Natural Health Remedies

Headaches: Different Causes & Remedies

In no other condition is it so important to make a correct diagnosis, since different kinds of headaches require very different treatments. Your doctor must take the time to ask patients about all the details of their headaches: how often they occur, what time of day, what part of the head is involved, whether pain is throbbing or steady, what makes it better and worse, what other symptoms accompany it, and so on. Many people who develop headaches fear they have brain tumors, but if you were to list causes of headache in order of probability, brain tumor would be near the bottom.

Right at the top of the list would be muscle tension. Tension headaches usually begin in the afternoon or early evening and produce steady pain that comes up the neck and back of the head. The muscles of the neck and shoulders may be sore and will feel tight to a trained body worker. Tension headache is a very common stress-related disorder, and the best way to get rid of it is to remove the obstacles to relaxation.

Massage can be a godsend to tension headache sufferers, even a garden-variety neck and shoulder rub can do wonders. Eliminate caffeine from your life; it increases muscle tension as well as anxiety. Practice breathing exercises.

Taking aspirin or other pain relievers on a regular basis is not the way to deal with this malady.

Musculoskeletal problems in the upper back and neck can produce headaches that resemble tension headaches. Try osteopathic manipulation from a doctor trained in craniosacral technique.

Steady headache pain that occurs in the forehead or around the eyes often comes from eyestrain or pressure in the sinuses. What you can do for sinus headaches. Have your eyes checked if you have not done so in a while.

Very high blood pressure can produce headache that typically occurs in the back of the head and is present on waking. If you have frequent or persistent headaches you should make sure your blood pressure is not elevated.

Throbbing headache arises from an imbalance in the arteries of the head and so is called "vascular." The commonest type of vascular headache is migraine. "Migraine" is not simply a name for a bad headache. It is a particular disorder with many variant forms.

A rarer type of vascular headache is the cluster headache, so called because it occurs in clusters over several days or weeks. It may come at the same time of day every day for two weeks, then disappear for months. The pain of cluster headache is severe, typically one-sided, and has distinctive associated symptoms, such as redness and tearing of the eye on the affected side, runny nose or nasal stuffiness, and visible swelling of blood vessels on the affected side of the head. The prescription drug ergotamine is effective for aborting and preventing attacks. Follow the recommendations for migraine as well.

Vascular headache is also the chief symptom of caffeine withdrawal as well as a common symptom of caffeine addiction. Anyone prone to vascular headaches should avoid using this drug on a regular basis.

If you have headaches that appear sudden in severity, you should go to a physician for diagnostic evaluation.

Remove Obstacles to Relaxation

Caffeine and other stimulant drugs activate the sympathetic nervous system, which prepares us for emergencies, for "flight or fight" responses. These drugs make us more jumpy, anxious, and fearful and thus often interfere with relaxation, rest, and sleep. Coffee, tea, cola, and chocolate are used so unconsciously in our culture that most users have no idea they are mind-altering drugs. Caffeine is an ingredient of many over-the-counter and prescription drugs.

If you want to lower your level of internal stress and develop your ability to relax and let go of external annoyances, a good place to begin is to eliminate caffeine and its relatives from your life. Cocaine and amphetamines (speed) are illegal stimulants with similar effects. A legal stimulant to watch out for is phenylpropanolamine (PPA), the chief ingredient of over-the-counter diet pills and a common drug in over-the-counter cold remedies.

Another is pseudoephedrine, usually sold as a decongestant (as in Sudafed). Some products sold in health food stores as tonics, energizers, and diet aids contain stimulant plants, especially guarana (a caffeine source from South America), yerba mate (ditto), and ma huang or Chinese ephedra (source of ephedrine). Because of their action on the sympathetic nervous system, all stimulants, whether natural or synthetic, in the form of teas or pills, are obstacles to relaxation.

Sound has a profound influence on the nervous system. Some kinds of sound increase our level of arousal and make us tense and anxious. Consider the noise of sirens outside your window or the sounds of people arguing. How do they make you feel?

Music has special power to affect consciousness. It is often the soundtrack of a scary movie more than the images on the screen that gives you chills and goosebumps.

Many cultures around the world recognize this power of music. Some forbid it (Islamic fundamenalists), others use it in rituals designed to alter consciousness (voodooists). The essential tool of the shaman is a drum. By using the right rhythms, he or she can leave the physical body and journey to the spirit realm.

In Bali ensembles of gong players and drummers (have roused warriers to frenzied violence.

In African religions drum-fining is a highly developed art, capable of inducing spectacular changes in awareness, including sexual excitement, trance, spirit possession, and even complete loss of consciousness.

It is well documented that some of these African rhythms have found their way into our popular music through the development of jazz and rock'n'roll.

There is no objection to this music as entertainment , but what about its effect on the human nervous system when it is background noise, taken in unconsciously. For example, while stopped in city traffic a car next to to you has music with an exciting beat blaring from the tape deck. Drivers and passengers act as if nothing is amiss, just some music to make the drive more interesting. City driving is usually stressful enough without having the nervous system roused further by stimulating rhythms. Not only rock music has this effect, when flipping through the bands of you car radio, a great deal of the music promotes internal tension that interferes with relaxation.

In a way, choosing which sounds to let into your consciousness and which to exclude is like making choices about foods. It is a question of nutrition in a broader sense, of mental nutrition, if you will. If you want to be excited, stimulated, sexually aroused, or prepared for physical violence, by all means listen to the readily available sounds that move you toward those states. If you want to relax and dissipate the tension resulting from external stress, do not make it harder for yourself by receiving those influences.

News can also affect our mental state profoundly, Most news reports increase anxiety, give us new possibilities for worry, and play on our desire for emotional stimulation. Many people are addicted to reading newspapers and news magazines and to listening to news on radio and television. Like caffeine addiction, news addiction is a major roadblock to learning to relax.

Is it really necessary to know about murders in a distant city or about the latest oil spill or the hideous acts of terrorists? A great deal of the most upsetting news is of no relevance to our daily lives and that when an event is important enough to concern us, we find out about it soon enough.

Be aware that news producers select and edit events for "journalistic value." Stories that excite and titillate, that cause anxiety and concern over developments to come have greater journalistic value than those that do not. Do not absorb this information unconsciously and habitually. Notice the effect it has on your mental equilibrium. Experiment with breaking the news habit, then use your power of choice to tune into news selectively and consciously.

Agitated minds of other people will agitate your mind. A kind of resonance takes place in the realm of consciousness. If you are in the presence of calm, centered persons, your internal tension diminishes, and you let go of some of your stress without making any effort to do so. If you are in the presence of people who are excited, angry, and anxious, you will naturally move toward those states. Pay attention to your internal responses to the people you associate with. As much as possible, avoid the company of agitated minds.

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Breathing Exercises

Breathing strongly influences mind, body, and moods. By simply putting your attention on your breathing, without even doing anything to change it, you move in the direction of relaxation. There are many worse places to have your attention - on your thoughts, for one, since thoughts are the source of much of our anxiety, guilt, and unhappiness. Get in the habit of shifting your awareness to your breath whenever you find yourself dwelling on upsetting thoughts.

The single most effective relaxation technique is conscious regulation of breath. It is utterly simple, takes almost no time, requires no equipment, and can be done anywhere.

Although you can do the exercise in any position, when first learning to do it be seated with your back straight. Place the tip of your tongue against the ridge of tissue just behind your upper front teeth, and keep it there through the entire exercise. You will be exhaling through your mouth around your tongue; try pursing your lips slightly if this seems awkward.

First exhale completely through your mouth, making a whoosh sound.
Next close your mouth and inhale quietly through your nose to a mental count of four.
Next hold your breath for a count of seven.
Then exhale completely through your mouth, making a whoosh sound to a count of eight. This is one breath.
Now inhale again and repeat the cycle three more times for a total of four breaths.

Note that you always inhale quietly through your nose and exhale audibly through your mouth. The tip of your tongue stays in position the whole time. Exhalation takes twice as long as inhalation The absolute time you spend on each phase is not important; the ratio of 4:7:8 is important. If you have trouble holding your breath, speed the exercise up but keep to the ratio of 4:7:8 for the three phases. With practice you can slow it all down and get used to inhaling and exhaling more and mote deeply.

This exercise is a natural tranquilizer for the nervous system. Unlike tranquilizing drugs, which are often effective when you first take them but lose their power over time, this exercise is subtle when you first try it but gains in power with repetition and practice. I would like you to do it at least twice a day, You cannot do it too frequently. Do not do more than four breaths at one time for the first month of practice. Later, if you wish, you can extend it to eight breaths. If you feel a little lightheaded when you first breathe this way, do not be concerned; it will pass.

You may also notice an immediate shift in consciousness after four of these breaths, a feeling of detachment or lightness or dreaminess, for example. That shift is desirable and will increase with repetition. It is a sign that you are affecting your involuntary-nervous system and neutralizing stress. Once you develop this technique by practicing it every day, it will be a very useful tool that you will always have with you. Use it whenever anything upsetting happens, before you react. Use it whenever you are aware of internal tension. Use it to help you fall asleep.

Everyone can benefit from this exercise.

The reason for keeping the tongue in that position. Yoga philosophy describes two "nerve currents" in the human body, one positive, electric, and solar, the other negative, magnetic, and lunar. These begin and end at the tip of the tongue and the ridge behind the upper front teeth. Putting those structures in contact is supposed to complete a circuit, keeping the energy of the breath within instead of letting it dissipate. There may not be any correlation between these ideas and Western concepts of physiology, but since yogis have been doing this exercise for thousands of years, it seems worth following their instructions exactly.

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Sinus Problems

Sinusitis, both acute and chronic, causes great misery. The worst cases seen are in cigarette addicts, but people who suffer from upper respiratory allergies may also develop bad sinus problems (pain, headache, congestion, postnasal drip, obstructed breathing, and so forth). Regular doctors treat sinusitis with a lot of drugs (antibiotics, antihistamines, decongestants, and steroids) and sometimes with surgery.

Sinus sufferers may want to try a number of actions :

Eliminate milk and all milk products from the diet, including prepared foods that list milk as an ingredient. An overwhelming majority of patients report dramatic improvement in sinus conditions after two months of this dietary change.

Do not smoke.
Do not spend time around smokers or in smoky environments.
Consider moving if you live in a smoggy area.
Equip your home with air filters
Practice nasal douching regularly and use this technique as a treatment for acute sinus infections also.
At the start of sinus trouble, put hot wet towels over the whole upper face. Work up to as much heat as you can stand and keep applying them for fifteen minutes. Do this three or four times a day. It is an excellent home treatment for sinus congestion and sinusitis, since it promotes drainage and increases blood flow to the area.

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Migraine

Classic migraine is a one-sided, severe, throbbing headache, often weeded by some sort of "aura" (visual disturbances are common), and accompanied by nausea and vomiting, This disorder has so many variants, however, that talk of a classic type may confuse people and make diagnosis more difficult. In women, migraine almost always disappears during pregnancy, a good diagnostic feature of this headache.

Migraine is most unpleasant for patients, often putting them out if action for days at a time, as well as frustrating for doctors, who often find that it resists their best efforts at treatment. Allopathic doctors dose migraine sufferers with a great many strong drugs, Dme of which do more harm than good.

The vascular instability that is the immediate cause of this headache is influenced by many factors. Allergy often plays a role, since i many sufferers specific foods trigger attacks. Hormonal fluctuatons are a factor, at least in women. Not only does pregnancy block migraines, birth control pills can make them happen. Stress is clearly involved, too, as is heredity. It may be impossible to disentangle all the elements that lead to migraine in an individual case. Some recommendations for bringing migraine under control are as follows:

Eliminate coffee and decaffeinated coffee from your life, as well all other sources of caffeine. Make sure you are not taking any OTC or prescription drugs that contain it. Once you are off caffeine, you can use coffee as a treatment for migraine. Drink one or two cups of strong coffee at the first sign of an attack, then lie down in dark, quiet room.

Eliminate other common dietary triggers of migraine: chocolate, wine (red is usually more of an offender than white, but both can do it), all strong-flavored cheeses (cottage cheese and cream cheese are all right), fermented foods (including soy sauce and miso), sardines, anchovies, and pickled herring.

Take fever few herb, one or two capsules a day. Make sure the product you buy specifies that the leaves are freeze-dried or that it is a standardized extract. This remedy reduces the frequency of migraine attacks in many people. You can stay on it indefinitely.

Take a course of biofeedback training, with the specific goal of learning to raise the temperature of your hands. Once you master this technique, it will be a tool you can use to abort a headache at the start of an attack.

Use allopathic medication sparingly and cautiously. Experiment with the prescription drug ergotamine to abort migraine attacks. It is a powerful constrictor of arteries that must be used at the very first sign of a headache to be effective. An under-the-tongue form is available, or use the suppository form if nausea is a problem. Your doctor will tell you how to use this drug.

Do not take the prescription drug Fiorinal on a regular basis. Doctors hand it out like candy to migraine sufferers without warning them that it contains an addictive downer (butalbital, a barbiturate) and caffeine in addition to aspirin.

Do not take prednisone or other steroids to prevent migraines. The dangers of steroids outweigh any benefits.

If you continue to have attacks, try to change the way you think about the headaches. Migraine is like an electrical storm in the head, violent and disruptive but leading to a calm, clear state at the end. It is not so bad to let yourself have a headache once in a while. Take coffee and aspirin or ergotamine, lie down in a dark room, and be with your headache. It is a good excuse to drop your usual routines and go inward, letting accumulated stress dissipate. As you come to accept migraine in this way and see it as serving a purpose in your life, you may not have to have it so frequently.