Migraine Pain?
“Headaches are the primary complaint of Americans. Citizens spend about six billion dollars per year on pain medications and over-the-counter formulas for relief. It is estimated that yearly, approximately 90% of men and 95% of women suffer from headaches painful enough to send them to doctors’ offices. The source of the headaches is not located in the brain itself as there are no sensory nerves in the brain. Pain placed inside the skull is rare and usually due to tumors or other disorders; the pain is a secondary symptom. Most headache pain begins outside the skull in the nerves leading to the muscles and blood vessels around the face, scalp and neck
The most common types of headaches include migraines, tension, and cluster. Often, a person can experience a combination of headaches. But headaches may also be caused by other underlying problems like sinus or allergies.
Food or stress can trigger migraines. Migraines are often called avoidance headaches. Migraine headaches produce a throbbing pain on one side of the head, but the pain can spread to the entire head. Often nausea and sometimes vomiting occur. Visual symptoms are common. Facial tingling or numbness may occur. Other symptoms include extreme sensitivity to noise and lights. USually the attacks last from 4 to 72 hours without treatment, and commonly interfere with normal activity to some extent. Migraine sufferers may look pale and feel cold. Sometimes the victim gets a forewarning of an attack with malaise, fatigue, and mood changes. It is not uncommon for the sufferer to feel exhausted and mentally foggy for hours after an attack.
Triggers can include stress, anxiety, anger, depression, menstruation, use of oral contraceptives or hormone replacement drugs. Foods like dairy, MSG, eggs, anything pickled, alcohol, coffee, teas, chocolate, wheat, or tomatoes are common. Any food can be a culprit. Other causes can come from one’s environment like, perfumes, paint, new carpet, glues, fumes or other strong chemical odors. Missing or delaying a meal can trigger a migraine episode, flickering fluorescent lights, sunlight, travel between time zones, loud noises, bone structural misalignment, muscle spasms with trigger points, alteration of one’s sleep cycle, certain types of drugs and low magnesium levels.
Tension or muscle-contraction headaches are the most common form of headaches. Tension headaches account for about 75% of all headache pain and are usually in response to stress, fatigue or environmental factors. Pain is often felt in the forehead due to muscle contractions of head, neck, back or facial muscle. This forehead pain can often begin at the base of the skull. The muscles of the upper back or neck contract, cousin the pain to refer to the head which is frequently described as a tight feeling, like a bad or vise around the head. The neck and shoulders often feel sore, and the person can develop trigger points in the muscles which can develop into scar tissue within the muscle. These trigger points cause the muscle to go into contraction from stress, anxiety, overuse, poor posture or staying in the same position for an extended period of time.
The most important supplement for 90% of headaches is magnesium. Magnesium chloride most resembles the magnesium within the body.
Cluster headaches can cause severe one-sided head pain, usually centering around the eye. Other symptoms include excessive tearing, drooping eyelid, stuffy or runny nose, all on the side of the pain. Restlessness may also occur. This type of pain can be so severe that the sufferer bangs their head against the wall. Cluster headaches can last from 30 to 90 minutes but can last for hours.
Other types of headaches can be from sinus, from TMJ( temporomandibular joint) dysfunction, glaucoma, hypertension or raised blood pressure, and occipital neuralgia headaches (usually found in senior populations).
If you have persistent pain that does not respond to rest and treatment, consult your quality healthcare provider. If you experience a headache accompanied by severe pain, drowsiness, confusion, mood swings, visual disturbance, weakness or paralysis, consult a physician immediately.
There are some supports that have provided relief. Some amino acids, DLPA and GABA as well as herbal preparations of ashwagandha and boswellia and vitamin B6 may help. A word of caution, DO NOT if you have PKU, are pregnant, lactating, have a history of melanoma or if you take MAO inhibitor or tricyclic antidepressants. Boswella, an herb from India can reduce inflammation and swelling, causing pain. Riboflavin taken daily may help prevent migraine though it may take up to 2 months to notice a difference according to Dr. Stephen Silberstein, director of Jefferson Headache Center at Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia. For migraines triggered by allergic reaction, taking Alka-Seltzer Gold can bring immediate relief neutralizing the allergic mechanism within the body. Accuband magnets can be used on trigger points on the neck and upper back to relieve pain. These magnets are tiny but powerful applied as an adhesive patch which can help alleviate pain instantly. A word of caution though, do not use it if you are pregnant, have a pacemaker or other implanted medical device. B complex daily may help. And NAC (N-acetylcysteine) can aid the sinus/congestion headache.
Other remedies that may offer relief are elevating the head above the waist and applying ice packs to the base of the neck and upper shoulders alternating 20 minutes on followed by 30 minutes off. Be sure to avoid using a heat source for muscle-contraction or migraine headaches. And for sinus headache pain, applying a moist, hot towel to sinuses can facilitate sinus drainage. Using a mixture of saline and MSM in a nasal irrigation tool may also offer some assistance as well.”
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Heal with Amino Acids and Nutrients by Billie J. Sahley and Katherine M. Birkner