Migraines

Written by Julie Taylor

What is a migraine?

A migraine is a severe headache which may be associated with visual and other sensory disturbances and sensitivity to light and noise.  These headaches can last anything from a few hours to days - without medication - and are very painful.

Often sufferers experience an 'aura' which is a visual disturbance such as seeing spots, colors or lights.  Other sufferers may hear voices or other noises, smell something like toast burning, experience a tingling or numbness and other sensory disturbances.  Not all migraine sufferers report sensory disturbances and I discovered that you can have migraines without them (I thought the aura was what distinguished a migraine from a regular headache).

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What causes Migraines?

Whiplash was the cause of my own headaches and is a common cause.  Other causes are possibly hormonal, low blood sugar - really no-one is that sure.  Recently I discovered that another cause - possbily an important cause - of migraine is a lack of blood flow and oxygen delivery to the brain - rather like the brain is being suffocated.  This is a really good book on migraine headaches - a great A - Z of migraines - called What Your Doctor May Not Tell You About (TM): Migraines: The Breakthrough Program That Can Help End Your Pain by Alexander Mauskop and Barry Fox.

Sufferers report that low blood sugar, stress, tiredness, constant loud noise and the barometric pressure (heavy weather conditions) play a part in causing migraines.  Certain foods like chocolate, alcohol, cheese and MSG are also considered to be possible triggers and should be avoided if you are a regular migraine headache sufferer.  For headache medication that you don't have to go out and line up in the pharmacy for and save over $4, CLICK HERE - you get a pack of 2 bottles with 250 caplets of Exedrin Migraine.  Other over-the-counters are available too through this link.

The treatments that worked best for me were chiropractic and medical massage therapy.  In fact the massage therapy was pivotal.  After just 3 sessions - for me (and every person is different) - I experienced parts of the day painfree.  This was something that hadn't happened for me in a whole year.   However, without chiropractic, massage therapy was not so effective.  To this day my massage therapist can stimulate my shoulder/back in such a way that pain very similar to these headaches shoots up into my head.  He deliberately massages this area to prevent it becoming so tight again that it would cause the migraines to return.

Increasing oxygen to the brain can also relieve these headaches - and of course with oxygen there are no side effects.  Ask your doctor or naturopath to recommend ways available to you for increasing blood oxygen - and there may be a hyperbaric oxygen centre near you.

Exercise increases the amount of oxygen we take into our bodies and can therefore help to keep migraines at bay.  Of course when you're actually suffering from a migraine there's little chance of doing anything more strenuous than getting from your bed to the bathroom and back.

How I Treated My Own Migraine Headaches

Personally I don't like taking drugs - I don't like the 'spacy' effect that most of them seem to have on me and I don't like the idea of using medication long term. It was very difficult to lift the headaches in the first place but provided I am diligent about maintenance I can keep them at bay.  Even now, 3 years after my whiplash, if I am not vigilant in maintaining my massage and chiropractic and all of the other treatments I use, my migraines come back.  Try this great workbook of trigger points for migraines called (surprisingly enough!) Trigger Point Therapy for Headaches & Migraines: Your Self-Treatment Workbook for Pain Relief by Valerie Delaune.

I feel strongly that all pain is an important signal to us that something is wrong and needs fixing and I would rather find out what it is and fix it rather than just mask the pain.  Ice packs; pain relieving sprays; dark, cool, quiet rooms where I could lie down and either sleep or just lie quietly - sometimes for hours and days - were the best treatments for me.  Massage and chiropractic were also essential - and I must admit that after a year of constant migraines there were times when I thought I would go insane if they continued for another day.

As my migraine headaches happened almost daily for about a year I try to keep to a strategy to relieve them in the long term and daily walks by the beach (with deep breathing) are part of that strategy, along with vitamins, alkaline water, chiropractic and massage.

There's a lot of information here - take heart.  Take one step at a time.  Healing and feeling better each day is a process.  One that is definitely within your reach.

Good luck!  Julie