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for the advice of your own health care provider
Natural remedies for headaches include changing lifestyle habits that likely trigger an attack, as well as using herbs and supplements rather than over the counter pain medicine or prescription drugs. As with virtually all health problems, the more you can use natural remedies for headaches, the less it will cost you in time, money and unhealthy side effects.
Most likely, 100% of medicine cabinets in America have non-prescription pain relievers such as Tylenol, aspirin, Excedrin, or Ibuprofen in them. One or more of these are the usual remedy of choice for those suffering from headache pain.
This is not a big health concern if the headache is a rare occurrence, but if headaches are such a frequent problem that any of these over-the-counter medicines are taken on a daily or near-daily basis over an extended period of time, the risk of side effects greatly increases. These side effects include stomach and digestive problems, liver damage, respiratory and cardiovascular problems.
When using natural remedies for headaches, unwanted side effects are normally fewer and less severe when they do occur. Another potential problem that comes with over use of pain relievers is rebound headaches. Rebound headaches happen when the body had built up a resistance to the drug so when it wears off the headache comes back, often even more intense than it was to begin with.
Prescription drugs often used to control headache problems include barbiturates, tranquilizers and antidepressants, which have their own set of problems, including possible addiction.
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Associate Professor of Neurology at Johns Hopkins University details how to stop headaches naturally and get off pain medicine.
His method has helped bring tremendous and sometimes complete relief to chronic headache/migraine sufferers.
Learn More Natural Remedies For Headaches Pain Type |
1997 |
2010 |
2013 |
Headaches |
16% |
16.4% |
15.6% |
Neck pain |
14.6% |
15.8% |
14.9% |
Lower back pain |
28.1% |
28.8% |
29% |
As shown in the chart above, headaches are consistently second only to lower back pain in complaints of pain in adults. if neck pain is included in the numbers, which is often associated with and a likely cause of headaches, the number exceeds complaints of lower back pain.
Migraine headaches- Migraines are the second most common type of headache with about 18% of the population suffering from them over their lifetime.The average intensity of the pain is second only to cluster headache.
The pain from a migraine has been thought to be vascular, meaning it involves the arteries in the brain as they first constrict, then dilate, putting pressure on the nerves that cause pain. But researchers in 2008 found no evidence of artery constriction before a migraine. They did find a 300 percent increase in blood flow BEFORE the onsite of a migraine and normal circulation during the attack.
These findings have researchers thinking the discomfort of a migraine may have a cause other than arterial constriction/dilation. However, some factors appear to be constant. First, there is an increase of blood flow. As observed in the study above, before the onset of symptoms, or as originally thought, during the migraine with artery dilation.
Second, the treatment for the pain, be it pharmaceutical drugs or natural remedies for headaches like ones I discuss below, all work by having an anti-inflammatory effect, Causing vasoconstriction (constricting of arteries) which indicates Vasodilation (artery dilation) played a role in the headache. (Even when not observed during the symptoms.)The thought is that migraine sufferers might be more sensitive to the slight dilation than non-migraine sufferers.
Tension headaches- These are the most common type of headaches with 52% of the population afflicted with them over a lifetime. unlike migraine headaches, there is no aura associated with Tension-type headaches. The pain in a tension headache is normally generalized around the forehead down through the back of the neck. It may be mild or intense pain, but not nearly as severe as migraine pain
While the pain from a migraine involves the dilation of arteries, the pain in tension headaches is from muscle contractions in the head and neck. As the name implies, stress and or tension in a persons life is the most common trigger for tension-type headaches, although diet and other environmental factors can also bring them on. Resources
This causes your back and neck muscles tighten, putting pressure on your occiputal nerves, causing the pain of a tension headache.
Keeping your head and shoulders in an upright vertical position keeps the stress off your neck and shoulders.
The lack of Magnesium affects serotonin and other neurotransmitter levels that impact headache symptoms. It also has a relaxing effect on muscles and blood vessels
Keep in mind when supplementing with magnesium that calcium, vitamin D and vitamin K2 all work Synergistically with magnesium in the body so it is important to maintain a healthy balance of them all for optimal metabolism and absorbtion.
Riboflavin helps the body produce energy at the cellular level within the mitochondria. When the production of energy in the mitochondria of a cell is impaired, it is believed to contribute to headaches.
It is a powerful antioxidant.
Vitamin B2 helps convert tryptophan into niacin (vitamin B3).
It also aids in the metabolism of vitamins B6 and B9.
Riboflavin helps maintain the detoxifier, glutathione as well.
B2 has a reputation of being one of the top natural remedies for headaches.
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Resources
cervical vertebrae image courtesy of stockdevil at FreeDigitalPhotos.net
Boy with headache photo courtesy of David castillo Dominici at
FreeDigitalPhotos.net
Neurology in clinical practice principles of diagnosis and management, WG Bradley, 2004
umm.edu/health/medical/altmed/condition/tension-headache,
umm.edu/health/medical/reports/articles/headaches-cluster,
idph.state.il.us/about/womenshealth/factsheets/headaches.htm,
sh.lsuhsc.edu/fammed/OutpatientManual/Headache.htm
advisory.com/daily-briefing/2013/01/22/study-ids-the-top-10-reasons-for-doctors-visits
rightdiagnosis.com/m/migraine/intro.htm
iasp-pain.org/files/Content/ContentFolders/GlobalYearAgainstPain2/HeadacheFactSheets/1-Epidemiology.pdf
wikipedia.org/wiki/Basil
westernherbalmedicine.com/western-herbal-medicine/migraine-headache.html