are those triggers? Just as the symptoms, duration, and severity of headaches are different for everyone, so are the triggers or combination of triggers. Potential migraine triggers come in many forms, including:
• Environmental factors, such as changes in weather or altitude
• Hormonal fluctuations
• Sensory stimuli, such as perfume, tobacco smoke, flickering lights, and loud noises
• Changes in habits, such as sleep patterns and work schedule
• Stress or other emotional crisis
• Some medications, including painkillers
• Certain foods and drinks
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However, the most common triggers are dietary. The four main dietary triggers I see in migraine patients are caffeine, chocolate, MSG, and certain artificial sweeteners.
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Now, you may be saying, I don’t get a headache every time I eat chocolate or drink coffee. On any given day, you may have a glass of water that is already half full due to unavoidable factors such as rising heat and humidity, the lack of sleep, or increased stress over a big project at work. Then, you add more “water” to that glass in the form of a soda with caffeine, or a diet soda loaded with artificial sweetener. This combination of triggers cause the water to reach the top of the glass and spill over the sides, and you end up with a headache.
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The whole idea here, and I can’t stress this point enough, is that you must decrease the number of triggers or risk factors in order to successfully manage migraines. A patient who identifies and decreases his or her potential triggers can often manage migraines without medication, or with minimal use of medication. There are many triggers that are unavoidable or difficult to avoid, so the trick becomes steering clear of the triggers you can control. You don’t want to indulge in your favorite chocolate treat or a large latte on a day when there is a thunderstorm, because the change in barometric pressure is already a potential trigger. You can’t control the weather, but you can control what you eat or drink.
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If you can’t escape the situation, make sure you don’t make it worse.
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What headache management techniques have worked for you? Would you be able to give up caffeine if it meant your headaches would improve?
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Read other articles by Jess Snyder
Five Things to Remember in Your Child’s 504 Plan
5 Ways to Avoid Phishing Scams
Internet Bullying
Pancreatic Hope
Sweet Treats
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Jessica Snyder joined the Spry Wellness Blog as a contributor in 2012. She is currently working to obtain an undergraduate degree in English and Communications at the University of Michigan.
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Enjoy the New Year and Avoid the Headache!
by Jeremy Sterling
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This weekend, people across the globe will ring in the New Year with celebrations great and small. For some, this is a time for quiet introspection, to humbly reflect on the accomplishments of the passing year, and then forge lofty goals and resolutions for the year to come. For others, New Year’s Eve is the best night of the year to ignore goals and resolutions, let down their hair, stay out all night, and party, party, party!
.
The indulgences of the evening can present a special set of challenges to people who are prone to suffering from headaches. Many festive foods, drinks, and activities can serve as triggers for headaches, and while you’re busy enjoying your night on the town, it’s quite easy to inadvertently mix together several different components that can create extremely unpleasant problems inside your head.
.
I asked our author and headache expert, Dr. Gary E. Ruoff, to give us a few suggestions. Are there simple choices we can make that might increase our chances of avoiding that nasty New Year’s Eve headache? Here’s his response:
.
We would all like to have a good time on New Year’s Eve. However, the migraineur needs to be careful. The combination of alcohol, cheese, and other foods—as well as staying out until the wee hours of the morning—can produce enough triggers to bring on one whopper of a headache. Alcohol further causes dehydration, which can compound the problem.
.
If you want to celebrate, do not drink red wine or champagne. I would suggest a high-end clear vodka instead. Stay well hydrated by drinking lots of water, maintain your food elimination list, and try to come home at a decent hour.
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Good luck!
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Happy New Year from all of us here at Spry Publishing! We look forward to sharing with you in 2012 and beyond.
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For more on headaches from Dr. Ruoff, check out his upcoming book, Knock Out Headaches, releasing Fall 2012.
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Spry Publishing and Dr. Gary Ruoff Knock Out Headaches
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(October 27, 2011)
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Spry Publishing and headache expert Gary E. Ruoff, MD, are teaming up to battle headaches. Dr. Ruoff has contracted with Spry Publishing to write an educational and inspirational book for individuals who experience chronic pain from headaches.
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The book, tentatively slated to release Fall 2012 with the title Knock Out Headaches, will help patients identify the warning signs that indicate they need to be treated, educate them on the different types of headaches and available treatment options, suggest strategies to enable optimal doctor-patient partnerships, and provide support stories from other patients who have succeeded in managing their headache symptoms.
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With its extensive list of patient education books on a variety of medical topics, including general health and wellness, diabetes, prostate cancer, and cardiovascular health, Spry Publishing has partnered with an accredited authority for its first book on headaches.
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Dr. Ruoff is one of the founders of the Westside Family Medical Center in Kalamazoo, Michigan, and presently serves as Director of Clinical Research at that facility. His main research interest is pain therapy and management, including headache and acute and chronic pain. Dr. Ruoff serves on several advisory boards for pain and pain therapy and has received numerous awards for his research work. He has authored more than 80 articles, abstracts, and monographs in various specialties of medicine.
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A firm believer in keeping a positive attitude and never giving up, Dr. Ruoff hopes that Knock Out Headaches will empower headache sufferers to become better informed and to make positive decisions that can help to improve their lives.
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Read the full press release here.
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