Recently, several people have asked me about headaches. So I thought maybe I should share my response. In good health, Tamar
Headaches generally fall into 3 categories:
tension
migraine
cluster
- cluster headaches are the most rare, they are the most severe, and can last for 30 seconds in bursts up to days.
2. Migraine headaches have several triggers, and the easiest way to
control them (other than really great prescription drugs), is to find
the triggers and eliminate them. I'll get back to that. But one of the
triggers can be tension headaches.
3. Tension headaches are caused by tight muscles. But here's the thing, tight muscles can come from SO many things:
- sleeping/sitting in the wrong position (over stressing a muscle, knocking a vertebra out of line)
- stress and literally tightening your muscles from not relaxing or breathing (extremely common in NY)
- eye strain (which could be from staring at a computer, or TV, or reading in low light, or being in bright sunlight)
- trigger
points (super tight knots in any muscle which pulls on fascia.) NOTE:
Trigger points can be latent or active. Active ones you feel from the
outside and from the inside. They hurt when you push on them. Latent
ones may be more buried and only flare up when they want to. To release a
trigger point, you put direct pressure on it (with a thumb or tool) til
there's a pain of about 6 or 7 (on a 1 to 10 scale) and simply hold it
til the pain goes away. There could be many small trigger points on the
scalp or in the neck/shoulders.
When tension
headaches go on too long, they can cause migraines. Migraines are
classified as any headache that lasts a long time. They're usually one
sided and throbby. They can cause nausea and sensitivity to light and
sound. I know. I get them.
Massage is extremely
helpful to control headaches. If it's a tension headache, it's easily
helped by the right massage. However, if it's a migraine headache, you
generally don't want to massage because it may make it worse. The idea
is to learn how to breathe, take care of yourself, and have relaxed
muscles all the time, so you don't get tension headaches. That's where
massage is best...as preventative medicine. If you want to massage yourself, or a friend in pain, be sure to check out my blog entry:
Massage For Loved Ones.
Also, I find different medicines will work for
different kinds of headaches, and then only if you catch it early. You may have to play around to find the right one.
Triggers: There are a lot of triggers for migraines, other than a tension headache that's gone on too long.
- sunlight
- lowlight
- visual disturbances (video games, tv shows/films that are handheld camera are AWFUL)
- riding in cars/trains, especially bumpy or twisty ones
- caffeine (but can also help with migraines)
- chocolate
- milk of cow, sheep or goat.
- bananas, strawberries, eggs, beef, pork
- gluten, corn, soy, nuts
Some home remedies for migraines (again, you have to catch it early):
- almonds
- put the inside of a banana peel on your head (the potasium may help)
- vitamin C (NOT to be taken with any other blood thinners like Advil/aspirin)
- massage
- putting your heads and/or feet into a basin of VERY hot water. It pulls the blood away from your head.
- coffee or any caffeinated drink
- a nap in a comfortable position
- cold compress (or hot) on the forehead/over eyes
- deep breathing of fresh air and looking at far distances.
Some stories:
The
worst migraine of my life came when I saw the film, "The Wrestler". The
film is shot handheld and extremely shaky. About 15 minutes into the
film I thought, oh no, I'm getting a migraine. I took a pill. But it was
already too late. Instead of leaving or averting my eyes (which I now
do quite often in hand held films), I kept watching. That migraine
lasted 3 days and I was really nauseous the whole time.
My mom
used to get migraines. Until she noticed that what she got BEFORE the
migraine was a sort of aura/visual disturbance. So now, when she sees
the aura, she drinks some caffeinated coffee, breathes, relaxes, and usually she
doesn't get the headache.
The best thing is to write
down all food and activities so that when you get a
migraine, you can find the pattern. And here's the rub: migraines can
come as late as 4 days after the food trigger. Eg: I have a ton of food
"allergies" (really intolerance, I don't go into anaphylactic shock). If
I have one bite of ice cream, I'll probably be OK. If I have a bowl of
ice cream, I may get a migraine 4 days later. And if I have a little
milk for 4 days straight, then a few days later I'll be in so much pain,
and it's going to last for days. It builds up in your system.
FOOD ALLERGIES: (and see my
THINGS I DON'T LIKE TO TALK ABOUT for more food allergy info)
My mom is allergic
to corn, which is in EVERYTHING. White vinegar is made from corn. Baking
powder,powdered sugar, vegetable oil, "natural flavorings". You name
it. She has a TERRIBLE time eating out or finding products that are
properly labeled. And if she eats something with a trace of corn in it,
it sets off her allergic reaction and makes her react to many, many more
things. Chickens are corn fed. Beef can be corn fed. Fish can be corn
fed. Vitamins and...antihistamines for allergies...have corn in it. Awful.
So...the more you read, the more you know, but the more frustrating it
can be.
Generally, whatever you eat the MOST, is what
your body may become allergic to. Wheat, corn, soy, eggs, milk are in almost EVERYTHING. So take some cooking
classes, find some headache support websites, and learn to cook from the
outside aisles of the grocery store. If it's in a box...don't eat it.
It will change your life. The day I got my blood test results, I
panicked. I literally couldn't think of one thing to eat or make that
didn't have something I was allergic to. I threw out everything in my
kitchen. I ate a handful of blueberries (which I now know...I'm allergic
to). Then I started taking cooking classes to learn how to cook from
scratch so that I can control what I eat. I travel with food. I stock up
on food. I have lists of places I can eat when traveling. It's a pain.
But it helps.
