The ONLY Treatment That Saved Her From Chronic Migraines
Chronic migraines as well as other types of headaches are one of the most common ailments seen in the doctor’s office. Drug treatments are usually effective, but people who suffer from headaches will often try a wide variety of alternative treatments. Since the most common causes of headaches is chronic stress such as tension-type headaches and migraines, alternative treatments with goals of stress reduction are often considered.
These treatments including relaxation techniques and biofeedback are often effective for some patients suffering from headaches. Other nontraditional treatments to consider are massage, acupuncture, diets and herbs since they may also be effective to varying degrees.
Non-drug Treatments
The Case for Acupuncture
An example of the relief found in acupuncture was reported by Margarita Gokun Silver in The Washington Post.
Margarita described her suffering as beginning with a drowsy feeling of fatigue that made her feel as if she hadn’t slept in days. At first, her eyelids felt as if they weighed as much as an oil tanker. A few minutes later, her pain began. The pain began at one eyebrow and soon spread to the other. Next, it invaded both her temples and moved on to the top of her head egging across her scalp.
For Margarita, over-the-counter painkillers were totally ineffective. As lights and sounds worsened the migraine, she made it to her bathroom with great difficulty only to throw up her entire lunch. Then, her suffering continued as she laid in bed in a fetal position and unable to open her eyes.
After a visit to her physician, the result was a prescription for pain-relief pills for migraines. At a cost of $900, the pills simply made her sick. Then, she turned to the Internet and tried 30 Botox shots, stopped drinking wine, Canadian painkillers, yoga and painting. While doing yoga and painting, she was migraine free; but as soon as she stopped, the migraines were back again.
Then after a recommendation from a student at yoga, it was on to acupuncture. A month of treatments and eight sessions later, the migraines began to weaken in intensity and slowdown in frequency. After two months, she cut down her sessions to once a week. At the end of five months after she started acupuncture, she felt basically cured. She was happy to report no more fatigue. Now, she may occasionally get a migraine, but she now knows she can again turn to acupuncture for relief.
Studies have shown that acupuncture can lower the number of headaches a patient experiences as well as ease the pain of migraine headaches. Acupuncture is performed by an expert inserting tiny needles at specific points such on the forehead of this woman for the relief of migraine headaches.
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Biofeedback
Biofeedback has been found to reduce both the duration and the frequency of headaches in most studies. It has actually been found to be as effective as many drugs used for relief of chronic headaches and is recommended for early treatment for recurrent migraines.
A person suffering from a headache can be helped to recognize when he or she needs to apply stress-reduction skills through biofeedback. This is done by providing information or feedback about your skin temperature, muscle tension, brain waves as well as other vital signs to you. By attaching small metal sensors or electrodes to your skin, your skin temperature or amount of muscle tension is measured.
The information is relayed to you as a tone you can hear or a blinking light. With biofeedback training, you learn how to respond to the feedback information by relaxing your muscles. These actions often provide the reduction of headache pain as well as how often you get migraine headaches.
Techniques of Relaxation Therapy
Progressive muscle relaxation, relaxation response, and deep breathing are all techniques considered to be relaxation therapy for chronic migraines. Applying a cold compress to your forehead can provide pain relief during attacks as well.
Essential Oils
Aromatherapy is an approach to treating migraine headaches with origins in herbal medicine. When essential oils are applied to the skin or smelled, it is believed the perception of pain can be altered and relaxation can be encouraged. It is further believed that tension headaches can be relieved through the use of ginger, lavender or peppermint oils. By massaging small amounts of any of these oils into your temples, you can relieve your tension headaches. The effectiveness of this therapy remains to be determined through further research.
In conclusion, even though non-drug treatments for chronic migraines and headaches can be effective, one very important consideration is to determine the triggers of your headaches. For instance, some people will trigger a headache with certain foods such as chocolate, citrus fruit or red wine. Other common headache triggers are stress, fatigue and sleep deprivation. By keeping a diary of your personal triggers, you can develop of list of things you must avoid to live free of chronic migraines and headaches.
