Vitamins for Migraine and Headache

The most common causes for headache are tension, eye strain, dehydration, low blood sugar and sinusitis. Most headaches are benign, but have been known to cause much discomfort in headache sufferers. 

Popular treatments for the prevention of headache and migraine include: 

• Fever Few
•  
• Magnesium
•  
• Vitamin B2
•  
• CoQ10

Fever Few 

By far the most popular preventative treatment for Migraines is Fever Few. This medicinal herb is said to limit the inflammation of blood vessels in the head. 

The recommended daily dosage of Fever Few is 250mcg per day and may take 4-6 weeks for the preventative effects to start working. 

Magnesium 

Magnesium is a key nutrient used for stabilising the walls of blood vessels. Deficiencies in Magnesium may lead to headache or migraine. It is therefore important for sufferers to ensure that they are consuming their recommended daily amounts of magnesium. 

Women should consume 270mg of magnesium per day and men should ensure they ingest 320mg. 

Vitamin B2 

Clinical trials have shown that vitamin B2 may be effective in preventing migraines when taken in therapeutic doses. 

It is recommended that migraine sufferers ingest 400mg of vitamin B2 per day. 

CoQ10 

Many migraine sufferers are finding success in preventing migraines with CoQ10 supplementation. According to researchers, a decrease in the energy reserves of the mitochondria may be the cause of migraine triggers. CoQ10 is said to help the functioning of the mitochondria. 

Therapeutic doses of 300mg of CoQ10 per day may prevent the onset of migraine and headache. Please not that this dosage is very high and you should always consult a doctor before taking CoQ10 supplements.

Disclaimer 

Healthy Comparisons does not give or purport to give any medical or healthcare advice and is not qualified to do so. You should not under any circumstances substitute qualified medical advice with information found in this fact sheet. The information contained in this fact sheet does not take into account the physical state, medical status or health requirements of any particular individual which are relevant to the proper diagnosis and treatment of any problem, condition or disorder. You should never use or act upon this information without first properly consulting, and seeking proper information and advice from, a qualified healthcare professional. Healthy Comparisons, its related companies and its licensors expressly disclaim all responsibility for and liability in respect of the accuracy of the information provided in the website, its improper application and the consequences of anyone's failure to obtain a proper medical examination and advice from a qualified healthcare professional in the relevant circumstances. 

© HealthyComparisons.com.au 2008 

Are You Suffering From Tension Headache?

Whether headache is the cause of tension or the tension is the cause of headache? Think over... if their origin is due to the common cause?

Well, the dividing line between tension and headache is thin.

The tension headache is the unique and generous gift of high paced life style of the modern world. Most of the people caught in the grip of this civilization are out to run an endless marathon that has no end. Many of these crazy run ups end on stretchers, ambulances and ICUs in the hospital. Tension headaches are directly responsible for this sorry state of affair.

What is the source of these tensions? An individual, on a normal working day is connected to his family, his friends and his office. Any serious tension in any of these places is the direct cause of their tension headache.

The causes of tension headache may be simple or complex. Your son's poor percentage in the higher secondary examination, and his inability to get admission in any of the reputed Colleges might become a major reason for your tension headache. Well, any kind of stress or worry could be the root of your tension. This is why tension headache is the most common form of headache.

Herein, the tension type headache is not to be confused with any of the serious forms of headache. Tension headache could be due to a single factor. The moment a solution is found to the problem, it disappears.

You may not need any treatment or medicine for this type of tension headache. This headache can be compared to the sharp, passing showers. It comes and it goes. But if you experience intense pain when you have such headaches, you need to consult your doctor immediately.

How to treat the tension headache? The correct treatment is to go to the root cause of the tension and treat that cause. When that cause is satisfactorily resolved, the headache is also gone.

And last but not the least, solving your tension headache through over the counter medications is neither the correct nor the recommended solution for it. At best, this can be described as a temporary solution. The effect of headache will reappear again.

So, learn to be at peace with yourself to treat this peculiar headache. Find a solution in the activities that pleasure you. You may read some lessons on right type of living as well. For, good literature many a times solves the riddles of tension.

Source: http://www.healthguidance.org/authors/445/Javier-Fuller

How to Prevent Headaches?

"Prevention is better than cure." But the attack of headache is so sudden and violent, where is the time to prevent it?

Headache arrives unnoticed and ultimately departs and you forget everything, the causes of its arrival! You have never tried to analyze, why you are repeatedly having the bouts of headache. Preventing headache is not one of the items in your agenda.

You have to do certain things, follow certain regimen to get rid of yourself the headache problems. You just treat the pain, without going to its root causes. You believe you are an active, bright person. That was so, till 9.00 a.m. this morning and you were making brisk preparations to go to your office duty. Suddenly, you are confronted with a nagging, throbbing headache, which would not let you do anything! What can be done, except applying for a day's leave? But, that has not solved the problem throughout the day, you suffer and suffer more. Will it be alright by tomorrow?

For the time being, you have solved the problem by taking antibiotics, but by evening again, it has resurfaced! This has happened to you a number of times in the past.

So, now you have to budget your time, according to your revised plans to live a head-ache free life!

From where do you start? Do proper exercise at a fixed time of the day. Try your best to live a tension-free life. Avoid stress. What causes the headache? Try to identify the factors. Is it food, alcohol or oversleeping? Yes, sleeping many times cures and at times causes headache. Taking pain killers so often, your body's natural ability to fight the diseases may vanish if you test it with painkillers. Painkillers are not faithful health agents! They also suppress the pain, without affording it a permanent cure. And when the pain resurfaces, it will arrive with double force!

Herbal products and supplements have been proved to be effective in preventing headaches. Learn relaxation therapy from an expert yoga teacher. Some of the techniques those are bound to be helpful for you to prevent headaches are visualization, meditation, deep breathing exercises and many more. Daily practice of such techniques is a must.

Preventing headache is not a course of medicines, it is a discipline!

Source: http://www.healthguidance.org/authors/445/Javier-Fuller 

Javier Fuller

Javier Fuller writes for http://www.about-disability.com. 

The Best Headache Treatment Tips For You

The best treatment to your headache is to understand your headache!

The reasons may not be far to seek! Some types of headaches may come and go! No medication is necessary for them. Just control your diet, drink lots of water and you would be alright after sometime! The heavy load of oily stuff that you ate in yesterday's late night party, could be one of the reasons! In that case, give stomach some time and some chance to unload the extra burden! In the hope to get instant relief, if you stuff it with pain killers and antibiotics, you might get relief, but in the long run, some other ailment will take hold of you, and you will have to suffer the side effects!

Only, when the headache persists over a period of days, and when you feel internally that something is definitely wrong with your system, consult your doctor. He will be, it is sincerely hoped, able to identify the root cause of your headache, on the basis of your feedback.

Some home remedies work miraculous way in the area of headache. It is now the known fact that the pressures of the modern competitive, and materialistic civilization, is the cause of many a tensions and headaches. Tension, stress and headache are comrades in arm!

Grandma's treasury is full of traditional medicines for your headache! If there is no grandma in your house, there must be one in the neighborhood! Before visiting the doctor, taking her advice, may be both time-saving and money-saving! And the valuable advice, when it works to your advantage, will definitely be a heritage property. You will likely to pass on the benefit of advice to others!

Take a small, clean towel and dip it in white vinegar. Wrap the towel around your head, close your eyes and relax. You should be a changed man after about half an hour. Make a paste by pounding the dry ginger. Apply the paste on your forehead. Slight burning sensation notwithstanding, it is likely to send your headache packing. Onion is known to be a miracle-cure for headache. Let the tears overflow through your eyes, anyway they were about to flow on account of the unbearable headache, and soon you will wonder where this headache has gone. The cost of the onion will not exceed the professional charges of the medical practitioner, whatever may be the market trend!

And finally, give headache a chance, it came unannounced, most likely it will depart unannounced! Without your treating it, rather ill-treating it!

Source: http://www.healthguidance.org/authors/445/Javier-Fuller 

Javier Fuller

Javier Fuller writes for http://www.about-disability.com. 

Migraine - Nutrition & Environmental Medicine Fact File

About the Author

Dr Greg Emerson is the Founder and Medical Director of the Emerson Health and Wellness Centre which opened in October 2005. He is a consultant in Nutritional and Environmental medicine. He is also a senior specialist in Emergency Medicine and in Diving and Hyperbaric Medicine. For 18 years he practiced in several large public hospitals including a period of time as an Associate Professor of Emergency Medicine at a major trauma hospital in Canada and as the Director of a leading Diving and Hyperbaric Medicine Unit. He is a lecturer, examiner and current board member for the Australian College of Nutritional and Environmental Medicine and a past-examiner for the Australasian College of Emergency Medicine. A long personal battle with illness led him on a profound exploration of healing processes and the prevention of illness. He reappraised both his medical focus and the way he approached health care delivery.

He believes in the intrinsic ability of the body to heal itself if the underlying cause of the illness is addressed. His practice revolves around three core principles, in the belief that almost all non-traumatic illnesses will respond to these principles:

• Elimination of food and chemical sensitivities
• Alkalinisation and detoxification
• Balancing of hormones

Dr Emerson regularly lectures both within Australia and internationally on Nutritional and Environmental medicine. He also runs his own successful international medical conference. His mission is to provide people with the knowledge, tools and motivation to live a life of extraordinary health, vitality and longevity.

Oh, What A Headache Treating Headache and Migraine Sufferers with Advanced Massage. 

Headaches and migraines can be crippling. They can strike at any moment and bring all that you are doing to a grinding halt. They are not uncommon, as it is estimated that migraines affect over 10 per cent of the UK population. Most of which are women. The worst part is that there has been little success from the medical community in producing options for migraine sufferers. 
 
It is the goal of this article to explain what is known about migraines, their causes and effects. We would like to share with you our practical knowledge and success at treating sufferers. Through our experience we can encourage you, as bodyworkers, so that you can offer hope and change to people in pain. 
 
What is a migraine?
There are two types: Migraine without an aura. The most common type experienced by 9 out of 10 sufferers.
 
With this type of migraine, an individual will experience severe throbbing, usually commencing behind one eye and travelling across the frontal part of the forehead. Associated digestive symptoms may include loss of appetite, nausea, vomiting, constipation or diarrhoea. 
 
Sensory input such as light, noise or smells becomes overwhelming, therefore sufferers seek quiet, darkened rooms for solace. 
 
Migraine with a preceding "aura" (classical migraine) 
In this case, the headache is preceded by visual disturbances. Sometime a flashing or blinding light, zig-zag lines or even blind spots are seen. Limbs, hands and feet can become tingly and burning. These attacks last about 22 hours, taking one to two days to fully recover. These happen about once a month or more.
 
What causes a migraine?
 
The exact cause of a common headache, as well as migraines has remained elusive from scientific researchers. However, research has established that much of the pain associated with headaches comes from restriction, compression and contraction of the structures of the brain, specifically muscle, fascia, blood vessels and certain nerve cells in the head.
The constriction of the muscle tissue, causing the first moments of severe pain and the subsequent forced dilation of the vessels brings the relentless throbbing. It has been suggested that, specifically, the constriction on the blood vessels causes the vomiting experienced by some sufferers. Most recently, it seems there may be a link between the onset of the headache and stimulation of the trigeminal nerve, which is located in the brain stem. 
 
An imbalance in the body's pain detection system 
 
The brain stem- located behind the eyes and nose - is partly responsible for responding to pain as a system of protection for our bodies. It makes us stop and take notice or slow down to repair.
When the trigeminal nerve which carries impulses to and from the face is alerted to pain, a series of events takes place and many neurotransmitters are released, including serotonin a "natural tranquiliser", to calm the system while it repairs itself. In people experiencing headaches, serotonin levels are often too low. When it decreases, for those susceptible, migraines flare up. 
 
High production of serotonin correlates with healthy sleep. 
 
Specific triggers for migraines and tension headaches 
 
1. Dehydration 
2. Physical fatigue or lack of sleep
3. Too much sleep
4. Certain foods such as cheese, wheat and alcohol
5. Extreme emotions 
6. Irregular eating patterns
7. Hormonal factors, such as use of the contraceptive pill, periods, menopause. 
 
What treatment is available?
Most sufferers find little comfort from modern medicine. The medical community offers drug related options, such as hormone therapy, severe pain killers and now serotonin. Unfortunately, as with many drug related therapies the side effects can be as debilitating as the original condition. Most clients we have seen have just accepted pain as a part of life, missing working days, holidays with families and both ordinary and extraordinary experiences in their life. 
 
What you can do about it.
As bodyworkers, we understand how stress affects the body, specifically and holistically. Migraines are an important example of this. Here we will examine what alternatives bodywork in its many forms can offer sufferers. 
 
Holistic care
The depletion of serotonin can be a factor in the occurrence of migraines. It is produced at times of rest and quiet rehabilitation for the body. This is what you can offer your clients with good focussed bodywork. Regular massage is a safe space to reground, regroup and replenish.
 
In fact, research has shown a one hour massage has the benefits for 4 hours of quality sleep.
 
Specific Techniques
If you have the tools to understand the body, you can make a real difference to people's pain, giving them the opportunity to replenish. If we understand that constraint of muscle, fascia, nerves and blood vessels contributes to this particular pain, we can examine possible techniques that work to release these constrictions. The following techniques are taught in JING's Foundation to Holistic Medical Massage workshop (over 3 days) and all have relevance to migraine pain and many other pain conditions that elude the medical community. 
 
They include:
1. Deeper focussed massage 
2. Trigger Point Therapy
3. Myofascial Release and an understanding of the role of the craniosacral rhythm 
4. Advanced Stretching 
 
We will now look at how each of these techniques can aid a migraine sufferer. 
 
Deeper focussed massage.
In our clinical experience, encouraging the client to partake in regular "time out" through massage can, on occasions, be enough to cause relief from chronic headaches. Our definition of deep massage is intertwined with slow thoughtful bodywork. Work with your forearms, fists and hands to engage with the tissue and use slow deep moves that cause no pain but only relief to the body. Release tension in head, neck and shoulders and connect with your client on emotional, physical and spiritual levels. It is easy to make the analogy between a pressure cooker and the occurrence of a tension headache or migraine. The build-up of little stressors reach a boiling point and the body goes into an explosive overload. If you can offer individual regular sessions to decompress, it is very likely the occurrence of these headaches will reduce. 
 
Trigger Point Therapy
In simple terms, trigger points are "knots" in muscles that cause referred pain. They can be released through simple treatment and quickly reduce the likelihood and severity of all types of headaches. There are many muscles in the neck, head and shoulders that can "trigger" migraine-like pain.  
 
For example:
 
1. Sternocleidomastoid (SCM)
2. Splenius Capitus and Cervicis
3. Upper Trapezius 
4. Sub occipital muscles 
 
As a therapist you can safely palpate and treat with specific compression the trigger points in these muscles to bring relief for your client. For example, trigger points in the SCM can cause pain above the eye, and, if severe, across the whole of the forehead.
We work to treat each of these "primary trigger points" 3-4 times per session in up to six sessions. Treatment in conjunction with stretching encourages permanent release and lengthening of these muscles.
If you are specifically interested in treating trigger points in these muscles for migraine and other conditions of the head, neck and shoulder, we cover all these muscles and their treatment in our Neck and Shoulder pain 2-day Advanced course.
 
Craniosacral Therapy
Craniosacral therapy is an excellent adjunct therapy for massage therapists to have in their bodywork "toolbox" and can have dramatic results in headache treatment.
Craniosacral therapy focusses on the subtle motility of the cranial bones and the role of the membranes that surround the brain and spinal cord - particularly the dura mater.
The cranium, spine and sacrum are all connected by a continuous membrane of the body's deepest fascia, the dura mater, which houses the brain and CNS. Craniosacral fluid (CSF) is pumped through the membranes, creating a pulse of 6-12 beats per minute. Cranial therapists believe that anything that blocks the flow of this fluid can cause physical and mental distress including headache or other pain. This pulse has come to be known as the craniosacral rhythm
Craniosacral therapists evaluate dysfunction and distortion in the dura mater and harmonise the craniosacral rhythm (CSR) to restore a healthy balance. This enables the brain's structures to "breathe" as it were and relieve undue pressure. 
 
Myofascial Work
Fascia is the membrane that surrounds muscles, bones, organs, nerves, blood and lymph vessels. All fascia is totally interconnected like a 3 dimensional body stocking and surrounds every structure down to cellular level. It is easy to see that if fascia gets tight or "stuck" it can press on pain sensitive structures to cause many types of pain, including headaches.
Because it is a continuous structure, working on one part of the fascial "net" can help to uncoil and release structures as deep as the dura mater, brain stem, and the deepest nerve bundles, providing profound relief from pain. 
 
Towards an integrative healthcare approach
The true skill of bodywork excellence lies in the combination of technique with the particular needs of your client at that time. You should be able to create a tailored suit for your client rather than having a "one size fits all" approach. At Jing we believe in giving you a range of effective techniques and the creativity and confidence to blend them into an effective treatment that most of all produces RESULTS. Having the knowledge and tools behind you is how you build a practice, how you carry on loving your work and most of all, how we spread the word of the beauty, effectiveness and skill of great bodywork. With these techniques, treating a headache won't be such a headache for you and your client. 
 
© Jing Advanced Massage and Training is an organisation dedicated to excellence in all aspects of postgraduate massage training. Based in Brighton. We offer courses around the country. Please call or check our website for further information and course dates.
info@jingmassage.com 
http://www.jingmassage.com
Tel: 01273 628942

Article Source: http://www.TodaysTherapist.com

The Secret Life of Lemons

That humble lemon sitting in your fruit bowl or growing modestly on the tree in your backyard has powerful and potent properties far beyond its diminutive appearance.

Juice It Up
The bitters in lemon juice taken prior to a meal are great for stimulating digestion. They stimulate the liver and are very high in vitamin C. They have really strong antiseptic properties and are great for colds and 'flu as they cut through phlegm.
Lemon oil will kill diphtheria in 20 minutes at a dilution of only 0.2 per cent.

Egg Shells + Lemon Juice = Calcium 
Don't throw away your eggshells—cover them in lemon juice and leave overnight.
The next morning the shells will be soft as all the calcium would