Headaches

The Basics

Most headaches are broken into two basic categories: those caused by irregular muscle contraction, and those caused by vascular problems (the alternating constriction and expansion of the arteries). Certain conditions such as brain tumors, arterial inflammation, and irritation of the facial nerves also cause headaches, but are extremely rare.

What kind of headache do you suffer from?

Tension Headaches:
Do you experience…

• Pain that begins in the back of the neck or base of the skull and spreads outwards with dull, throbbing/non-throbbing pain
• Headaches that often feel like a tight band around the head
• Constant pain (due to nerve compression within the muscles caused by poor posture, spinal misalignment, and physical/emotional stress)

The above symptoms represent tension headaches and are common to 90% of all headaches. They involve excessive tension in the muscles of the head/face/neck.

The second form of headache is called “vascular headaches,” and occur when the alternating constriction and expansion of the arteries of the head exerts pressure on arterial nerves and cause sharp pain. Less than 10% of all headaches are vascular.
Vascular headaches include migraines, cluster headaches and caffeine withdrawal headaches.

Migraines:

If you frequently experience the following symptoms, you are most likely suffering from migraines:

• Any of all of the following :lightheadedness, throbbing pain on one side of the head, nausea, vomiting, dizziness, blurred vision, hot and cold flashes and hypersensitivity to light and sound
• A few minutes before experiencing pain, do you have: blurred vision, muddled thinking, exhaustion, worry and numbness or tingling on one side of the body? (These act as warning signs)
  o The pain is most often severe and localized on one side of the head, usually involving the temple and the eye

Cluster Headaches:

Another type of vascular head, and the most painful form of headache, is the cluster headache. They are much rare than migraines and affect mostly men aged thirty to fifty, typically a Type A personality (hard-driving, striving, a smoker and drinker).

Do you experience:

• Excruciating pain concentrated around the eye, often accompanied by tears, facial flushing and congestion
• Headaches that occur in periodic clusters and can last anywhere from a week to several months, with pain lasting a few hours, subsiding then returning a few hours later

Caffeine Withdrawal Headaches:

Some people experience headaches as the body rids itself of the effects of caffeine addiction (caused by the consumption of coffee, soft drinks, certain teas, medications for weight control, colds, allergies, pain relief and menstrual aids.

Are you experiencing the following symptoms?

• A dull, throbbing pain on both sides of the head (not as intense as migraine and cluster headaches) after the consumption of caffeine
• Headaches which usually disappear once the body rids itself of the side effects from the caffeine

Often headache sufferers are unaware that the cause of their headache is caffeine and will continue to consume caffeine and experience headaches.

Other Types of Headaches:

Severe headache pain can result from more serious conditions, such as brain tumors or arterial inflammation. Symptoms of these headaches include seizures, projectile vomiting, and speech or personality changes, walking difficulty and increasing pain. Pain from idiopathic cranial neuralgia (caused by an irritation of one of the nerves in the face) causes a rare form of headache with short and stabbing pain around the jaw or mouth and can last several seconds to several minutes.

Why do you experience headaches?

Because there are so many different types of headaches, identifying their underlying causes can be challenging. Often headaches are treated as isolated problems, separate from the rest of the body; however, a chronic headache is a sure sign that there is a systemic disturbance in the body. Headaches are extremely important signals that should not be ignored because they can direct attention to other health problems, which may have otherwise been ignored.
The most common causes of headaches are stress (the no. one cause!!), eye strain, food allergies, dental factors, smoking, poor posture and painkillers (particularly those that contain caffeine).

How can you treat your headaches?

First, headache treatment depends on what caused it. The most common headaches are usually treated with painkillers; this may provide relief, but remember that the cause of the headache is not corrected. There are numerous treatment options available to you, but the only real solution is discovering the actual cause of the headache.

Your headache is telling you that there is a deeper problem within your body or within your life, give it the attention it deserves. Find the cause and you will find the solution.
Possible treatments include:

1. Painkillers

Although aspirin and other painkillers help alleviate headache pain, they usually provide only partial or temporary relief and fail to address the underlying conditions of the headaches.

2. Diet

Keeping a food journal can also be helpful to record the offending foods and the symptoms they cause. A recommended diet consists of eating foods high in nonallergenic complex carbohydrates and fiber, while avoiding simple and refined sugars, including dried fruit and fruit juices, chocolate, pastries, sodas and candy; food additives, colorings, preservatives, alcohol and caffeine. Margarine, shortenings and other sources of partially hydrogenated oils are also to be avoided, and saturated fats from red meat, dairy products, eggs and warm water fish are limited. These should be replaced with poultry, other types of fish, nongluten grains, and a variety of vegetables, fresh vegetable juices and fresh juice.

3. Nutritional Supplements

The above diet can be supplemented with a multivitamin/mineral formula, including the following:

• Vitamin C (2-8mg divided into three doses taken throughout the day)
• Vitamin E (400-800 IU)
• Niacinamide
• Vitamin B3 (500 milligrams)
• Calcium (600 mg)
• Magnesium (600 mg)
• Evening Primrose Oil (3 to 4 capsules at breakfast and dinner)
• MaxEPA, a form of fish oil
• The amino acid DL-phenylalanine (one 275-mg capsules taken 2-3 times daily between meals)

Note: Evening Primrose Oil and Max EPA are both sources of essential fatty acids, which supply the body with anti-inflammatory agents and act to keep the blood vessels from constricting.

4. Herbal Medicine

There are a variety of herbs that offer relief to headache sufferers.
I. Feverfew – has been shown to reduce the secretion of serotonin and the production of prostaglandin, an inflammatory agent that contributes to the onset of migraine headaches.
II. Ginkgo Biloba – inhibits blood clotting, a condition related to the serotonin release which causes migraines in susceptible people.
III. Ginger – reduces inflammation in the stomach and liver that can contribute to migraines.
IV. Cayenne pepper – useful for headache treatment and an excellent source of magnesium.

5. Relaxation Techniques

There are many different techniques for relaxation for the headache sufferer, such as meditation, deep relaxation, biofeedback, and yoga. One of the easiest relaxation techniques is slow, deep breathing for approximately five minutes. Most people do not realize that they usually take short, shallow breaths and that five minutes of slow deep breathing will trigger an involuntary relaxation response in muscles all over the body. Progressive muscle relaxation exercises can also help prevent nonvascular headaches. This is easily accomplished by tensing and then relaxing each of the muscle groups in the body.

6. Hydrotherapy

Hot bathes, saunas, heat lamps, and steam baths all reduce tension by increasing blood circulation. Furthermore, migraine headache can sometimes be stopped dead in its tracks with the combination of a hot shower followed quickly with an ice-cold one. Hot water may at first increase the migraine pain by temporarily dilating blood vessels, but this paves the way for fast relief when the vessels are constricted by the cold shower. For simple headache relief, try the cold applications of an ice pack to the head, along with a simultaneous hot foot or hand bath.

7. Chiropractic Care

Researchers have often noted the relationship between the spine and many types of headaches. For example, one study of 6000 long-term (2-25 years) headache sufferers revealed that a neck injury (whiplash, falls) was the most important factor in the cause of the headache and should be suspected in every nonspecific case of headache.

If you suffer from headaches, a chiropractic spinal check up is one of the best things you can do. Chiropractic’s safe, gentle methods have helped millions of headache sufferers over the years. Yet chiropractic does not claim to be a headache treatment and cure—it has a different approach to health care. Doctors of chiropractic free your body from the vertebral subluxation complex that has the power to destroy your health. It affects millions of us—it is a hidden epidemic. When freed of subluxations, your body works more efficiently to use its natural energies to heal itself.

A healthy spine can improve your life—see your chiropractor for periodic spinal checkups.

References:

C-Health. (2004). Headaches: Make It Stop. Retrieved from: http://chealth.canoe.ca/
features_detail.asp?news_id=50&subject_id=37

MayoClinic.com. (1998-2005). Headaches and Kids: More common-and complicated-than you think. Retrieved from: http://www.mayoclinic.com/invoke.cfm?objectid=5952B731-B446-4A17-9E0A2ABE0FA669C7.

Medline Plus. (2004). Cluster headaches. Retrieved from: http://nlm.hih.gov/medlineplus/
ency/article/000786.htm.

American Chiropractic Association. (2004). Have a Splitting Headache? Chiropractic Care Can Help. Retrieved from: http://www.amerchiro.org/media/tips/headache.shtml.

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