Joe Clavin asked:




A migraine is a painful condition from which all sufferers want immediate relief. Unfortunately, it is not enough that you use medication to get rid of its symptoms, but to manage it in such a way as to minimize its recurrence, if not totally avoid it.

The objectives of treatment for migraine are to relieve current pain and to minimize attacks. But before even deciding on how best to relieve the pain, you need to know what triggers your migraine attacks so as to avoid them. This is your first line of defense against headaches.

As you probably know, stress is one of the major triggers of migraine. You need to learn, understand and practice relaxation techniques to minimize migraine attacks. You also need to consult your doctor to help you understand the real cause of your pain, like lack of sleep, stress, fatigue, and certain drinks and foods. More importantly, your doctor can provide you with the necessary medications to relieve and control your discomfort.

Preventive treatments include the use of doctor-prescribed drugs to keep you from getting head pains. They include medications like antidepressants, blood pressure medication, and anti-seizure medicine. They are taken daily to treat actual headaches and to lessen the frequency and severity of migraine episodes, especially if you experience more than one migraine per week.

It is important though that they are taken under your doctor’s supervision to minimize risks, normally through overuse and side effects. It likewise must be noted that some medications have addictive properties. They are not to replace the value of recognizing and dealing with the triggers that may be causing your migraine.

Another way of treating migraine headaches is through abortive medication used, as the name suggests, to abort or prevent a migraine attack as it starts. Abortive drugs include triptans, which help lower serotonin levels in the body. Triptans specifically target headache pain, but not back problems, arthritis, menstruation, and other conditions that trigger bodily pains.

There are other medications not specific for migraines, but which can help ease almost any kind of pain – Butalbital compound (Fioricet, Fiorinal) and Acetaminophen and codeine (Tylenol with Codeine). They are less desirable than the other migraine-specific drugs, primarily because they can be habit forming, but they can be taken primarily as a “backup” when a specific drug does not work.

A lot of people rely on a number of over-the-counter (OTC) medications for headaches, but you should be aware that they could lose their potency through overuse. This is a pitfall for many migraineurs, who rely on OTC medicines and experience more intense pain and photophobia when their effectiveness wears off. In this case, you should make a quick visit to your doctor because he can help you overcome your pain.

Pain Management

People suffering from migraines often never utilize the same treatments because migraines form for many different reasons. With this being said, there are literally dozens of different types of treatments available for migraine sufferers; natural and prescription. Today, men and women are doing what they can to stay away from prescription medications and lean towards natural remedies that can be safely used for long periods of time.

In order to narrow down your own personal triggers for migraines, it is a great idea to keep a dairy. This will allow you to jot down what foods you ate throughout the day, if you had an extraordinary stressful day, etc. Again, this may work for some people but not for others. For some people there are no real triggers that can be eliminated from day-to-day life but for others this is the key.

Next, your teeth can be a very important trigger that you may not be aware of. Many people grind their teeth throughout the day but most commonly while they are asleep at night. Grinding your teeth can not only wear down your teeth over time but studies have shown this to be a significant trigger for migraines. If your dentist notifies you of this problem, a retainer or dental splint is the perfect way to stop this problem and even lessen your migraine attacks.

Acupuncture has made its way into the realm of migraine treatments today. With acupuncture you have the option to have your pain treated or go in for preventative treatments. This ancient old therapy has been shown to instantly increase blood flow around the needle area. This increase in circulation has always been found to be a successful resolution for chronic pain, including migraines.

Lastly, it is important to mention the importance of a proper and well balanced diet. There are many foods that trigger migraines and many more foods that can actually prevent migraine attacks before they start. If you already utilize a healthy diet then perhaps this is not the root of your problem. If you do not currently utilize dairy products, vegetables, cereals and legumes than this is a natural option you should try in order to do what you can naturally to cure your migraine attacks.

Although there are many theories as to what causes and triggers migraines, each is different for each sufferer. Therefore it is important to do whatever you can do naturally to find a cure that works for you. Whether it is acupuncture or simply taking the time for 10minutes of pure relaxation within a day to relieve built up stress, this may be all you need to end your migraine pain. Take a step back from drugs and scripts and find out what you can naturally do to redirect and eliminate your pain.



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Copyright (c) 2008 Stephen Lau

Pain is not localized because it is the outcome of a series of reactions in the body and the mind. Pain is felt and experienced only when the injured area sends signals through your nervous system to your brain, which receives and interprets these signals.

Pain is always connected with inflammation. When the injured area becomes inflamed, the inflammatory response intensifies, and so does your perception of pain.

What should you do when dealing with pain? Most people’s first reaction in dealing with pain is to stop the pain with a painkiller – it is understandable. However, this may not be the best option for dealing with pain, because it only temporarily relieves the pain but does not prevent the pain from happening again.

If you have chest pain, which may portend an imminent heart attack; your priority is to avoid the heart attack rather than the pain itself. In fact, sometimes pain may be a positive sign of warning of the imminence of a disease. Therefore, in dealing with pain, it is important to prevent a health crisis rather than just suppressing the pain.

Take another example: if you are prone to migraine attacks, your priority in life is to prevent a migraine episode from happening, rather than dealing with the pain that results from the crisis. Migraines are not caused by trauma, but by chemicals in your body that control pain and inflammation. Accordingly, to deal with migraines is to anticipate and control the inflammation, rather than the resultant migraine pain. Like the common cold, once it has started, taking vitamin C or a cold tablet will not stop the cold – you just have to let it run its course. Any cold medication may only further weaken your immunity down the road, just as a painkiller may make your body more toxic, and thus more susceptible to pain in future.

Therefore, dealing with pain is not to influence your perception of pain, but to stop the damage from causing the pain in the first place.

Using diet is the most effective way in dealing with pain (see my previous article), not only by preventing the occurrence of pain but also by combating the pain itself. For example, hot chili peppers contain a chemical called capsaicin, which is effective in blocking your nerves from transmitting pain messages to your brain. Capsaicin is one of the most important active ingredients in ointments used for arthritis, shingles, and post-mastectomy pain.

Apart form diet, exercise also helps you boost your pain resistance. Your body makes natural painkillers – enkephalins and endorphins. Exercise may activate these chemicals in your body. This is best explained by pain tolerance in competitive athletes. In vigorous competitive sports, the body releases endorphins to block out pain perception. The kind of exercise that stimulates endorphin release is aerobic – bicycling, running, and walking – exercise that pumps your heart and works out your lungs, as opposed to weight lifting that targets only your muscles.

Acupuncture is another way to deal with pain.

For thousands of years, acupuncture has been used by the Chinese to decrease pain by increasing the release of endorphins. Many acu-points are located near nerves. When stimulated, these nerves cause a dull ache or feeling of fullness in the muscle. The stimulated muscle then sends a message to the central nervous system (the brain and spinal cord), causing the release of endorphins. The theory is based on the belief that there is “qi” (vital life energy) coursing through your body, and that diseases are caused by lack of balance between the positive and negative energies in an individual. Acupuncture not only generates its analgesic effects through sensory stimulation, but also removes the problem that causes the pain.



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