HeadacheNatural Medicine |
Physician developed and monitored. Original source: www.neurologychannel.com
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Important Facts
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Natural Medicine
What causes headaches? The most common cause of regular headaches is muscle tension caused by spinal misalignment. A simple chiropractic evaluation and adjustment is often all it takes to relieve recurrent headaches.
Paradoxical as it may seem, a surprising percentage of headaches may be caused by headache medication. The "rebound effect" of analgesic and ergotomine compounds has been implicated as a contributing factor for sufferers of daily headaches. Discuss this phenomenon with your prescribing doctor if you are taking more than 30 analgesic tablets a month or if you regularly use ergotamine derivatives. Withdrawal from these products can temporarily make headaches worse, but eliminating these products altogether may ultimately mean far fewer headaches.
How what you eat can give you headaches When exploring the causes of headaches, the easiest place to start is diet. Food reactions are a significant contributor to headaches and some improvement, if not complete remission, can usually be achieved by eliminating problematic dietary items. The elimination/challenge trial described below is a good way to identify food reactions that may be causing headaches.
The elimination/challenge trial This traditional naturopathic procedure has been accurately diagnosing food-related symptoms for many years and continues to be the standard for identifying food sensitivities.
There are 2 ways to approach an elimination/challenge. The first and more difficult but more effective route is outlined as option #1 below. It involves eliminating all the major suspects that usually cause problems and then slowly, over time, adding them back into the diet one-by-one. It provides clear insight into the impact of foods.
The second option is reserved for those who already have a good idea about what foods are problematic for them. The suspected food group is eliminated until symptoms clear and then added back into the diet to determine if symptoms return.
Symptoms associated with food challenges may not be the same as those experienced before the elimination process. For example, patients who experienced chronic sinus pain prior to embarking on the elimination/challenge may find that upon challenging the suspect food causes stomach pain. This doesn't mean the food group being challenged does not cause sinus pain, rather that the body may react a bit differently when re-introduced to the offending agent.
Symptoms that can occur on a food challenge include: headache (may be brief or prolonged), nausea, sleepiness, irritability, depression, anxiety, excitability, stomach ache, sharp abdominal pain, sore throat, stuffy nose, runny nose, itchy nose or eyes, tightness in the chest, skin rash or itching, facial flushing, red ears, muscle twitching, insomnia, and fatigue. There are as many ways of manifesting sensitivities as there are people who suffer from them.
Elimination/challenge is the most effective way to determine food intolerance. It also provides an excellent opportunity to explore and understand your relationship with food.
Option #1 involves an elimination that lasts from 2 to 6 weeks, followed by a challenge. The elimination involves managing your diet based on the following criteria.
Eliminate all suspect foods:
- wheat products (e.g., pasta, bread, processed foods)
- dairy products (e.g., milk, cheese, yogurt, cream)
- corn products (e.g., tortillas, chips, polenta, cornstarch)
- peanuts (peanut butter, peanut oil)
- soy products (e.g., tofu, tempeh, soy milk, soy protein powder, soy oil)
- glutinous grains (e.g., rye, barley, oats, spelt, kamut, seitan, hops)
- beef
- chocolate
- sugar
- nutrasweet/aspartame (artificial sweeteners)
- food colorings/dyes
- pesticides and chemical spoilage retardants (especially sulfites)
Maintain a diet based on:
- Fresh fruits and vegetables
- potatoes
- yams
- animal protein (fish, poultry, lamb)
- non-glutinous grains (millet, buckwheat, rice, amaranth)
Avoid sulfite-containing foods, which most include canned vegetables and fruits, wine, and canned tuna (albacore).
Read labels. Know that "vegetable protein" is either wheat or soy; thickening agents and stabilizers are either wheat or corn; and food starch is usually wheat or corn. It is much easier to avoid processed food while on the diet than to figure out all the additives in prepared foods.
After 2 to 6 weeks of maintaining a strict elimination diet, you should experience a relief from symptoms.
Challenge Begin your challenge with the food group you feel is the least likely culprit. Eat several servings from that food group throughout the day. For example, if you are challenging dairy, have milk with breakfast; include cheese, cream and yogurt in your lunch and dinner menus; drink milk at meals; and snack on dairy items. Then wait. DO NOT continue to add that food group to your diet. You only challenge for one day, then wait for at least 48 hours. Return to eating ONLY your elimination diet foods. If you do not experience a return of symptoms after 48 hours, go on to the next suspected food group.
Continue this process until you find the problematic food group. In most cases you will experience a return of symptoms within 48 hours. Rarely do symptoms appear several days or weeks later. If, however, you want to wait more than 48 hours, feel free to do so as this will only increase the accuracy of this test. A week between food group challenges is optimal. Only challenge one food group at a time.
Maintain your regular diet, eliminating only the food group that you believe to be causing your symptoms. Eliminate ALL items in that food group for at least 1 month. If your symptoms disappear during this time, continue to abstain from that food group for 1 more week after symptom relief. If, for example, you find yourself symptom-free after just a few days of avoidance, you must still continue to avoid that food group for another week before you can effectively challenge. When you challenge, follow the guidelines stated above: eat several servings of the suspect food group during a 24-hour period, then return to the elimination diet and wait. More often than not you will get immediate information about how your body is interacting with a problem food group.
Physical medicine Submerge the feet in a bucket of very hot water while at the same time applying an ice compress to the back of the neck. This actually draws the blood down to the feet away from the head. Reduction of pain coincides with the duration of application.
Acupressure type massage can be helpful. See a trained acupressure therapist for instructions on procedures to do at home.
Chiropractic adjustments and maintaining correct spinal alignment can be very supportive in the prevention of headaches that are triggered by muscle stress and spasm.
Acupuncture is a very useful treatment. It can balance underlying hormonal deficiencies, tonify the gastrointestinal system, and calm reactive blood vessels. It can support the balancing required in any healing process.
A word of caution: when selecting an acupuncturist, be very careful to research the training and qualifications of your practitioner. Medical doctors can take weekend courses in acupuncture and call themselves certified acupuncturists. A weekend course is NOT enough study to understand the complex philosophy or practice of Chinese Medicine.
Choose a practitioner who holds a full doctorate degree in Chinese medicine: an O.M.D. (Oriental Medicine Doctor) or Lic.Ac (licensed acupuncturist). These practitioners are required to complete several years of training. The letters TCM (Traditional Chinese Medicine) after the name means that the doctor has additional training in the prescribing of Chinese herbs. The more knowledge a practitioner has about Chinese Medicine, the better they will be able to diagnose and treat your symptoms. Also, as with all health care practitioners, check the practice reputation in the community.
Your environment and your headaches Headaches can be agonizing and debilitating. The inclination to "make the pain go away now," however, can be an obstacle to curing the cause of the pain. It is easy to become trapped in a cycle medication and side effects. Headaches do not just happen; they are not a random occurrence. They are your body interacting with the environment. Explore the environment as well as the your body's relationship to it to determine the factors that are upsetting your internal balance and you can control your headaches and know how to prevent them from re-occurring.
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