Posted by admin on February 7, 2009
Natural Relief For Headaches
Headaches go back as far as when man first started to dabble in the medicinal arts and a variety of procedures, home remedies and health supplements have been used over the centuries in the treatment of headaches. In fact the earliest known surgical procedure is thought to have been an attempt to cure headaches and became popular in the Middle Ages (along with comparably credible treatments such as leeches, humor balancing and flogging). This procedure, known as trepanning or trephining, simply involves drilling a large hole in the head that was ironically thought to release the pressure causing the headache.
Thankfully science has come a long way since then although our relatively poor knowledge of the brain and its function means that the cause of the majority of headaches is still unknown although there are now many drugs, health supplements and natural remedies that can assist the treatment of headaches.
We will talk about primary headaches here or those that are not caused by an underlying medical condition. Secondary headaches can be indicative of serious problems so any headache that is frequent, severe or accompanied by any other symptoms (vomiting, diarrhea sensitivity to light, dizziness, slurred speech etc) should be checked out by a physician. If you are in any doubt as to whether you should see a physician, see one.
The medical world has split headaches into a number of different categories, although you may have your own expletive laden terms, for our purposes we will divide these headaches or cephalalgia into the following two types with some suggestions for supplements and natural solutions that may help to relieve the pain assist in the treatment of headaches.
Tension headaches – These are the most common and are usually caused by tension in the muscles of the scalp or neck. Poor posture, repetitive actions or overuse of the jaw muscles can all cause excess strain, resulting in mild to moderate pain.
Relaxation is usually the best good remedy so a hot bath or a cold pack on the neck can help. Slow and deep breathing is also a good way to relive pain and bring headache relief.
Natural herbal health supplements including Chamomile, Peppermint Oil and Lavender can all help the relaxation process and bring headache relief. Additionally health supplements Vitamin A, Vitamin C and Pantothenic Acid are important for supporting functions in the head and Calcium and Magnesium can relieve muscle tension. If bruxism or teeth grinding in the night is suspected then Passionflower, Hops and Valerian may have a positive effect and a good night’s sleep is never a bad thing in the treatment of headaches.
Vascular headaches – These include migraine headaches, flu headaches, cluster headaches and premenstrual headaches and are caused by dilation of the blood vessels around the head. Movement or physical activity can make it worse and some episodes can go on for days.
In addition to pharmaceutical options there are a few natural herbal health supplements that are known to be effective in the prevention and treatment of vascular headaches including; Feverfew, which can reduce inflammation in the brain; White Willow, a natural analgesic; and Gingko Biloba which helps maintain peripheral circulation to the brain (although check with your doctor as some peoples migraines have intensified after using gingko biloba). It is important to try to find out what triggers your headache symptoms and either avoid the triggers (such as red wine, aged cheese and tyramine containing foods etc) or be prepared when the times comes (menstruation or bouts of flu).
Author Bio:
Mitamins team
bd@mitamins.net
Mitamins’ aim is to custom-made the best natural remedies to complement the treatment of your concerns. Our unique process allows you to combine multiple formulas into a single formula, in a single bottle, and avoid overdose and interactions. http://www.mitamins.com
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Posted by admin on February 6, 2009
Migraine Treatment Has Many Faces
According to the National Headache Foundation, over 28 million people suffer from migraine headaches. Migraine headaches are not your run-of-the-mill tension headache; they are much, much worse. Migraine headaches are usually intensely painful, disabling, and typically reoccurring. To make matters worse, migraine headaches often last for several days. If you are among the estimated 28 million people who suffer from this debilitating condition then you might be well served by pursuing migraine treatment.
The first step in migraine treatment is seeing your physician. The doctor must be certain of the type of headache that is causing your suffering, and the symptoms alone may not be sufficient for making a confident diagnosis. Migraine treatment will likely begin with a thorough physical examination and headache evaluation. Only after other potential causes have been eliminated can you and your doctor begin to narrow your treatment options.
If no causes for your migraines are evident your doctor might tell you to begin keeping a headache diary. A headache diary is used to help identify what things are migraine triggers for you. The list of migraine triggers is as varied as the people who suffer from migraines. Stress, fatigue, lack of sleep, foods or food additives, alcohol, nicotine, caffeine, even bright lights; all of these things, and more, trigger migraine headaches in some people. By using a migraine diary you are more likely to identify the conditions that make a migraine possible for you.
Once you have identified the sources of your migraines, you can begin working toward an effective migraine treatment. Often it is possible to curb or even eliminate your migraine headaches by strictly avoiding the foods and conditions that you have identified in your headache diary.
It is possible that the use of a headache diary can be an effective, preventative, migraine treatment for some; others will need additional help that natural prevention methods can not provide. Abortive medications are taken at the moment you begin to feel the all too familiar symptoms of an impending migraine headache. However, if your headaches are exceptionally disabling or frequent – more than three per month – then you may not want to wait until they start to begin taking medication.
Various drugs have proven to be an effective migraine treatment. Beta-blockers, calcium channel blockers, antidepressants, and anticonvulsants all have a demonstrated record of migraine prevention. Migraine treatment that focuses on prevention can allow frequent sufferers to reduce the amount of pain medication they are using and the side effects those medications may have.
It is important to remember that none of these options for migraine treatment should be tackled alone. Like all matters involving your health and medication, it is imperative that you consult with your physician before embarking on any migraine treatment regimen.
By: Michelle Bery -
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Treatment Of Migraine Headaches Using Natural Methods
What is Migraine Headaches?
Migraine Headaches are paroxysmal ailments, that are accompanied by a severe headache. The headache normally occurs on one side of the head. Migraine is associated with disorders of digestion, liver, and sight. Migraine headaches occur sometimes due to great mental tension and stress. Migraine headache patients are typically smart, inflexible, disciplined. Sudden migraine attacks may occur due to overworked muscles in the head and neck and due to continuous stress.
Treatments
Natural treatment methods for migraine headaches are usually harmless and also cheaper than traditional pain medications. Sure, it’s possible you could experience a negative reaction or even increase your headache pain because of a natural treatment, but the odds are far less than with pain-relieving medications.
Chiropractic adjustments, or chiropractic manipulations, are a very popular natural treatment method for headache relief. Patients with migraine headaches have been visiting chiropractors for over 100 years, and with very good results. Studies have shown that over 80% of headache patients find relief with chiropractic care. Plus, chiropractic treatment has been shown to be extremely safe. Spinal problems do cause headaches and by correcting these spinal problems many headache sufferers find welcome relief.
Biofeedback is another form of treatment that is safe and can be effective in eliminating pain. Biofeedback is a training program designed to help a person develop the ability to control their autonomic (involuntary) nervous system. Functions that are normally automatic can be controlled voluntarily. This technique makes it possible for a person to control their own heart rate, blood pressure, skin temperature, and of course, the relaxation of their tense muscles.
Abortive: The goal of abortive therapy is to prevent a migraine attack or to stop it once it starts. The prescribed medications stop a headache during its prodrome stage or once it has begun and may be taken as needed. Some can be administered as a self-injection into the thigh; others, as a wafer that melts on the tongue. These forms of medication are especially useful for people who vomit during a migraine, and they work quickly.
Preventive: This type of treatment is considered if a migraineur has more than 1 migraine per week. The goal is to lessen the frequency and severity of the migraine attacks. Medication to prevent a migraine can be taken daily.
Some alternative methods are there, such as acupuncture and the use of certain herbs, can help some people. However, it is important to ask your physician about alternative medicines before trying them for yourself. This is especially true of herbal treatments because they can interfere with more traditional methods of treatment.
Summary
The solution to the disease is to take progesterone and avoid estrogen intake. Estrogen may come in the form of birth control pills, hormone replacement, herbs, foods or synthetic chemicals that mimic estrogen. Progesterone opposes the effect of estrogen and resensitizes the body’s estrogen receptors back to normal.
By: smita sahoo
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Treatment Alternatives For Migraine
Only migraine headache sufferer truly understands the gravity of the pain that a migraine headache creates. A migraine is much more than just another headache form but rather they are a headache that is definitely draining.
Over the Counter Medications
Your first form of treatment procedure for migraine headaches should focus on over the counter medications. There are quite a few to choose from, so test each and see if any of them work. One more idea is to experiment with the foods that you are eating and see if a food allergy may be at the very least the culprit.
Botox Treatments
More than that there are different tested treatment alternatives found to be effective by migraine sufferers. One of these treatments requires administration of botox injections in the law muscles. If your migraines are connected to involuntary clenching of these muscles, this treatment may provide some relief.
Another Treatment Procedure
One treatment found to be effective by many people is medicinal marijuana. Believe it or not, some people swear by it and as medicines go this one can be the most gratifying to take. Think that you don’t have to smoke it, because it is non-poisonous but do not fail to have some food available for when the ‘munchies’ strike.
Powerful Narcotic Pain Treatments
For a more radical scheme, there are many migraine sufferers who are claiming to have found relief through powerful narcotic pain medicines. However; bear in mind that this should only be considered as a last course of action, since most of these types of drugs are highly addictive.
By: AntoniousFranheimmer
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Know About Migraine Treatment
Pain killers don’t treat the pain but we loose the sense of pain for some time; in that duration our body itself treats sometime and credit goes to meds.The useless drugs have tremendous power of side effects like liver/kidney failures, ulcer, inflammation of intestines and lot more.
Do a cooling breathing exercise such as shitali. To do it, curl your tongue into a tube. Inhale slowly through the curled tongue, swallow, and then exhale normally through the nose, keeping the mouth closed. You will feet the incoming air cool your saliva, your tongue, and the oral mucous membranes. This breathing exercise will lower the body temperature, and make the saliva cool. It also helps to quench thirst, and improves digestion, absorption, and assimilation. If you can’t curl your tongue into a tube, an alternative way to perform shitali is with your teeth lightly clenched together and your tongue pressed up against the teeth. The air is then inhaled through the teeth.
There are some migraine treatments that are just kooky. There are people who claim that all types of things, from proper nutrition, to magnetic bracelets, to pepper spray, will work as migraine treatments, but those people are complete morons. The bottom line is that so many of these migraine treatments take advantage of the pain and suffering that people who are the victims of migraines have to go through on a daily basis, giving them false hope of relief from their headaches. That is just terrible.
Treatment for Migrane Headaches must address all medical, physical and psychological aspects of this problem, including tension. Migraneurs respond best to the multi-disciplinary approach available at SLBMI. Effective treatment includes stress reduction, biofeedback diet counselling, physical therapy, posture correction, massage, acupressure, analgesics or other medications to reduce stress and pain. To determine if foods might be a trigger for your migranes, download this food diary to complete and take to your medical evaluation appointment.
Mild migraine attacks tend to clear up in a few hours. It’s best to rest in a quiet, darkened room, and use the painkiller that you would normally take for a non-migrainous headache. Soluble versions of these painkillers may work better than tablets. Take it as soon as you can – treatments for migraine are more effective when you take them early on in an attack. You might also find that over-the-counter preparations containing the anti-sickness drug buclizine (eg Migraleve) help reduce nausea and sickness. This means that the painkillers can be better absorbed by the body. Ask your pharmacist for more advice.
Goto any grocery store and buy a Piece of ginger root, grind a 1 inch piece up and add to any type of juice. Drink a glass a day. Great in preventing Migrains. Another is eat a handfull of real ginger snap cookies. For imediate relief is take a 1 inch piece of ginger root and chew on it.
Put a wash cloth on your forehead. Apply an ice pack on top of the wash cloth. Then take an ace bandage and wrap it around your head tightly securing the ice pack. Lay down in a dark room and nap for 30 minutes. The ice pack and pressure will ease the pain. The nap will relax you and alleviate the migraine.
By: User name – Peter Hutch
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A Study On Better Migraine Treatment
If your migraine treatment isn’t providing the benefit you had hoped, new research shows an easy way to boost its effectiveness.
This latest study in the Journal of the American Medical Association looked specifically at the group of medicines called triptans, and focused on perhaps the best known, imitrex.
It found patients could get more relief by adding to imitrex a common over the counter medicine.
Four years ago, Amy Lapa- Stochel started to get a migraine more frequently than every other day. She uses several medicines, including imitrex.
Amy says, “In the past when I just took the imitrex alone the headache would just rebound; your headache would go away for a little bit and then come back.”
Many patients like Amy don’t get adequate relief.
There are several potential reasons.
Dr. Larry Newman, Director of the Headache Institute at Roosevelt Hospital Center, says, “Part of the reason may be on the wrong dose, another reason they are on the correct dose but take the medication too late during the attack and another reason is that the drugs as good as they are they don’t address all of the features of migraine.”
The medicines called triptans are widely used, and very effective when taken shortly after the onset of migraine or migraine warning signs.
But now, the latest research found by adding the antiinflammatory naproxen to imitrex, patients got more relief than when using imitrex alone.
Dr. Newman says, “What we know with migraine is that it is a disorder of the nerve, it is a disorder of the blood vessel but there is also inflammation associated with the headache and the triptans work on the blood vessel and they work on the nerve but the medications we have currently don’t address the inflammation.”
In the study, patients either got a single tablet containing both imitrex and naproxen, 500 milligrams, or got only imitrex or only naproxen, or a placebo with nothing in it.
The combination pill containing both medicines did better at relieving headache at two hours, relieveing senstiivty to light and loud sounds, and relief of nausea was better.
The combo pill also did better at sustaining the pain relief through the twenty four hour period after the begninning of the migraine.
“You get the initial relief of the headache from the sumatriptan right away and then the naproxen is pushed forward in time so it last twenty four hours later, so we get the initial relief of the headache and then the naproxen lasting longer prevents the headache from coming back later,” states Dr. Newman.
Amy says, “Once I take it is gone, when I take that combination, I don’t see another headache maybe for another week, which is good.”
By: EmpoweredD
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Posted by admin on February 5, 2009
Learning About Migraine Treatments
If you suffer from migraine headaches you know how debilitating they can be. You have probably tried a number of migraine treatments with little or no relief as well, which makes you feel like banging your head against the wall.
Why not, it couldn’t hurt any worse, right? You dread the moment you get the first sign, or aura, of a migraine coming on. You start to see spots, feel sensitive to light, smells, or sounds, and may feel dizzy or nauseated.
You just want to find a dark room and tuck yourself into bed somewhere. Migraine sufferers are unable to function at work, school, or anywhere else for that matter. According to The National Migraine Association, also known as MAGNUM (http://www.migraines.org), reports that 36 million people in the United States suffer from migraine headaches.
With improved recognition of symptoms and diagnosis by health care providers, a 60% increase in migraine sufferers has been noted over the past decade. Migraines are different in each individual and not everyone experiences the same symptoms, which is why some migraine treatments are more effective than others, making the process somewhat complicated.
Migraine headaches are a neurological disease with biological causes that are often hereditary. Migraine treatments have improved immensely over the years, but are not effective for everyone, not to mention the side effects that some people experience.
Migraine treatments are divided into separate group. There are preventive or prophylactic medications and alternative therapies for migraine treatment, and there are those that work to ward off symptoms once a migraine has ensued. Prescribed medications used in migraine treatment are beta blockers, calcium channel blockers, anti-depressants, and Depakote (an anti-seizure drug).
Alternative prophylactic migraine treatments include feverfew leaf, butterbur root, vitamin B12, and magnesium supplementation. New research is also looking to the gut, which may be the origin of migraine headaches in some sufferers.
If preventive therapy is not completely effective, prescription medications such as Imitrex, Maxalt, Zomig, Relpax, Midrin, and Migranal can be used which lessen the severity and duration of migraines by initiating cerebral vasoconstriction.
If migraine treatment is sought in a physician’s office or emergency room, a narcotic injection can be administered, such as Stadol, Phenergan, or Vistril, which are non-vasoconstricting agents used in the event other treatments are contraindicated.
These are all effective migraine treatments, but remember that not all will help every migraine sufferer. Other alternative treatments such acupuncture, biofeedback, and chiropractic manipulation have also proven to be effective migraine treatments in some patients.
Avoiding certain migraine triggers is an important intervention that can be used by all ‘migrainuers’, such as avoiding certain foods and alcoholic beverages than have caused migraines in the past, and wearing sunglasses in bright sunlight.
If you suffer from migraine headaches and you are not getting relief from your current migraine treatment regimen, then schedule a consultation with your health care provider. It is possible to get better relief and have fewer episodes, which will greatly improve your emotional outlook and quality of life.
By: Scott Michaels -
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Seven Simple Steps To Treat Migraine Headaches
If you have migraine and you want to know the best migraine treatment, here’s a summary of what I try to tell my own patients. Please note, this assumes your diagnosis is correct. If you are not sure of your diagnosis you are advised to speak to your doctor.
Step 1 – Sleep
Sleep has been recognised as a treatment for migraine. Many people with migraine take to their bed, as it is the only way to get comfortable. Sleep will inevitably follow, and it is a common experience to waken with your head feeling a lot better – if not completely gone.
An irregular sleep pattern and sleep deprivation can trigger migraine attacks. If you are able to do so, try and improve your sleep hygiene – wind down before bedtime, have a milky drink, make sure your day is active enough that you feel tired, avoid stressful situations just before going to bed. A lot of this is maybe common sense, but a good night’s sleep is priceless.
Step 2 – Water
Dehydration – a lack of water – can make migraine more likely to occur. A recent study looked at drinking habits and found that those who keep hydrated, were less likely to experience migraine attacks. I’d suggest aiming for about 1-2 pints extra each day (500 to 1000ml) on top of what you routinely drink. Please note if you have kidney trouble you may not be able to be free to increase your fluid intake by this amount – check with your doctor if you are unsure). In warmer climates or during periods of hot weather this amount may need to increase. In the USA 2.2 litres (over 4 pints!)per day for women and 3.0 litres (over 6 pints!) for men is the usual recommended daily water intake.
Step 3 – Exercise
It is a commonly accepted fact that exercise causes naturally made painkillers (called endorphins) to be released into your brain. While a direct link cannot be proven, it seems likely that regular exercise will contribute to a sense of well being, and that when you feel fit, headaches are less likely to occur. A problem is that migraine people can sometimes get headaches by exercising too much, especially if tired or dehydrated or if exercising in bright sunlight. I’d suggest starting with gentle exercise such as walking half to one mile a few times each week, then building this up until you enjoy walking 2 or 3 miles at a time. Walk interesting routes, go with a friend, anyhting to make you stick to the routine. You do not have to train to run a marathon, but regular exercise, I’m sure, is a big help.
Step 4- Diet & weight management
There is no end to the amount of information written about diets. A lot of people talk about triggers such as coffee or chocolate. If you find that a specific food always produces a migraine, then it makes sense to avoid it. However, if you analyse a trigger food, you may find that when you ate the chocolate you were a bit underslept, had missed your lunch, were under a bit of stress and it was a warm day when you hadn’t had much to drink. No wonder when you took that mid-afternoon snack of chocolate you ended up with a migraine! My advice is this – eat regularly, try to avoid missing meals. When you eat – enjoy it! Better to enjoy your food and relax than get stressed over what is supposed to be one of life’s simple pleasures.
If you do happen to be overweight, reducing your weight through a planned calorie restriction and exercise programme can reduce the amount of headache you have. It is now recognised that being overweight is associated with an increased amount of headaches.
Step 5 – Stress avoidance
This is hard. You are a young mother, holding down a job, your partner works long hours, you have deadlines, need to keep the house running, children or parents to sort out etc etc etc. This sort of common stress can take its toll. More major stress will also provoke headaches. Learning to deal with stress is difficult. However, I often find that people who get stressed are usually very bad at looking after themselves – when did you last take a few hours off just for yourself? Stress avoidance is helpful.
Step 6 – If you get a migraine take a medicine that is likely to work
There have been lots of studies on migraine treatment over the years. The tried and tested medicines can be obtained from your pharmacist (chemist) without prescription. These include (for adults) Aspirin, anti-emetics (metoclopramide, buclizine), non-steroidals (ibuprofen, naproxen), and some combinations that also contain caffeine. These will get about 50% to 75% of people with a migraine episode nearly pain free in 1-2 hours in most cases. There are specific migraine drugs that can usually be obtained on prescription only – called triptans, the commonest of which is sumatriptan. Any tablet for a migraine attack works best if taken as early as possible. I usually recommend that you take a painkiller or triptan as soon as you think "oh no, it’s one of these rotten headaches again". If you leave it too late, you may have ‘missed the boat’ and will have to put up with the pain and take to your bed.
Step 7 – Use a preventative medicine that works.
There are several medicines which will reduce the number of migraine episodes if taken every day. Preventataive medicines need to be taken every day and are prescribed by your own doctor. They usually fall into one of three categories:
beta-blockers (also used in treating blood pressure or angina)
anti-convulsants (also used for treating epilepsy or chronic pain)
anti-depressants (also used for treating depression!).
The herbal remedy FeverFew has been studied and can be purchased from a herbalist, but please be careful when using herbal remedies – they contain active ingredients which can react with other medicines.
It is not clear how all these drugs work, but if used at low doses on a regular basis, they can minimise the number of migraine headaches you have.
So that’s it – 7 steps to controlling migraine – exactly what I tell my patients. Note that a lot of this is within your own control – sleep, exercise, water intake, diet, stress avoidance. It is a powerful thing to feel in control. Medicines will help, but unless you look after youself, medicines are not the whole answer.
By: Dr Raeburn Forbes
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An Unusual Migraine Therapy
Our mothers and fathers had it right. Do you remember the old fashioned beauty salons and barber shops? Daddy went for a haircut and a shave, and got the hot towel treatment; flat on his back in the big chair with his eyes closed. Mother set aside two hours twice a month for a wash, rinse and the latest gossip, then kicked back under the hair dryer with a magazine – free of guilt, housework and children.
Life is stressful. It’s easy to be overwhelmed by the stress and responsibilities of the day, forgetting that the worries reflect not only on our mind and emotions, but also on our bodies. Many physical ailments and symptoms can be traced back to the levels of stress in our lives, and it is important to remember that time spent relaxing is not time wasted – it’s time invested. Learning to decompress is an important step on the road to whole body healing.
There are many health problems associated with stress, and migraine is high on the list. Tension, sinus problems and a multitude of everyday things can cause them, but getting rid of migraines is not so simple. Finding the time to sleep, de-stress or otherwise relax is almost impossible. It often takes a conscious effort to make time for taking care of yourself, but you will find it pays off in many positive ways. Even if you need to continue taking daily or incident-targeted migraine drugs, alternative, holistic methods like the ones outlined below give medications a better chance of performing at their full potential.
Nowadays many beauty salons offer relaxation therapy along with the traditional cut and dry. Don’t let the expense throw you; it’s comparable to the cost of many prescription medications for migraine, and could be more valuable in the long run. Check and see if the salon offers discounts if you bundle services or sessions together, and try to have a standing appointment once every two weeks or so. Buying a series of sessions has the added advantage of encouraging you to make it to every appointment.
Indian Head Massage, or Champissage is one of the most popular natural salon treatments for migraine. With its origins thousands of years ago in India, head massage for stimulating hair growth was practiced within the family. Over many years the practice has evolved, and there are documented benefits for many different conditions.
A thorough massage of this type does not even require disrobing, and can be performed with the recipient sitting or lying down. It’s best to take off your spectacles and any jewelry you may be wearing. You can possibly loosen your upper clothing. I suggest that for your appointment you wear something with a wide neck, and loose fitting. A proper massage will include the face, ears, neck and shoulders in addition to the scalp. Some say that if you are given such a massage as soon as you become aware of your migraine warning signs, it may never develop. You may come to appreciate it to the point you will be asking if your masseuse offers emergency after hour sessions, or house calls for those unexpected migraine attacks!
If you have had a migraine in the past 24-48 hours you may wish to postpone this type of massage as the scalp and neck may be too tender. Other reasons to avoid intensive head massage include severe eczema of the scalp or spinal problems.
Another kind of massage is the Japanese based shiatsu, a form of acupressure which uses finger and pulse points to relieve stress. It works on migraines by releasing the tension and faulty blood flow to base of the head and spinal cord. If used to treat an existing migraine, a dark room and the laying down position are recommended. Often the therapist will let you stay in the room for a little while after the conclusion of the massage, and you can use this time to relax and absorb the full benefits of the treatment.
Whether used in conjunction with massage or alone, essential oils are a popular tool for the prevention or treatment of migraines. Essential oils should always be diluted in a carrier oil (try almond, sold in most health food stores), and can be rubbed into the temples and shoulders or heated in a ‘burner’ to release vapors. Coconut oil is good for scalp massage as it rejuvenates the hair, while lavender, peppermint and chamomile are favored for topical application after dilution.
Aromatherapy has gained credence as a migraine treatment because so many sufferers report an unpleasant smell immediately preceding a migraine. Many believe that surrounding yourself with healthy herbal aromas can reverse the effects of a migraine, and there is no denying that a pleasant scent does promote relaxation. Favorites again are lavender, marjoram and rosemary.
A final treatment your beauty salon might offer is Hopi ear candles. These hollow flax tubes are dipped in honey and herbal oils such as chamomile, sage and St Johns wort. One is placed over the ear canal and lit, and the resulting flow of warm air softens ear wax, debris and irritants and draws them up out of the ear. This has proven to be successful in treating types of migraines triggered by sinus pressure.
Taking personal time for yourself can have far reaching mental, emotional and physical benefits that can help reduce the frequency and duration of migraine headaches. If expensive prescription medications are not proving effective for migraine control, consider spending your money and time an a salon rather than the doctor’s office. The cost will be well worth it if it gives you that personal time away from all your chores and concerns.
By: Joy Healey
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Understanding Your Migraine Headache Triggers
Migraine headaches are a type of headache resulting in pain so severe that it can be disabling. Typically, migraine headaches are accompanied by other symptoms, such as nausea, vomiting, and sensitivity to both light and noise. There are many different causes attributed to migraine headaches, and these migraine headache triggers can affect just about anyone.
All you have to do for proof is examine the statistics. In America alone, over twenty-eight million people suffer from migraine headaches. Migraine headaches are more common in women; for every one man who suffers from a migraine headache, there are three women.
Migraines and migraine headache triggers have become somewhat easier to manage than they used to be. Often times, you can just examine the migraine headache triggers and determine which aspect of your life is the cause of your migraine headaches. Once you know which migraine headache triggers relate to your situation, it will become easier to find a treatment.
What Are the Most Common Migraine Headache Triggers?
Of all the migraine headache triggers, the most common one is stress. Another common trigger of migraines is certain foods, such as alcohol, aged cheeses, chocolate, aspartame, caffeine, msg, seasonings, and some canned or processed foods. Migraines can also be caused by fasting or skipping meals.
Physical factors such as increased sexual activity, intense exercise, or a change in sleep patterns are also migraine headache triggers. Changes in the environment and certain medications often act as triggers of migraine headaches, as do sun glare and bright lights. Hormonal changes can also cause migraines, and this may be why a significantly greater number of women than men are affected by migraines. Some women experience migraines during pregnancy or menopause.
Are You at Risk?
There are several risk factors that make someone more prone to migraine headaches. Migraine headaches most commonly occur in girls that have already passed through puberty. Women who experience migraines find that their likelihood of experiencing one increases during menstruation, pregnancy, or menopause. Migraine headaches also run in families; if even one of your parents’ experiences migraines then you are much more likely to develop them yourself.
Treating Migraine Headaches
Although previously, the only way to treat migraine headaches was to take aspirin, this is no longer the case. Now, there are both preventative medications and pain-relieving medications that are intended specifically for migraine treatment. There are also other alternative treatments, such as acupuncture, massage, vitamins, herbs, minerals, and biofeedback. Migraine headaches can be prevented by maintaining a healthy, balanced lifestyle.
By: Ann Marier -
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