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Frequent Headaches

September 2nd, 2010 Dan Hicks No comments

If an individual has recurrent headaches, that’s far more than 3 per week, and repeatedly takes around the counter medication for these headaches, the amount of over-the-counter medicine they are taking could actually be causing the headaches. When this happens, the headache is referred to being a rebound headache. Frequent head aches can outcome from improper dosing of over-the-counter medicines as the overdosing can be the end result of the medication interfering with the brains capability to correctly sense agony. This worsens the headache ache, which in turn leads to a vicious cycle of dependency and withdrawing.

frequent headaches

Other sorts of frequent severe headaches include transformed migraines, chronic tension headache, hemicrania continua, and new day-to-day persistent headaches. As the name suggests new every day persistent headaches are severe headaches that occur in people who have had no previous history of severe headaches. These folks may unexpectedly experience sudden discomfort day-to-day or as a outcome of another illness including a viral infection.

Hemicrania continua is a terrible chronic kind of headaches that causes severe soreness to one side of the persons’ face. These severe headaches have two separate sets of signs and symptoms depending on the person. Some people have cold or allergy like signs or symptoms accompanying these regular headaches, even though others have far more of the migraine kind reaction. These headaches often last for a day or more, while some people have signs and symptoms for months at a time with pain free months in between episodes. The difference in between these and transformed migraines is thought to be that hemicrania continua sufferers don’t normally have a background of migraines.

Transformed migraines are often a migraine kind of rebound headaches where overmedicating has brought on a dependency withdrawal cycle which ultimately brings about a lot more regular head aches and severe discomfort. The most effective solution to this trouble is to seek a doctor’s assistance in slowly weaning off the medication and resuming a healthier dosing cycle. If not caused by medicine, other physical or mental conditions might contribute to the regular reoccurrence of these repeated head aches.

headache and you

Chronic tension headaches are often an evolved kind of tension headache; the evolution can take place simply because of both mental and physical changes. An injury could have lasting everyday effects on a person who already suffers from tension headaches, as can unusual amounts of stress, depression, or numerous other ailments could have the same lasting results. The rebound headache dilemma can also be related back to tension headaches, as more than medicating begins to cause far more difficulties. These frequent head aches are ideal addressed with a doctor to produce the ideal plan for each individual.

Headaches and Nausea

August 23rd, 2010 Dan Hicks No comments

Headaches and nausea are two of the most common forms of illness and are about equal in terms of the feeling of wretchedness they can impose. Unfortunately the medications used in bringing relief often have side-effects that rival the original complaint for all the discomfort and suffering they bring.

headaches and nausea

These medications mostly work on the basis of numbing the sensitivity of the body’s nervous system in the areas affected. This is actually counter-productive, as the pain and discomfort of headaches and nausea are the body’s way of sounding the alarm and forcing the sufferer to take remedial action.

For example, most headaches are caused by tension in the neck and shoulder muscles. This causes the blood vessels carrying vital oxygen to the nerve cells in the brain to constrict and thereby impede the flow – a situation that cannot be allowed to continue for long if some kind of damage is to be avoided. Hence the body’s alarm call in the form of a headache.

The same principle applies to nausea, which can be caused by nervousness or a stomach upset, or through having swallowed certain drugs or alcohol. It’s the body’s call to slow down and deal with the disorder before doing anything else.

If there is a more serious cause then your headaches or nausea will persist or recur, in which case you should consult a doctor or physician.

Most headaches and nausea, though, are not that serious, but they are nonetheless distressing and even painful, and it is in any event in your interests to deal with the root cause, rather than just the symptoms. The following exercises will help you do that.

1. Relief from headaches.

You have to dissolve the tension through relaxation, and open up those constricted blood vessels. This double exercise involves potent points on either side of your head. Find the two points in your eye hollows at the top near the bridge of your nose, and press them using your left thumb and index finger.

At the same time find the hollow in the center of the back of your neck, at the base of your skull, and press this point with your right thumb. Relax in a sitting position with your head tilted back, and breathe deeply and regularly through the nose, or inhale through the nose and exhale through the mouth, whichever is the more natural for you.

Do this for one to two minutes at a time, until your headache subsides. Try to banish all worries and anxieties from your mind and think of something comforting. If you can, play some soothing music at low volume while you do this natural headache relief.

2. Relief from nausea.

You’ll have to try this exercise for yourself in order to appreciate how effective it is. Find the points on each leg that are about two and a half to three inches below the knee and a finger-width to the outside of the shin bone. It’s the point where a muscle flexes when you move your foot up and down.

Briskly rub up and down with your fists, or alternatively press into those points for thirty seconds to a minute at a time. You will find that this brings relief from nausea, indigestion and fatigue.

The important thing to remember about headaches and nausea is that they are usually the body’s way of forcing you to attend to its needs, that you may have been neglecting, and all it needs is a little TLC.

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Ocular Migraine

August 22nd, 2010 Dan Hicks No comments

You’re sitting at your desk and suddenly begin to feel odd-a strange feeling behind your eyes and your head just doesn’t feel quite right. You begin to notice that your eyesight seems a bit off and your balance isn’t what it was a moment ago. What’s happening? If you’ve had this sensation before, then you probably know what’s coming. It’s migraine time.

For the next several hours you’re going to be in bed with a pillow over your eyes to block out the light and praying your kids don’t come screaming in and bang on the bed because you’re sure you just might throw up if they do. Migraines come in all shapes and sizes and this an ocular migraine. Did you know that you can have an ocular migraine? Ocular means just what you think it means-affecting your eyes in some manner It might not hurt as much as a full-blown migraine that causes you to be photo-sensitive (light hurts you) but it can be frightening if you’ve never experienced one before.

Those who suffer from an ocular migraine say it’s like having Christmas lights flashing in their eyes. Auras generally last 5 to 20 minutes and can give you things like vertigo (motion sickness or dizziness), imbalance, confusion or numbness; but most auras consist of visual disturbances such as partial vision loss, the appearance of ’special effects” and distortion of objects. Occasionally the visual effects are stunning, from flashing lights, complex color patterns and shapes (e.g., triangles and dots) to seeing floaters in your eyes. A floater is when they see tiny objects appearing to float across their eyes. An individual might also see shimmering or zig zag lines in the peripheral vision and blurriness in central vision. This obviously interferes with a person’s normal daily routine. If you can’t see well, you can’t work and you most certainly cannot drive.

Another kind of migraine occurs with an aura, but it only happens to one eye. Patients report that their vision is like looking through watery glass, or it has pieces or chunks missing from their visual field. Some say it’s as though they’re looking at an old television with very poor reception.

Although it’s frightening, these ocular disturbances do not cause any permanent damage to a person’s vision and these auras are generally followed by a migraine. If you have an ocular migraine, or aura or a visual disturbance of any kind, you need to see your doctor to rule out any other more dangerous problems that may be causing your auras.

Migraines Without Headaches

August 21st, 2010 Dan Hicks No comments

Migraines are often though as always accompanied by head splitting pain. But there are migraines without headaches, also called as silent migraines. This is a common migraine type although it is not very popular. It is often triggered by stress, lack of sleep, alcohol, among plenty of others. It is also known as the migraine aura but without headache.

Interestingly, silent migraine usually takes place later in life. Men are also more prone to experience it than women. Migraine aura pertains to other symptoms that go along with migraine, usually referring to visual problems due to migraines. These include seeing zig zag lines, flashing lights, dizziness and vertigo. There are actually a lot of possible symptoms that can hit a person such as slurred speech, numbness, acute pain in different parts of the body like in the face or on the skin. Normally, these are more acute than in other types of migraine.

Since silent migraine is not accompanied by headaches, it can be very hard to diagnose. Often times, it is misdiagnosed. This is aggravated by the misconception that migraines only occur with headaches. There are times that instead of silent headache, hypoglycemia, inner ear disorders fibromyalgia and other conditions are diagnosed instead of silent migraine. However, the problem with migraines without headaches is that to be able to actually diagnose it, other conditions and disorders have to be ruled out. Symptoms are also not that particularly helpful. For example, having something wrong with the vision can also be because of some eye conditions. But the important thing is that the possibility of a condition being a silent migraine should always be kept.

But there are things that can be done to be able to diagnose migraine without headache correctly. One is to have a through and accurate family history medical records for a doctor to refer to. It has to be remembered that migraine is a disease that can be passed on from one member of a family to the next one. Cases of migraines in relatives and other similar looking cases can lead to diagnosis of silent migraine. Without an accurate and thorough family history, a doctor may not suspect that silent migraine may possibly be the culprit. Another thing to do is to observe the symptoms and other things related to the condition. It is best if to be able to describe the situation and symptoms to the doctor. Even the seemingly mundane and small things like irritability and euphoria, yawning, stiff neck can be things that should be included in the session with a specialist such as a doctor. It is best to write these things down in a daily diary of sorts.

Silent migraine, despite the absence of the headache, is a migraine. Its treatment procedures are just like the ones for other forms of migraines. These procedures can include medication such as aspirin or the common over the counter medicines such as Advil or Tylenol. These medications are fast acting and provide immediate relief. These medications can also be consulted with doctors and hopefully lessen the effects of silent migraine.

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Is There a Cure to Migraine?

August 18th, 2010 Dan Hicks No comments

Cure to migraine unfortunately, continues to evade medical researchers and scientists. Despite global and technological advancement to cure other serious illnesses, migraine still needs a long way to go. However, all hope is not yet lost. Through continuous efforts of world experts and health practitioners, migraine sufferers may now be able to live each day with less head pains and enjoy a more normal life.

There are two ways to battle migraine symptoms. The first is called preventive treatment wherein the person may take medications to minimize migraine occurrences. The other is called pain-relieving or abortive treatments which aim to lessen the pain and symptoms experienced during migraine episodes. Continuous usage of either treatment is not a cure to migraine, but an effective method to handle migraines.

When migraine frequency is more than twice a week, acute treatment may need to be employed. This may come both in form of symptoms prevention or pain-specific treatments. Some available forms of symptoms prevention are beta blockers, anticonvulsants and calcium channels blockers. Pain specific treatments are usually acetaminophen and other non-prescription drugs. Non-traditional approaches such as acupuncture and head massages are also considered acute treatment methods. The cure to migraine, in the form of acute treatment procedures may not be advisable to pregnant women, children or adolescents and persons with other conditions like heart, liver and kidney problems other than migraine disease.

Some treatments may have side effects that may be critical and worsen the current condition of migraine sufferers. Several of the migraine triggers identified are stress, skipping meals and sometimes, even weather and flashing lights. Alcohols and some food additives also contribute to the rate of migraine occurrences. In general, women are more at risk in having migraines due to menstrual period. Some women also note that crying may also lead to migraines. The cure to migraine does not eliminate these triggers, rather addresses their effects so that the person may be exposed to these factors yet may not have this hindering illness.

The best time to seek cure to migraine is when one or more of the following circumstances occur: the migraine sufferer experiences worsening condition, the frequency increases, over-the-counter pain relievers does not help, holistic approaches such as cold or hot compress does not mitigate pain and weakness after migraine events. Like with any illnesses, self-medication is not recommended. Medicines, in general have certain effects that may decrease or increase the condition of migraines.

One way to identify if the person needs acute treatment as a temporary cure to migraine is by making a journal on symptoms and triggers on the migraine episode. The person should try to be as specific or as descriptive as possible. Gathering information is crucial to better understand the migraine. This will also help the doctors to get a better picture of the migraine in order to provide a better and more specific treatment. Each person may have similar or distinct indicators and as such, general treatments may not be as effective to everyone.

How to Avoid Pregnancy Migraines

August 11th, 2010 Dan Hicks No comments

Pregnancy migraines are very common, especially during the first three months. This may be attributed to changes in hormone levels such as estrogen. These hormonal changes may worsen or reduce the severity of migraine. Despite the gravity of symptoms, migraines do not pose threat to the fetus’ safety.

Pregnancy migraine is found to diminish after the trimester period. During migraine events, the woman may experience some dizziness and light sensitivity. Other symptoms such as visual disturbances may occur at the onset of migraine but is usually short in interval. Migraine events however, can last to anywhere from 30 minutes to 72 hours.

There are ways on how to minimize the effects of migraine. Some non-prescription drugs may be used to relieve headaches such as ibuprofen. Caution is necessary when taking medications since some drugs are believed to have adverse effects on the brain development of babies while in their mother’s womb. Generally, it is not advisable for pregnant women to take medicines, even for other conditions to prevent drug-related side effects that may be critical to both women and her child. Seeking medical attention will ensure the safest method in dealing with migraine.

Alternative remedies are available to help future mommies such as taking cold showers or placing ice packs on the back of the neck. Since some women become sensitive to light, it is also a good idea to take a nap during migraine episodes. Head massages will also help to take away some pain. Acupuncture is another effective method and is generally acceptable as not risky or detrimental to the fetus.

Other techniques such as pre-natal yoga and meditation may also help prevent pregnancy migraine. Regular light exercises such as walking and stretching are also found to be effective. It is important for the women to identify which method suits her best since not all treatments are as useful to everybody.

The frequency of pregnancy migraine may be reduced if the woman is less exposed to trigger marks such as stress and emotional upheaval. Other known factors that contribute to migraines are foods with additive, caffeine, and even some wines. Some women also find weather conditions, skipping meals, strong odors, sleeping disturbances and flashing lights as migraine triggers.

Soon-to-be mommies may understand pregnancy migraines better by making a “Migraine Diary” aside from her “Baby’s Diary”. Write down the experiences brought by migraine episodes and the possible reason for its occurrence. Try to be as specific as possible. Note also all medications taken, including dosage levels and the date and time of intake. It is also important for pregnant women to talk about her experiences to her partner, close friends and families. Knowing that they are always ready to support and pour their love will make her stronger and more capable of dealing with pregnancy.

Pregnancy is an overwhelming yet moving experience that a woman may go through. It is more important to exert her efforts in taking care of herself and her baby, without the added inconvenience of pregnancy migraine.

Help For Headaches and Migraines

July 29th, 2010 Dan Hicks No comments

Having a headache can certainly happen to anyone, even to a young child. The issue is when they occur over and over again and it becomes a health issue that is interfering with your daily life. They can have moderate levels of pain and increase to very severe amounts of pain that can be unbearable.

Headaches are vastly different than migraines and should be treated with the correct found in one spot of the head or temples and comes and goes within a few hours at the absolute most. A migraine is pain in the head that lasts hours to days and causes severe pain, sensitivity to light and sounds and even vomiting. They both have the ability to distract you from your normal activities at work or school and can be treated with pain medications in most cases.

Pain medications can be in the form of over the counter drugs that are inexpensive and can be taken without the direction of a doctor. They are generally formulated with acetaminophen or ibuprofen and can be taken to begin curing your pain in less than one hour. Do not take the medication more than directed on the packaging and do not continue taking it for days without the approval of your family doctor. Even over the counter medications can become very addictive and your body becomes dependent on them making it even more challenging to get rid of future headaches. If you continue to experience them more than once a week and without any reason why they seem to be occurring, speak with your doctor or a specialist. You may need to get a head scan just to be proactive and check everything over and your physician will go over your results and review any further treatments you can engage in to help stop your pain. They may also suggest prescription medications in the form of pills, patches or even injections. These are ones that you can administer yourself at home and can be taken for years if you find one that works well at avoiding your pain.
Mexican online pharmacy
Things to avoid for those that suffer frequent bouts with headaches or migraines are smoking, reading without correction such as squinting, being outdoors in direct contact with the sun or working with strong chemicals all day. If certain smells or foods give off bad reactions and you know your body simply does not agree with them, avoid them to prevent your headaches. Get ample rest as well, even though that may seem as if it may pose a challenge some evenings, make it a priority. Eating a proper diet will also help your pain and lessen the frequency of your headaches. Along with that diet, you also want to be inclined to exercise a few days per week to not only stay healthy but to have more efficient blood circulation to prevent migraines and headaches. After all of the at home options for relieving pain do not do the trick, speak with a specialist and begin your journey curing your headaches through extensive treatments.

Categories: Headaches Tags: ,

Migraine Home Remedies

July 19th, 2010 Dan Hicks No comments

Migraine home remedies are effective methods and techniques used to manage certain types of migraines. Migraine is a common sickness and can affect any gender, or age. It may strike several times a month or more. Migraines may also incapacitate a person from doing his normal routine work. The cause of migraine remains unknown but there are several ways on how to mitigate the symptoms and effects of migraines.

Some migraine types may have associated symptoms like nausea and temporary vision problems. Vision impairments may be short-lasted such as small blind spots. This is also known as migraines with aura. Some migraine sufferers may become sensitive to flashing and bright lights, excessive noise or movements. Others may develop abdominal pains instead of headaches. Migraine home remedies may target each or all of these symptoms. Migraines can also be inherited.

Generally, there are two traditional ways on handling migraines. The first is thru prevention or also known as prophylaxis migraines. This includes eliminating migraine trigger markers or by taking medications specifically designed to avoid blood arteries inflammation. When arteries dilate, the blood flow pattern changes and the usual after-effect are headaches. Migraine triggers may come from varying sources like physical over-exertion, emotional upheavals and stress. Other factors that may set off migraines are wines and alcohols, foods with additives, some artificial sweeteners and caffeine. Not eating at the right time may also cause migraines. Migraine home remedies as preventive approach are breathing exercises like yoga and pilates and daily intake of enough vitamin and minerals supplements such as magnesium.
Indian medications
The second way is called abortive treatments. This method is resorted to during migraine episodes. Most of the abortive treatments target headache pains as this is the most common indication of migraines. Some migraine home remedies include applying cold compress at the nape or back of the head and by taking cold showers. Pills that contain acetaminophen may be taken to relieve headaches. Having a nap will also diminish other migraine symptoms.

Some herbal medicines are also considered as non-traditional migraine home remedies. The plant Feverfew has been used since early 1980s as a substitute over prescription drugs. Acupuncture has also been proven against pains. Head massages may also help and improve blood circulation, thus minimizing headaches.

To know if the person needs to have migraine home remedies, it is important to gather real time data. The person may write down the migraine symptoms as they come, including their severity level and rate of frequency. If migraines occur for more than eight times a month, then it is recommended that the person to seek additional help from health practitioners and specialists.

Migraine home remedies, both as traditional and non-traditional approach can help a migraine sufferers. However, when applications of these remedies prove not to be enough, then acute treatment methods may need to be used. There is no proven single cure for migraines. As such, managing migraines remain to be the most effective way. This may help the person to live a regular life.

Headaches – Tension and Migraine

May 27th, 2010 Dan Hicks No comments

Why does my head hurt again? I didn’t do anything, I didn’t drink too much, I didn’t hurt myself, but my head is still killing me… why?

This is an extremely common complaint that I hear in the office. People dealing with constant headaches and not understanding why they won’t go away. Fortunately, there is always a cause of headaches and it’s not because “it’s just how I am” as many people think. There are skeletal, muscular, hormonal, nutritional and neurological causes to headaches and once we find out where the headache is coming from we can take steps to cure them.

headaches migraine

The most common type of headache is the tension headache which is caused by muscle tightness, skeletal joint tightness or nerve irritation. These headaches are normally seen in people who are stressed out, have a demanding job or personal life, and in people who sit in an office all day. They are caused by the body being under constant stress. If the body is always under stress, physical or emotional, it usually responds by causing muscle spasms or tight spinal joints in the neck. Luckily for people who suffer from tension headaches we can quickly find the cause and fix the problem. Here’s a quick test for you to perform to find out if you suffer from tension headaches: With your thumbs, find the base of your skull. You should feel 2 bumps on either side, now push on those bumps and then move an inch lower and push on those spots. If either spots are tender or give you a headache you probably suffer from tension headaches. Another way to test is by pushing on your shoulder areas, if they are very tight, painful, or cause you to get a headache then you probably suffer from tension headaches.

Another very prominent type of headache is a migraine headache. These are normally caused by lack of oxygen getting to the brain. Here’s how it works: When your brain doesn’t get enough oxygen the blood vessels expand to allow for more blood flow into the brain and thus more oxygen. This is how your body reacts to a decrease in oxygen, it tries to open things up and get more oxygen to the area, it’s a normal and highly effective process. However, wrapped around those expanding blood vessels are nerves which don’t appreciate being pushed on and they react with pain. This is how you get a migraine, the blood vessels are doing their job and expanding but they’re expanding into nerves that give you a migraine. So what’s a person to do? Well the easy answer is to get more oxygen throughout the day… but how.

In the office we deal with migraines by enhancing the amount of oxygen each person takes in. This is normally done by adjustments to the thoracic spine and rib cage. These adjustments allow the lungs to expand more than they normally would, thus increasing the amount of oxygen in the system. After a few adjustment the body can start to take in more oxygen with each breath and the frequency of migraines will decrease.

skull headregions

Other causes of headaches and migraines are hormonal or nutritional. Both can be dealt with in a similar fashion. For some people it’s just finding out what food triggers the migraine. For hormonal migraines, such as those felt during certain times in a woman’s menstrual cycle a more advanced treatment is usually needed. These women normally need to balance out the hormones in their bodies (many menstrual migraine sufferers also suffer from fibrocystic breast disease, fibroids, endometriosis or acne, all signs of a hormonal imbalance). Luckily there is emerging evidence that diet can help to balance hormones. When we put these people on a diet filled with micronutrients, vitamins, and minerals they experience amazing results.

This is a brief summary of certain types of headaches but the take home message is this: You don’t have to live with headaches. Drugs don’t cure your headaches, they just make them manageable. But they can be fixed when we find out where they’re coming from. Everyone should be able to live pain free and if you suffer from chronic headaches there is hope.

Headache Prevention

May 13th, 2010 Dan Hicks No comments

You all know that feeling, congestion, runny nose, headache and a general feeling of having been run over by a tractor.

A headache can be a feature of a cold or flu. When we are attacked by a virus one of the main things that is happening in our bodies is a strong inflammatory response. This is why we can be full of aches and pains.
Hyperspermia
If you were to see an example of your live blood under a microscope then it would be full off fine hair like structures called clustered spicules. These are produced by your liver when it is stressed by the virus.

A similar response can be seen if you eat a fatty diet. This is one explanation for liver driven headaches.

Inflammation causes swelling and pain, that is what we experience as a headache. This process can be occurring all through your body. That is why you can feel as if you are aching from head to toe.

Many of the cold and flu over the counter remedies will provide an analgesic effect, to reduce the pain. There are however a few things you can do to help yourself.

This kind of headache will be accompanied by eye sensitivity. So the obvious thing to do is avoid eye strain. Too much reading, too much Television or too much computer use will make your flu headache worse.

If you have to keep working and using a computer, you might consider wearing sunglasses. Even if you are inside! Hey you might look weird and you may receive some strange comments from co-workers, but it may be the difference between being able to work or not.

Sometimes the pain killers won’t do the job, well enough, so rather than suffering eye and head pain then put the sunglasses on and keep working. Even better don’t explain your actions, just keep people guessing.

It is really important to keep well hydrated to avoid a worse headache. Plenty of water and warm drinks such as lemon and honey will save you from de-hydration.

Another aspect of a cold that will drive your headache is sinus congestion. Those small spaces which are designed to make your skull lighter will become inflamed. Again you will experience swelling and pain, as the tissue which lines the sinus cavity becomes swollen.

This will cause the classic sinus headache. 3 things are important for relief.

1. Anti inflammatory.

2. Hot steam inhalation with some essential oils including pine and aniseed.

3. Massage of the sore points alone your eye brows, down each side of your nose and under your cheek bones.