BellaOnline Forums Health and Fitness Headaches/Migraines Pain Management

Folks out there are always asking about how to best manage the pain associated with headaches and migraines, what are some things that work for you all??

As I understand this is a question of non-drug remedies.
As far as I know some people get relief with the following things:
- vitamin B complex
- magnesium
- magnet bracelet
- accupunture
- ginger root

Here are tips for migraine prevention and relieving:
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I take magnesium and melatonin.
Stephanie

Headaches just seem to be my body's way of dealing with stress or tiredness. Sometimes the headaches are accompanied by nausea. I have had good results with Excedrin Migraine. But if the headache starts to get severe and the Ecedrin is not enough, I head for bed right away before the nausea sets in!

I heartily recommend Eazol Pain Relief.

Safe and effective.

Its interesting that Tylenol is identifying poor posture as a significant factor in tension headaches in their recent ads. Of course they would like to push their pills as a way to get rid of the headaches.

The better solution is to correct the posture so the weight of the head is not carried inefficiently by the neck and shoulders. They say that the head weighs 10 lbs. on average. Every inch forward of the ideal postural alignment creates an extra 10 pounds of stress on the neck and shoulders. It is very common to see people walk around with forward head posture that is 2 or 3 inches. Guess where tension headaches could come from. There is a whole range of effects from poor posture beyond that, including fibromyalgia, breathing, TMD and blood pressure. That's often why poor posture is associated with myofascial pain and trigger points in the shoulders that keep the therapy and massage industry busy.

Of course there's the obvious connection to spinal pain, including neck, shoulders and low back pain. Its amazing that if you align the top, it changes everything right down to the feet, and the proper alignment keeps things from wearing out as fast.

We have found an effective device called the PostureJac that retrains and conditions the body to properly align and want to stay there. Their website, www.posturejac.com has lots of information on it and lots of reasons to straighten up. Non medicinal is better. In addition the PostureJac has these interesting accessories called MyoPressers that really do a number on those trigger points.

I used to have chronic neck pain and was prone to terrible headaches that occurred about once every month. I started going to an acupuncturist for other issues and she told me about this atlas (first vertebrae) adjustment technique, which she had done and was just about to travel to Sweden to learn the technique. When she got back I had it done and my neck pain is absolutely gone! She is also getting me off of Prevacid which is supposedly impossible to do! Here is her website if you are interested or curious:
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I just realized that, although they haven't completely gone, my headaches do seem reduced in intensity. I attribute it to my massage therapy, primarily. Fingers crossed that the trend continues!

I use to get severe migraines and "cluster headaches" when I lived in Washington (PNW). The only thing I could do to relieve the pain was to go in my bedroom, completely block out any light and lay down. Vitamin B helped to prevent them a little, but once I had a headache, nothing could relieve the pain except total darkness and rest.

I also suffered a little from these headaches in California. I had a friend there, a very old lady, who would gently massage my temples and give me "pressure release" treatments. She would put her hands on the sides of my head, opposite each other, gently push in and up to enable the skull to release the pressure. She would slowly move her hands around my entire head doing this. By the time she had finished, my headache was gone.

Since I have lived in a drier climate (Nevada's desert), I have not had any of these type headaches.

Quite often headaches are due to a restriction of blood to the brain. In your cervical vertebrae there are blood vessels called the vetebral arteries. Like the carotid artery in the front of the neck, these supply blood to the brain. The cervical spine is the only part of the spinal cord that has blood vessels actually running through the vertebrae. When the neck isn't positioned properly, these vessels are irritated and become restricted which causes a headache.
Two posts above pointed out important factors. Posture is much more than how you sit or stand. Posture is the alignment of the joints and involves much more than just your conscious attempt to stand straight. Poor posture is caused by an imbalance in the muscles which leads to, as noted above, head forward posture. This puts tension on the muscles, joints, nerves and blood vessels.
The atlas is the first vertebre in your spine. It is very important in that it sets the tone for all of the other vertebrae to follow. Since it presses up right against your skull, its ring shape actually surrounds your brain stem. Many neurological disorders can be attributed to misalignment of the atlas. Nothing against the acupuncturist stated above but there is no need to go to sweden to learn the technique, Chiropractors specialize in atlas manipulation and are licensed to use the technique which I doubt your acupuncturist is not. Unless your state provides for her to do so ( I am not aware of any states that allow unlicensed manipulation) she is committing a crime.

I wrote a detailed article about neck pain and headaches caused by computer use. The symptoms and causes are not exclusive to computers and anyone wanting more information on neck pain and headaches is encouraged to read it:
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