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Researchers have finally figured out why Harry Potter (Daniel Radcliffe) had all those headaches. And, yes, the lightning bolt plays a role.
Patients often see multiple doctors before they get their headaches diagnosed – and Harry Potter, it turns out, is no exception.
Back in 2007 a leading headache specialist, after poring through Harry’s headache history, concluded that the boy’s intermittent stabbing head pain must be due to migraines. The specialist, Dr. Fred Sheftell, along with some colleagues described the diagnosis in a paper published in the journal Headache.
But the diagnosis didn’t completely fit Harry’s symptoms and over the years several other specialists have chimed in with their own expert opinions.
Now, with clues that came from the final chapter of Harry’s biography by J.K. Rowling, experts think they finally have the correct diagnosis - nummular headache. And they’ve described their reasoning in the most recent edition of Headache.
Many neurologists have never heard of nummular headaches, says the lead author, Dr. Matthew Robbins, an assistant professor of neurology at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine and the director of inpatient services at the Montefiore Headache Center.
And that’s partly because these kinds of headaches have only recently been identified and codified, he explained.
The telling symptom pointing to nummular headaches, Robbins says, is that every time Harry suffers from head pain it’s in a small spot in exactly the same place.
Another line of evidence: nummular headaches can be sparked by a head injury, like the one that led to Harry’s lightning bolt scar.
Robbins and his colleagues studied nummular headaches in dozens of real patients. A telling sign is the lesions that “have been described to occur in scalp regions of [nummular headache] patients, although admittedly, none of these cutaneous lesions manifested in the shape of a lightning bolt,” the researchers explained in their article.
You may be wondering why experts spend their time diagnosing fictional characters. It’s a good way to educate the public about a condition that can occur in children and often goes unrecognized, Robbins says.
“If you can get the word out to people who are suffering, it’s a positive thing,” Robbins says, adding, “and we had some fun along the way.”
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In my daughters case, after 20 years of miss-diagnosis in the UK, an American doctor found a cyst in her pituitary gland (birth defect). The consequential brain surgery completely cured the headaches (12 years)
Be warned:.. European style medicine is not the answer (treating the symptom not the cause)
Phil, how can that be?? The Sociali.. er, rather, Democrats have been telling us how wonderful absolutely everything is done in Socialist European countries. Their healthcare is better, their tax structure is better, their legal system is better. Just ask any Sociali...er, sorry, Democrat.
MrEd: Dude, don't even go there. My daughter, without the intervention of an American hospital/Doctors/technology, would , at best be blind at worst dead.
On the other hand, the very same hospital that treated my daughter, (admitted that) they gave me TB during a short stay a couple of years later!
Cant win them all I guess!
I had a cyst on my pituitary gland, rathke's cleft cyst, as well, but was misdiagnosed by American doctors for years. Not only was I misdiagnosed, but once they problem was found I was told that the cyst wasn't large enough to be causing my symptoms. When I finally convinced the doctors to do the surgery the cyst was found to be twice the size that imaging had shown because it was crystallized. Doctors everywhere screw up, it takes a really good doctor to have the sense to listen to their patients and find out what is going on. Unfortunately I didn't have one and a couple years later had major complications from the surgery to remove the cyst. The neurosurgeon once again misdiagnosed me and it took years to realize that he had made an error in his surgical notes. All of this occurred at the best nuero-institute in my state. All medical students should be taught the importance of being detailed and being a true advocate for your patient.
We cannot judge an entire health system on one example.
On the other side of the coin my father got the best treatment for bowel cancer, cutting edge no wait time through the public health system without any danger of his insurance being cut off and told "Sorry we can't treat you any more" time to go home and die.
However again this is only one example and not an example to base the pros and cons of any health system.
I thought I would give my experience.
I self-diagnosed myself with a nummular headache last year when a small round/oval spot on my head developed a focused headache. Smaller than an egg, the spot on my scalp also felt sensitive, almost like it was burning, and it hurt more to touch the spot. There was no lesion or visible difference on the scalp, nor had I ever had a head injury that could account for the headache pain there.
My nummular headache lasted about three weeks, hurt all the time in that specific spot, and did not respond well to headache or migraine medications. Then it just went away. Previous brain/head MRI's and CT scans had not shown any lesions or problems in my head or on my scalp.
I discussed this headache with my doctor and she agreed that it sure sounded like a nummular headache (after she read up on the dianosis). This article is right: most doctors haven't heard of nummular headaches, so it's important for patients to do some research on reputable medical websites and share that info with their doctor.
Doctors have generated interest and knowledge about unusual diseases before by re-visiting famous people's symptoms and discussing them with their colleagues. For some doctors, this is a fun hobby that also has a historical aspect, considering some famous people have died of poisoning or unrecognized diseases.
I am glad that some doctors took interest in Harry Potter's described headaches since it will bring more awareness to nummular headaches vs. injury headaches.
OMG...this is hilarious. I understand the doctors point about using fictional characters to connect with people out there to inform them about diseases, but use characters from the realm of reality based fiction not ones set in the fantasy based fiction. In this case, Harry’s pain was caused by a magical connection between the dark wizard and Harry. Hmmm....magic and dark wizards.....not reality.
Further, the doctors ignored the last lines of the book that said harry's scar had not hurt since Voldermolt died. Hence confirming the condition was a fantasy based one curable by killing the dark wizard associated with the connection. Comparing it to real world nummular headaches implies that people should try to find a dark wizard who is causing it and kill them. Hmmm...where have I heard something like this before....oh that is right, witch doctors in the india to africa regions of the world who think anytime something bad happens to a person in the community there is a witch there causing it and they go find some poor innocent woman and kill her to solve the problem. Way to go docs, reaffirming such nonsense.
Next you docs will tell me that in the Lord of the Rings books, Frodo's tiredness towards the end of the novel was due to lack of nutrition from lambas(elf) bread intolerance. Or Freddy Kruger's sadistic tendencies were due to an aneurysm in the pre-frontal cortex of the brain. Or, in the twilight series, Bella's attraction to necrophiliacs and bestiality was due to a hormonal imbalance from Vitamin D deficiency caused by the lack of sunlight exposure.
Seriously, if your gonna engage the public about a disease using fictional characters, use ones that are based in reality based fiction and not fantasy.
As for the politicos who injected politics into this. Nothing in this article had anything to due with politics so it should have never entered into the conversation about the article. All you politically obsessed people need to stop seeing political/government conspiracies/failures/successes in everything regardless of if you are right-wing or left-wing. It belongs in the politics section, not here. You politicos expand every conversation about any subject to insert a political agenda. Sometimes a health story is just a health story and has nothing to do with politics. Stop inserting political agendas into every conversation.
Phil
In case you missed it I was being sarcastic, I know how bad the European models are and am appalled at how everyone on the left thinks we need to model our society after their failed attempts. It doesn't work there, why do they think it will be better here? Our systems may not be perfect but they're better than Socialist systems any day.
MrEd: No sweat sir, I assumed as much, being an ex Brit I know both systems, I have over the 17 years I have been here realized the UK model is treat the symptoms, the (paid) US model is much more about investigation and treatment of the illness/disease
BTW Phil, Congratulations on your daughter's successful surgery, I'm so glad to hear she was cured.
Seriously? Did these guys even read the books? The headache thing is explained there.
Harry's scar would cause pain whenever he was within close proximity to Voldemort. This was due to his scar being caused by Voldemort when he cast a strong magical attack.
The short answer: A wizard did it.
Actually harry himself explained what was happening, he said "my scar, its burning" doesnt sound like any headache ive ever had.
If they get to claim Harry's scar-pain is a nummular headache, then I get to claim nummular headaches are caused by the disembodied spirits of half-dead dark wizards.
Really? You wasted your time trying to diagnose a fictional character in a book? Really?
You didn't read the last to paragraphs in the article, huh?
Scubasteve58001
Diagnosing a fictional ailment about a fictional character is WASTING time/resources. They could have better spent that time/resources on a REAL living person. The last two paragraphs are nothing more than an EXCUSE to cover their waste of time. This amounts to studying the Vulcan illness of pon farr. The book/series explains the illness clear as day. This was an attempt to tell the author she got it wrong about the burning scar.
I'm assuming you also have never gone to work and burned an hour or two here and there doing things that were off task.. right?
I like seeing medical puzzles solved, fiction or not. The more knowledge, the better. It's like the space program, only no one dies.
Tiny Tim's illness has been explained (a genetic kidney problem that is curable), and as well as real life person Edgar Allen Poe's death (rabies) by these challenges. Eva St. Claire and Beth March both had leukemia.
People may read fiction, and recognize similiar symptoms in their loved ones. Authors, like Louisa Mae Alcott use the people around them as templates for their ficition.
J.K. Rowling may have used her own headaches or that of someone else for inspiration for Harry's headaches. And now if some kid is having headaches that sound like his, then the doctors know to check for this real-life headache instead of dismissing it as too much imagination.
*****SPOILER ALERT!*****SPOILER ALERT!*****SPOILER ALERT!*****
(There's always someone who hasn't read the book....)
.
.
However, I'm more inclined to believe that, given her education, that the horcrux as a piece of Riddle's soul lodged in Harry's head was an idea inspired by Jupiter giving birth to Minerva, the goddess of wisdom, via a really bad headache.
An aside question: Why isn't the word horcrux in spell check?
Robert-3614955
Not where I was foolish enough to PUBLISH a paper on it. Also I am 100% certain even my best boss would have taken issue with wasting resources like that had I or a coworker made it known we had done so. This isn't about science/medicine. It is about justifying wasting resources. Would YOU be happy if YOUR doctor had spent time on this instead of taking care of your health needs?
The sad part is... they probably got paid federal grant money to "study" this.
Actually, the sad part is, you feel the need to drag politics into this. Just foaming at the mouth, aren't you, to pontificate about the perils of anything but a right wing conservative mindset.
chipferd
The sad part is you think MrEd was commenting about politics when he was actually speaking about wasteful use of government funding... no political affiliation there at all. You on the other hand brought in the right wing conservative comment. Perhaps you are over sensitive?
Chip
Did I mention politics? No, I did not. Go away troll.
This was worth a story in MSNBC? OMG! now, why did Ariel have a fish tail? And why is Superman able to fly? Does it matter? It is fiction.
Because she's a mermaid. Because the yellow sun of earth gives him super powers (also, superman couldn't fly in the original stories, just leap tall buildings in a single bound).
Read up on the mermaid syndrome. It's real.
The fiction and science of mermaids have led to wonderful things like this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F9jCsbii5rs (Peter Jacksons Weta Workshop Maks Mermaid Suit for Double Amputee).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Au4ECOGMX9M (Doulphin gets artificial tail).
It was his hangovers.
Exactly what I was thinking!
What a waste of time. It would have taken less time to read the book.
I have not read the books, or seen movie, but pain in the same place, if it is face pain, which some still classify as headache, it could be trigeminal neuralgia, an often disabling and debitilitating facial paini disorder affecting the 5th cranial nerve and often diagnosed by headache specialists (and neurologists)
Carol Jay Levy, B.A., CH.t
author A PAINED LIFE, a chronic pain journey
Women In Pain Awareness Group
#!/groups/111961795481256/
The Pained Life, 30 years, and counting.
Actually they were caused by the piece of Voldemort's soul that was attached to Harry's head. When the piece was removed (killed) the headaches stopped. To bad they could have saved a lot of time and money just by reading the books......
Spoiler. Betcha you're a barrel of giggles, going around telling people how books and movies end!
(Spoil away about "Glee," please!)
If people don't know by now they don't care, really the last movie has been out 7 months and the book was published in 2007, if you are really that behind on your read you might need to take a remidial reading course......
Stupid muggle doctors.
OF COURSE "docs" are looking to "diagnose" Happy Potter...ANY chance to ride the promo coattails for their markets of choice.
Are you talking about the actor or a fictional character and a fictional headache, in which case, are you all on crack?
Good thing they weren't trying to figure out where Dan Radcliffe's headaches were coming from. That would've been way too easy. Answer: all the booze he was drowning himself with.
Those doctors are wasting time on a fictional characters health, but there is a disorder that impacts 1-2 in 10,000 people (the same rate as MS) that most doctors don't even know about, forget about treating and diagnosing correctly! that they are ignoring.
Please, those research dollars could have been used to fund ground breaking studies on HHT or inform the medical community about it, instead of focusing on a headache that J.K.Rowling invented in her imagitation. Pathetic!
I say some of the most incredibly stupid movies of all time caused millions of headaches.
BREAKING NEWS: Docs believe Harry Potter real, sorry Docs Potter is fiction. Sorry to burst you bubble
I think he just needs a new pair of glasses to be honest.
hahaahahaahaaaahaaaaaahahaaahaaa! Is this research for real?? I mean, I am all for medical research and understanding the human body, but this is a fictional story. The headaches were caused when Harry and Voldemort were able to link telepathically. The pain increased in severity when Vold---- He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named was angry. The more angry, the worse the headache. geesh.
Back to nummular headaches for a moment -- Is there any treatment for them?
OK, you may now return to dissing each others politics.
This is stupid. Don't these doctors have better things to do than "diagnosing" a fictional character's maladies? Way to save the world, docs.
Talk about a physician with too much time on his hands!
I think theses headaches were caused by JK rowling putting them in the book. I am glad to see these "medical" people have nothing better to do that make up falise diagnosis
This makes sense. When I was 16, I accidentally hit my head walking into a pillar. I was walking with my head turned the other way looking for someone, and when I turned my head back around it hit the pillar. I didn't lose consciousness, but I had a welt on my head for a day or so. Ever since then I've had the occasional throbbing headache right in the same spot.
This is insane. The second time today I've seen MSNBC report a story that makes no sense whatsoever. Half of this article was about a fictional character! You call this news? I'm done with MSNBC from now on. Switching to CNN on line from now on.
some people have WAY too much time on their hands.