Is it Possible to Get Rid of Migraines? A must read for every migraine sufferer...
How on earth can you be expected to go to work, put petrol in the car, read, concentrate, study, look after kids, cook, tidy up, go to the gym, let alone have a shower or consider a social life if you experience one or even more migraines?
Let’s admit it, everyone who has ever experienced migraines hates migraines. They totally suck the fun from life. And, if you have never experienced a migraine, multiple, or on-going episodes count yourself very lucky. My guess is you probably know someone who has, so for all your sakes, read on.
As much as we want to stop migraines forever, what if your migraine was telling you something? What if the migraine was telling you something and you stopped what it was ‘telling’ you. What might your migraine be telling you? Great question.
Body Signals
Australians, in particularly Albury Wodonga migraine sufferers, headache sufferers or people who experience neck pain (or back pain) just want that symptom gone and will do anything to stop it or cover it up. Things like, over the counter medication, prescription medication, alcohol, essential oils, injections etc. Before they launch into these band-aid approaches, most people don’t stop and think about what their body might be telling them when they are experiencing headaches, migraines or pain.
The symptom is simply a body signal. Symptoms are a way your body communicates to you that something is not quite right. That you need to pay attention. And if you don’t pay attention now, you will be forced to later.
Let’s look a little at some signals…
You smell a funny smell in the garage, and so instead of thinking what that smell, that signal, might be telling you, you ignore it, hoping it will go away, it begins to get a little worse, so you spray some air freshener. It continues, so you just shut the door and ignore it.
The smell begins to leak through the bottom of the door, so you put some essential oil just outside the door, so you hardly smell that yucky smell. You go away for a week, come back and it’s putrid. You now see a funny liquid coming out of the back of a cupboard, another signal.
Finally, you are forced to listen as you need something from that cupboard. You open the door and find a dead, decaying rat. Your best shoes you had stored there are now seeping in dead rat juice.
They are ruined.
You have a migraine, a body signal. You have a headache, are nauseated and vomit, are sensitive to light and have to go home from work and go straight to bed because everything is too bright and too noisy. You grab some nurofen, vomit again and finally go to sleep. You wake up the next day with a thick sore head, take nurofen again, burn some essential oil, the pain dulls down, and you get yourself together to go to work. You’re not that productive or enjoying anyone’s company but hey you’re not vomiting; the headache is improving, and you dust yourself off and get on with the day as best you can.
This cycle happens a couple of times in the year, you don’t pay any real attention because it happens on Friday, and you have the weekend to recover.
Over the year these migraines have become more severe, more frequent and now are beginning to intrude on everyday life and are happening on varying days of the week. You have been taken to hospital a couple of times for injections and are now on migraine preventing medication. Your body is trying hard to get your attention. (Your body signals are getting louder)
You have a CT scan of the head, which showed nothing, and have stopped drinking red wine as you heard they can trigger migraines. The migraines are now less frequent, but more intense. You are told (and you tell yourself), they are normal, and you just have to live with them. Your days with migraines are a right off. You can’t predict when they are coming, and you and your family and friends have to navigate life around them. They are ruining your life.
What is a Migraine? Migraines are usually a one-sided headache, accompanied by nausea and disturbed vision. Migraine sufferers can experience numerous symptoms due to the autonomic (automatic component) of the nervous system being affected. Other processes of the brain are affected too, like the emotional, cognitive, and sensory processes. Symptoms can vary largely:
Recurring throbbing headaches
Nausea
Vomiting
Disturbed/ Blurred vision
Confusion
Dehydration
Diarrhea / constipation
Dizziness / Vertigo
Hot flushes/ Flushed face / Chills
Tearing in the eyes
Ringing in the ears
Clear nose discharge
Sensory changes such as; hallucinations, vertigo, change in taste, burning/ prickling/ numb sensations, decreased pain tolerance, inability to express or understand language, visual aura, sensitivity to noise or light.
The frequency of migraines differs considerably from person to person. From 1 a year to a debilitating
3-4 per week.
What is causing my migraines?
The research on migraines has evolved over the years to show us that migraines are incredibly complex neurologically. There is activation of the pain centers in the brain, the vascular system (arteries) are involved and there is evidence suggesting that systemic (whole body) inflammation is a contributing factor along with gut problems.
Migraine sufferers are known to have high levels of cortisol (the stress hormone) and thus are linked with chronic stress which causes changes in the frontal lobe of the brain, emotional and hormonal centres.
Usually, it’s not just one thing that activates or causes a migraine to surface, it’s usually a number of factors combined to create a tipping point or the final blow.
What is my migraine telling me? Firstly, it is telling you to listen. Don’t just ignore the migraine (like the decaying rat above), listen early to your body signal. In order to listen, you need to slow down. Have a think about how you may have overloaded your system, causing this tipping point. Have you…
Eaten lots of processed foods.
Drank too much alcohol, sugary drinks, caffeinated beverages.
Had hunger periods.
Had poor sleep quality and quantity.
Regularly dehydrated.
Had limited sunlight or fresh air.
Experienced loud, high pitched noises, bright lights.
Had lots of emotional stresses.
Gone through a lot of changes and uncertainty.
Stared at screens for too long.
Limited movement in your day.
Had limited or no down time.
Or combinations of any of the above.
Secondly, if you have looked into these factors and made some lifestyle changes to these and are still experiencing migraines then the literature suggests the following options can have a beneficial effect for migraine sufferers:
Chiropractic care and spinal alignments
Acupuncture
Massage
Yoga
Biofeedback
Meditation
Some supplements & botanicals
Change in diet (Decreasing inflammatory foods)
Hydrotherapy
If you are on, or are thinking about taking medication for your migraines, remember, any medication has a side effect. Consider these above options first before creating even more stress on your liver and kidneys by popping pills.
Chiropractic and Migraines ‘’How do I get rid of migraines’’, is a common question we get asked. A systematic review in 2019 showed migraine sufferers who saw a Chiropractor had fewer days with migraines each month and experienced less migraine pain. Because they respond so effectively to chiropractic care, some migraines are sometimes referred to as cervicogenic migraines. For some people, when they are under chiropractic care, their migraines almost completely stop within just a couple of months. Obviously, everyone is different.
If you are sick of migraines or know someone who is, consider chiropractic care, because it may just change someone’s life. We have seen many migraine sufferers over the years and would love to see if we can help you stop migraines forever. Call us in Albury, at House of Chiropractic on 02 6009 0999
