Ready to Relax Yourself to Perfect Health?
Cutting-edge scientific research now proves what the yogis have always known: deep relaxation can have a profound and beneficial effect on a wide range of medical conditions, not least for anyone suffering from migraines. The following abridged article I found will, hopefully, help anyone who is going through a stressful time if you follow the steps.
By Anastasia Stephens / Source: The Independent UK
It’s a piece of advice that yogis have given for thousands of years: take a deep breath and relax. Watch the tension melt from your muscles and all your niggling worries vanish. Somehow we all know that relaxation is good for us. Now the hard science has caught up – for a comprehensive scientific study showing that deep relaxation changes our bodies on a genetic level has just been published.
What researchers at Harvard Medical School discovered is that, in long-term practitioners of relaxation methods such as yoga and meditation, far more “disease-fighting genes” were active, compared to those who practised no form of relaxation.
In particular, they found genes that protect from disorders such as pain, infertility, high blood pressure, migraines and even rheumatoid arthritis were switched on. The changes, say the researchers, were induced by what they call “the relaxation effect”, a phenomenon that could be just as powerful as any medical drug but without the side-effects.
“We found that a range of disease-fighting genes were active in the relaxation practitioners that were not active in the control group,” explains Dr Herbert Benson, associate professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School, who led the research.
The good news for the control group with the less-healthy genes is that the research didn’t stop there. The experiment, which showed just how responsive genes are to behaviour, mood and environment, revealed that genes can switch on, just as easily as they switch off.
“Harvard researchers asked the control group to start practising relaxation methods every day,” explains Jake Toby, hypnotherapist at London’s BodyMind Medicine Centre, who teaches clients how to induce the relaxation effect. “After two months, their bodies began to change – the genes that help fight inflammation, kill diseased cells and protect the body from cancer, all began to switch on.”
More encouraging still, the benefits of the relaxation effect were found to increase with regular practice – the more people practised relaxation methods such as meditation or deep breathing, the greater their chances of remaining free of arthritis and joint pain with stronger immunity, healthier hormone levels and lower blood pressure.
Benson believes the research is pivotal because it shows how a person’s state of mind affects the body on a physical and genetic level. It might also explain why relaxation induced by meditation or repetitive mantras is considered to be a powerful remedy in traditions such as Ayurveda in India or Tibetan medicine.
But just how can relaxation have such wide-ranging and powerful effects? Research around the world has described the negative effects of stress on the body. Linked to the release of the stress-hormones adrenalin and cortisol, stress raises the heart rate and blood pressure, weakens immunity and lowers fertility.
By contrast, the state of relaxation is linked to higher levels of feel-good chemicals such as serotonin and to the growth hormone which repairs cells and tissue. Indeed, studies show that relaxation has virtually the opposite effect, lowering heart rate, boosting immunity and enabling the body to thrive.
“On a biological level, stress is linked to fight-flight and danger,” explains Dr Jane Flemming, a London-based GP. “In survival mode, heart rate rises and blood pressure shoots up. Meanwhile muscles, preparing for danger, contract and tighten. And non-essential functions such as immunity and digestion go by the wayside.”
Relaxation, on the other hand, is a state of rest, enjoyment and physical renewal. Free of danger, muscles can relax and food can be digested. The heart can slow and blood circulation flows freely to the body’s tissues, feeding it with nutrients and oxygen. This restful state is good for fertility, as the body is able to conserve the resources it needs to generate new life.
While relaxation techniques can be very different, their biological effects are essentially similar. “When you relax, the parasympathetic nervous system switches on and that is linked to better digestion, memory and immunity, among other things,” explains Jake Toby. “So as long as you relax deeply, you’ll reap a variety of rewards.”
But, he warns, deep relaxation isn’t the sort of switching off you do relaxing with a cup of tea or lounging on the sofa. “What you’re looking for is a state of deep relaxation where tension is released from the body on a physical level and your mind completely switches off,” he says. “The effect won’t be achieved by lounging round in an everyday way, nor can you force yourself to relax. You can only really achieve it by learning a specific technique such as self-hypnosis, guided imagery or meditation.”
The relaxation effect, however, may not be as pronounced on everyone. “Some people are more susceptible to relaxation methods than others,” cautions Joan Borysenko, director of a relaxation programme for outpatients at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Boston, US. “Through relaxation, we find that some people experience a little improvement, others a lot. And there are a few whose lives turn around totally.”
The health benefits of deep relaxation
The next time you tune out, switch off and let yourself melt, remind yourself of all the good work the relaxation effect is doing on your body. These are just some of the scientifically proven benefits…
Immunity
Relaxation appears to boost immunity in recovering cancer patients. One study at Ohio State University, in the US, found that progressive muscular relaxation, when practised daily, reduced the risk of breast cancer recurrence. In another study at Ohio State, a month of relaxation exercises boosted natural killer cells in elderly people, giving them more resistance to tumours and viruses.
Fertility
A study at the University of Western Australia found that women are more likely to conceive at periods when they’re relaxed rather than stressed. Another study at Trakya University, Turkey, found that stress reduces sperm count and motility, a finding that implies that relaxation may boost fertility in men, too.
Irritable bowel syndrome
When patients suffering from irritable bowel syndrome practised a relaxation meditation twice daily, symptoms such as bloating, belching, diarrhoea and constipation improved significantly. The method was so effective that the researchers at the State University of New York at Albany, recommended it as an effective IBS treatment.
Blood pressure
A study at Harvard Medical School found meditation lowered blood pressure by making the body less responsive to stress hormones, in a similar way to blood pressure-lowering medication. Meanwhile, a report in the British Medical Journal found that patients trained to relax had significantly lower blood pressure.
Inflammation
Stress leads to inflammation, a state linked to heart disease, arthritis, migraine, asthma as well as skin conditions such as psoriasis, say researchers at Emory University in the US. Relaxation can play a role in preventing and treating such symptoms by switching off the stress response. In this way, one study at McGill University in Canada found meditation clinically improved symptoms of psoriasis.
Take a deep breath… How to relax deeply
So how can you access relaxation’s healing powers? Harvard researchers found that yoga, meditation and even repetitive prayer and mantras all induced the relaxation effect. “The more regularly these techniques are practised, the more deeply-rooted the benefits will be,” says Jake Toby. Have a go at one or more of the following for 15 minutes once or twice a day.
Body scan
Starting with your head and working down to your arms and feet, notice how you feel in your body. Taking in your head and neck, simply notice if you feel tense, relaxed, calm or anxious. See how much you can spread any sensations of softness and relaxation to areas of your body that feel tense. Once your reach your feet, work back up your body.
Breath focus
Sitting comfortably, become aware of your breath, following the sensation of inhaling from your nose down to your abdomen and out again. As you follow your breath, notice your whole body and let tension go with each exhalation. Whenever you notice your mind wandering, come back to your breath.
Mantra repetition
The relaxation response can be evoked by sitting quietly with eyes closed for 15 minutes twice a day, and mentally repeating a simple word or sound such as ‘Om’.
Guided imagery
Imagine the most wonderfully relaxing light, or being on a walk with on the banks of a river, listening to the water while with a light breeze is blowing away any tension or worries from your body and mind. Make your image as vivid as possible, imagining the texture, colour and any fragrance as the image washes over or through you.
Did Larry King Interview Sile on Migraines?
Catchy title eh? Me on Larry King Live, being interviewed on how I got rid of my migraines and asked to come back again? I wish! Well, who knows. Anything can happen!
Anyway, I had so much fun creating this video, I hope you enjoy it too.
If you want to see me back on the show, please post your questions below. Hopefully, I’ll be back soon!
In the meantime, if anyone is interested in watching another video about the training course I mention, click on www.avatarintro.com
How Graham Got Rid of His Migraines
Every January, I go to Orlando to recharge my batteries – not by going to Disneyland but by attending the Wizard course (www.wizardcourse.com).
It’s so awesome to hang out with over 3,000 Avatar Masters around the world all of whom are interested in taking more personal responsibility for their lives. Exploring my mental blueprint in 2005 was my first step to a fuller life, a life without migraines and I haven’t looked back since.
I met an good friend and kindred spirit I never met. What I mean is that I had never met him in person. I had chatted with him, knew what he looked like, shared migraine stories but we had never spoken to each other. We were facebook friends.
He had told me that like me, he used the Avatar tools to get rid of his migraines. So I asked him if he would write something for my blog viewers who suffer from migraines and who want to get rid of them. He said he didn’t know what or how to write something inspiring. I asked him just to tell his story (and asked and asked and asked until finally..!) here it is:
Dear Sile,
Here’s the piece, you’ve asked me to write… sorry, it’s been a long time coming. I’m 
not a writer, really, so I put off putting pen to paper. Anyway, here it is. I like the idea of sharing my story on the internet if it means that more people will know that with the right training, they can get control over their migraines. I can still hardly believe it myself when I think about it.
Back to the beginning:
Migraines. The word itself put the fear into the biggest of man. My first contact with it was as a child not understanding it. I think I was about 10 years old. My mother had it and when she did she would tell my father that she would go into her room, lock the door, drew the curtains and we didn’t see her for days. I sat outside the door and listened to her as she sobbed herself to sleep.
I now know that from an early age I started getting migraines even though I didn’t know they were migraines because they were different to what most people complain about. I didn’t actually have the pain and still don’t. I got the numbness, lack of any feeling in my arms, legs and face and my words and speech would start to slow down. It was like my body would shut down. I was paralysed.
My father put it down to growing pains and didn’t give it any attention all these years. I don’t blame him though, as he didn’t know any better.
As an adult, I was afraid of driving long journeys for fear that if I got a migraine mid journey, I would put my family at risk. I’m over 45 now so I’ve had this a long long time. I carried pills with me, had an inhaler and when I felt a migraine coming on, I would have to stop what I was doing, pop some pills and press my head down on the (cold) ground until I felt fine again. Not the sort of thing you want to do in the middle of business meetings or if you are driving. But that was the only thing that helped me cope and feel better.
Until…
This time last year, I did an Avatar course (www.avatarepc.com) which is all about looking at your own belief system and how you feel about the world we live in and how we can shape our future the way we want. I loved it and continued to do the Masters course in the summer in Germany. Well, in the middle of the course, I had a migraine and as everyone knows too well, the panic started to set in which always made the problem worse. I wanted to leave course immediately. One of the trainers, John, came over to me gave me a specific exercise to do which was about deliberately directing my attention in a specific way. I did it for 20 minutes and the numbness vanished and it was ok for me to carry on the day. That was my first and fastest experience of getting on top of my migraines. In the last year I just did this exercise when I felt a migraine setting in and I’d get better faster and faster. Just knowing this makes me much more relaxed. And I know I am getting more and more in control of it.
I would never have believed it if you just explained it to me. I had to try it myself and it worked and was one of the best tools I’ve learned (and not just for migraines because I don’t think about them too much anymore)!
Lots of love,
Graham
PS I’ve thrown away my inhaler but still keep my pills in my bag, just in case. But before you ask, I haven’t taken a pill in a year. 
ooo—000—ooo
I find Graham’s story very inspiring and insightful and I hope that you do too. If you liked the post please leave a comment below. If you’ve gotten rid of your migraines without medicine, please leave a comment to share how you did it so that you can inspire others to do so too.
I Need Migraine Case Studies – Will You Help?
Over the past few months, I have been writing and mulling over my book, Natural Migraine Relief – Killing Your Pain Without Painkillers and to finish it, I really need your help.
I want this book to touch and help as many people as possible and I need a few more perspectives. I would like to have a few case studies about different migraine sufferers’ experience and find out what has and hasn’t worked for them. In return I will give you an ecopy absolutely free or a hard copy for free, if you pay shipping and handling – once it is finished.
Before answering the questions, I need to know if any of the Ten Top Tips have helped you (mentally and physically) become stronger and in a better position to tackle your migraines. Describe the state of your health now.
If you haven’t signed up yet, you can do so now (there are a few hidden gems in there – http://naturalmigrainereliefnow.com) After reading and following the tips, I’d be grateful if you could let me know.
Please answer the 12 questions in the comments box below: (see website http://naturalmigrainereliefnow.com in case you are reading this anywhere else) .
1. Describe your migraine in detail (when did it first strike you and now, when does it happen? What happens to you? How long does it last? What do you do to cope?)
2. What do you think is/are the cause(s) of your migraines?
3. What alternative methods have you tried? What happened?
4. How often are you (mentally) stressed? What happens to your body?
5. What (events, foods, things, other)/who causes you stress?
6. How do you deal with this stress?
7. What do you believe about yourself and your migraines? (please list your most common beliefs about them)
8. Do you believe you can get rid of your migraines completely? If not, why not?
9. What would it be worth to you to get rid of your migraines?
10. Can you imagine how your life would be without migraines?
11. Can you describe how you would feel what you would do and what your day would now be like?
12. Would you be willing to try something you haven’t tried before?
Please answer every question in the comment box below.
Thanks to everyone in advance who will take the time to answer these questions! Now I need to get back to writing. 
Namaste!
How Can Yoga Help Manage Migraines?
What is Yoga? Yoga is an ancient Hindu discipline aimed aimed at training the consciousness for a state of perfect spiritual insight and tranquility. This is achieved through a system of exercises practiced as part of this discipline to promote control of the body and mind.
The actual word is Hindi for Union between mind and body. Its wisdom is as relevant today in understanding the human condition as it was over five thousand years ago. Perhaps even more so as the 21st century being is subjected to more stimuli in one year than our early ancestors had in all of their lifetime.
Yoga can be practiced by anyone regardless of age or fitness levels because there are so many practices to choose from or adapt to suit the individual. Yoga self awareness practices help us to identify our “trigger” habits to enable us to disarm them. Yoga teaches us to live in the present moment, an ability that promotes healing at all levels or our being.
I believe that stress is an important (and not fully discussed) trigger for migraine headaches. Whether you believe stress is unavoidable or not, it may help you to know that how it is managed can defuse the trigger – yoga stretches, breath work, meditation and relaxation all help us to manage stress. Yoga will help you develop an emotional suit of armour against all kinds of stress.
Yoga breathing practices will help sufferers manage, relieve and reduce pain. Poor posture produces chronic muscular tension, particularly in the upper back, shoulders and neck. Chronic neck tension often causes headaches. Regular practice of yoga relieves neck tension. An experienced yoga teacher will show you how to adjust and realign your posture to avoid neck tension.
Can yoga cure or prevent migraine headaches, and if so, what postures are recommended? If you have had a recent migraine headache or feel the start of a new one, yoga instructors will recommend a restorative practice.
Establish a regular home practice where you are in charge of determining your level of effort from day to day, and find an experienced teacher to guide you when difficulties arise. This will lead you on the road to better health, especially when it comes to coping with a health condition such as migraines.
Preventative Pose–Wide-Legged Forward Bend
Stand with your feet one leg length apart. Bend forward at the hip and place the palms of your hands on the floor. Rest the top of your head on the floor and relax into the pose. If you are unable to reach the floor, you can rest your head on a chair or bend your knees to assist the stretch. Hold the pose for 10 to 20 seconds.
Preventative Pose–Downward-facing Dog
Start on your hands and knees, with your hands directly beneath your shoulders. Lift your hips toward the ceiling so that your body forms an inverted V. Press both heels and the palms of your hands into the floor. Hold the pose for 10 to 20 seconds, then release back to your hands and knees. Repeat if desired.
Preventative Pose–Extended Puppy Pose
Start on your hands and knees and extend your arms forward and lower your forehead to the floor. Your hips should be in the air, and there should be a slight arch in your back. Hold the pose for 10 to 20 seconds, then release back to your hands and knees. Repeat if desired.
Restorative Pose–Legs Up the Wall Pose
Lie on your side, approximately 5 inches from a wall, with your hips facing the wall. Turn over onto your back and extend your legs up the wall. You should be able to relax and have your legs remain upright without any effort. If not, then adjust your position until your legs stay in place on their own. If needed, support the neck with a pillow or stack two folded blankets under your lower back. Rest your arms at your sides or on your belly. Cover your eyes with a cool compress or an eye pillow. Relax into the pose for up to 10 minutes. To release, roll onto your side and sit up.
Restorative Pose–Reclining Bound Angle
Sit with your legs extended and bring the soles of your feet together, making a diamond shape with your legs. Support the knees with pillows if the stretch is too intense. Lie back and rest your hands on your belly. Cover your eyes with a cool compress or an eye pillow. If needed, support the neck and lower back with pillows. Relax into the pose for up to 10 minutes.
Restorative Pose–Corpse Pose
Lie on your back with your legs extended and your arms relaxed at your sides. If needed, support the lower back and neck with pillows. Cover your eyes with a cool compress or an eye pillow. Relax into the pose for up to 10 minutes.
Practicing Yoga With a Migraine: When experiencing a migraine headache, certain forms of yogasanas and in particular Pranayama are helpful postures in relieving the pain. It is important to practice yoga in a calm and composed environment with dim lights. Always remember to conclude your yoga session with shavasana with the help of an eye pillow or a small piece of clean (preferably cold) cloth over the eyes. Before you initiate the corpse pose, get started on the Dirga Pranayama which involves Oslo and deep breathing technique that arises from the stomach and the chest. It is important that you understand and examined the reasons for recurrent headaches or migraines. Yoga can help to deal and control headaches related to migraines or cluster headaches. A number of yogasanas help to release the tension and the stress in the neck and shoulders, while encouraging blood circulation to their head and stimulating the nervous system. This can help in relieving headaches. In a majority of cases, headaches are the result of mental trauma such as depression and acute stress. Due to major imbalances, the brain is deprived of oxygen and the requisite amount of blood. Due to the lack of oxygen and blood in the head, the muscles then to contract and the consequent results take place in the form of a headache.
Deep breathing techniques as well as mental relaxation are known to be effective steps in curbing the occurrence of migraine headaches. Important yogasanas for relieving headache are the easy yoga posture, the downward facing dog position, the Cobra pose, the seated forward bend, the knee press, the reclining posture etc. One of the most easiest and common practices of yogasanas is the easy yoga posture which helps in straightening the spine, regulating the metabolic rate and keeping the mindset is. The shoulder stretch as well as the spinal twist are other forms of yogasanas and are important in containing headaches and relieving them. Other useful poses include the cow and cat position, the bridge pose, the reclining twist, the child’s pose, the corpse position and the pose that involves the movement of the legs up the wall. All these yogasanas are simple and safe and can be done during the day; especially in the mornings on an empty stomach. The daily practice of the above-mentioned yogasanas will greatly help in reducing the occurrence of headaches and neck pain.
Meditative Poses Deep breathing and meditation can help relieve migraine pain. Sukhasana is a standard meditative pose designed for relaxation. Individuals sit cross-legged on the ground with their hands on their knees and backs straight. With the eyes closed, slow, deep breaths are taken. This pose helps straighten the spine, open the hips, relieve fatigue and slow breathing, heart rate and metabolism. It also has a calming effect on the nerves and allows the user to keep her mind still and find inner tranquility.
Stretching Poses Because migraines can be caused by stress, it is important to relieve stress daily. Stress is often carried in our upper back, shoulders and neck. Yoga shoulder stretches can alleviate any tension in the upper body. A basic premise in yoga is the benefit of lengthening the entire body and muscles. A long, lean body is thought to function better. When the body is compressed, our organs and systems can suffer because they are not allowed to function properly. Stretching poses also relieve tension from the ribs and core, allowing you to breathe easier. Basic shoulder stretches are done by sitting on the floor, with a straight back and calves tucked under the upper legs. Holding a towel with both hands, individuals bring the arms straight out in front of the chest, then overhead and behind the neck in one sweeping motion. The idea is to make a half-circle around your head and release tension in the shoulder area.
Inversion Poses According to The Daily Headache website, “If you have a migraine or headache at the time of your practice, never do an inversion, which is any posture that raises your heart above your head. Blood rushing to your head during a headache or migraine will make it worse. For some people, doing inversions at all can trigger a headache.”
What types of yoga is best for me? There are many types of yoga that can help migraine sufferers. Hatha yoga practice can help reduce the frequency and intensity of migraine headaches. One contemporary theory of how migraines occur states that the arteries that feed the brain narrow temporarily due to a variety of factors, stress and muscular tension being two common ones. For a migraine sufferer, there is then a sudden shift in the blood vessels and they abruptly dilate, increasing the blood flow to the head. This sudden shift results in the intense pain of the migraine episode.
If you can somehow keep your body’s nervous system more relaxed from day to day, the initial narrowing of the blood vessels that predisposes someone to a migraine might be eliminated and the chance of the migraine minimized. A yoga practice can be of any intensity that you desire, as long as there is a conscious effort to keep it steady and even, and as long as you spend time gradually increasing the activity and then gradually cooling down through the course of a given practice.
Finding the yoga practice that suits you is an exercise in itself of trial and error. I like an intense workout that brings 100% of oxygen to my body and found my ideal workout with Bikram Yoga. www.bikramyoga.it
If you liked this post, please leave a comment in the box below.
The Truth About Cluster Headaches
Cluster headaches (also used in singular: headache), also nicknamed suicide headaches, occur several times a day, they come on unexpectedly, do not last long, and are generally very painful. The pain is usually intense, and sometimes only on one side of the head. Frequently, the sufferer also feels pain around the eye.
A cluster-headache sufferer can wake up during the night because of the pain. Often, this occurs at the same time each night. The eye on the painful side of the head may be reddened and watery. The individual’s nose may be runny or blocked on the side of the nose where the pain is.
In northern countries cluster headaches tend to occur more frequently during the autumn (fall) and spring. Alcohol or extreme variations in temperature can trigger an episode during a cluster period – generally, the change in temperature refers to a rapid rise in body temperature.
Cluster headache attacks occur cyclically, hence the name. A bout of regular attacks – cluster periods – can last from a few days, weeks, to even months. This is followed by remission periods during which no headaches are felt.
Cluster headaches are not very common – they are said to affect about 1 in every 1,000 people. Unlike migraines, they affect men more often than women; about 80% of sufferers are men, most of them smokers. Fortunately, they generally have no long-term effects on the sufferer’s physical health. There are therapies, such as oxygen therapy, available which can significantly reduce the number and intensities of headaches.
Each cluster can last from 15 minutes up to several hours – the majority of cases do not last more than an hour. Typically, a patient will suffer from one to three clusters each day.
According to Medilexicon’s medical dictionary:
Cluster headache is “possibly due to a hypersensitivity to histamine; characterized by recurrent, severe, unilateral orbitotemporal headaches associated with ipsilateral photophobia, lacrimation, and nasal congestion.”
What are the signs and symptoms of cluster headaches?
A symptom is something the patient feels and reports, while a sign is something other people, including a doctor or a nurse may detect. For example, pain may be a symptom while a rash may be a sign.
Symptoms come on rapidly, generally without any warning, and they may include:
Intense pain, some describe it as excruciating. The pain is continuous, rather than throbbing. The pain often starts around the eye, and may then radiate to other parts of the head, including the face, and down to the neck and even the shoulders. Many patients feel pain in a temple or cheek.
- The pain remains on one side of the head
- The patient becomes restless.
- The eye on the side of the pain is watery and tearful
- The eye on the side of the pain reddens
- There may be swelling around the eye on the pain side
- Stuffy, blocked, or runny nose on the pain side
- Pallor – skin of the face is pale
- Face is sometimes sweaty
- Pupil size may shrink
- Eyelid on the pain side may droop
Patients often describe their pain as stabbing, sharp, burning and penetrating; as if a hot poker had been plunged into one of their eyes. The individual will usually pace around during the episodes of pain, unable to stay still for long. When they sit many may rock back and forth in an attempt to sooth the discomfort (sometimes this helps).
While migraine sufferers prefer to lie down during an attack, most people with a cluster headaches say that lying down worsens the pain.
Chronology of cluster headaches (time patterns)
A cluster period typically lasts from 1 to 12 weeks. They often start at similar calendar moments – perhaps during springtime or at some time in the fall (autumn).
Episodic cluster headaches – patients experience a series of searing headaches for about one week. Then nothing for six to twelve months. Then the week repeats itself.
Chronic cluster headaches – in this case the cluster periods can persist for several months, even for a year or longer. While periods of remission (periods with no pain) are short; perhaps just a month long.
A cluster period may consist of:
Daily occurrences, with symptoms appearing several times each day.
Just one attack, lasting from 15 minutes to up to three hours.
Attacks occur each day at approximately the same time.
Most attacks occur between 9pm and 9am (source: The Mayo Clinic, USA)
The pain will suddenly go as quickly as it appeared. Sufferers will be pain-free afterwards, and are often worn out.
If you start getting headaches, it is advisable to see your doctor. Usually, headaches do not have an underlying cause (some illness or condition). However, sometimes they do. It is important for the doctor to rule out any possible underlying causes.
What are the risk factors for cluster headaches?
In medicine, a risk factor is a condition, illness, situation or environment which raises the risk of developing a disease or condition. For example, obese people are more likely to develop diabetes type 2 compared to people of normal weight. Therefore, obesity is a risk factor for diabetes type 2.
For cluster headaches, the risk factors include:
Being male – approximately 8 in every 10 sufferers are male.
Being an adult – nearly all suffers say their cluster headaches started after they were 20 years old.
Ethnic ancestry – people of African ancestry are twice as likely to suffer from cluster headaches, compared to Caucasian people.
Smoking - the majority of male sufferers are smokers.
Alcohol consumption – a significant proportion of sufferers claim that alcohol is a key trigger during a cluster period (not during remission periods).
Genetics – if you have a close relative (parent or sibling) who has (had) cluster headaches, your risk of having them yourself is greater.
What are the causes of cluster headaches?
Experts are unsure why cluster headaches occur. Some researcher neurologists have found that during an attack there is a great deal more activity in the hypothalamus – an area of the brain that controls body temperature, hunger, and thirst. It is suggested that perhaps that area of the brain releases chemicals that cause blood vessels to widen, resulting in a greater bloodflow to the brain, and subsequent headaches.
If the hypothalamus does act in this way, nobody knows why. We do know that such things as alcohol or a sudden rise in temperature, or exercising in hot weather may trigger attacks.
Biology – The cyclical nature of cluster headaches suggests there it may be linked to our biological clock, which is located in the hypothalamus.
Hormones - researchers have found that many people who suffer from cluster headaches have unusual levels of melatonin and cortisol during their attacks.
Apart from alcohol, cluster headaches are not linked to the consumption of any foods. Even with alcohol, it is only a trigger when the sufferer is in the middle of a cluster period. Some association has been found between cluster headaches and mental stress or anxiety.
Experts say there may be a link between cluster headaches and some medications, such as nitroglycerin, which is used for the treatment of heart disease.
What are the treatment options for cluster headaches?
Currently, public opinion states that there is no treatment that can get rid of cluster headaches completely. Modern therapy aims to alleviate some of the symptoms, shorten the periods of headaches, and reduce their frequency.
OTC (over-the-counter, no prescription required) painkillers, such as aspirin or ibuprofen are not effective for cluster headaches; because the pain comes on rapidly and goes away quickly too. By the time the medication has started to work the headache has probably gone. Therefore, many medications and treatments for cluster headaches are either aimed more at prevention, or fast action.
Fast-acting treatments (acute treatments)
Inhaling 100% oxygen – most patients find that if they breathe in oxygen through a mask at 7 to 10 liters per minute they experience significant relief of symptoms within 15 minutes. The only problem with this therapy is that the patient has to have an oxygen cylinder and regulator close at hand – carrying them around can be cumbersome. There are some small units on the market. In some cases this kind of therapy only postpones symptoms, rather than alleviating them.
Local anesthetic nasal drops. It is very effective for the treatment of cluster headaches.
Surgery – if patients do not respond adequately to aggressive treatments, or cannot tolerate some medications, surgery may be recommended – even so, surgery is very rare. Surgery can only be performed once, and is only suitable for sufferers who have pain on just one side of the head. Surgical procedures include:
Conventional surgery – the surgeon cuts part of the trigeminal nerve, which serves the area behind and around the eye. This is not a procedure of first choice as there are risks to the patient’s eye.
Glycerol injection – glycerol is injected into the facial nerves. This effective treatment is safer than other surgical procedures.
Stimulator (still being tested) – a small device is implanted over the occipital nerve and sends impulses via electrodes. According to researchers from the Mayo Clinic, USA, a significant number of patients experienced reduced chronic headache pain. The device appears to be well tolerated and safe to use. Another study is looking into implanting a stimulator in the hypothalamus. The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE), the UK body that approves drugs and therapies for National Health Service (NHS) use, has not yet assessed either treatment.
Prevention of cluster headaches
As the medical experts are not yet sure what the causes of cluster headaches are, it is not possible to recommend proven measures for prevention. A comprehensive preventive strategy is vital for managing the cluster headaches – simply using acute therapies is not enough.
The following may help reduce the risk of future attacks:
Alcohol – during a period when headaches occur alcohol may trigger attacks. Abstaining from alcohol during these periods will help reduce the number of headaches. Alcohol does not appear to be a trigger during periods of remission.
Inhaled nitroglycerin – this medication causes blood vessels to dilate (enlarge) and can cause headache cluster attacks. The NHS (National Health Service), UK, recommends that cluster headache sufferers avoid this medication.
Exercising in hot weather – this is a well known trigger for cluster headache. Sufferers should avoid doing anything which may cause their body’s temperature to rise rapidly.
Smoking – a significantly higher percentage of cluster headache sufferers are smokers, compared to the rest of the population. Although not proven, some suggest that giving up smoking may help.
Cold Laser Kills Your Migraines… Naturally
In searching for new posts on alternative and natural migraine relief, this organisation caught my eye. If results are as good as it claims, I wished it had been around when I was looking for effective treatment!
BioVeda Technologies is a two year old company founded by a small group of doctors and practice management professionals that have over 50 years of combined experience in the holistic and alternative health care industry.
They specialize in scientifically integrating holistic medical philosophy with modern technology providing an alternative, non-invasive and natural approach to health and wellness.
This pioneering technology and medical devices to licensed health care practitioners seeking to expand their practice by providing therapeutic relief to their patient’s acute and chronic conditions.
They claim that thanks to their unique understanding of how environmental substances can impact and influence normal body function, they are able to provide assessment and therapy for a wide range of acute and chronic systemic conditions by utilizing NSRT or Neurological Stress Reduction Therapy. The technology is patented, FDA cleared and fully automated. Neurological stress reduction is achieved using their proprietary LASER (Light And Sound Energy Relaxation) technique that first assesses the specific substances that cause stress on the nervous system followed by positively conditioning the body to react neutrally or appropriately to the identified harmless substances.
Watch this video:
Their goal as a company is to help as many people realize improved health and relief using our technology by getting our medical device into as many capable doctor’s hands as possible. They are guided by a patient before profit approach and look for doctors that share their principles and ideology.
For more information, their website is http://biovedawellness.com
If anyone has used this service, I’d be very interested to hear from you.
If you’ve found this post helpful, please leave a comment below.
Oranges Can Cause Magnesium Deficiency… and Migraines
The next post is brought to you thanks to Amber Stephenson who is a member of my facebook page aptly called Natural Migraine Relief. She found the part about oranges causing magnesium deficiency in some migraine sufferers, interesting. I have to say I was intrigued as well.
Here is the article:
The idea that oranges are considered a possible trigger for migraine has surprised many of us, as orange juice is usually considered to be beneficial in our diet.
Not if you are sensitive to citrus. The citrus group of foods is a known allergen, including fruits such as oranges, lemons, limes and grapefruit. Additionally, a lot of commercial orange juice is squeezed with the rind on, subsequently bruising it and releasing synephrine, a vasoconstrictor.
There have been links between migraine headaches and synephrine as well as related vasoconstrictors, so it makes sense that this could be a trigger. Many patients found that freshly squeezed orange juice made at home had no adverse effect.
A 2004 study found that: “In migraine patients, plasma levels of octopamine and synephrine were higher compared with controls, although in migraine with aura, the difference was not significant”.(1)
Synephrine is a stimulant that raises blood pressure, which can also cause migraines. The theory being that migraine sufferers with a citrus allergy can gain relief from a low dosage of daily blood pressure medication.
Citrus fruits also cause magnesium deficiency in some patients, and magnesium deficiency has been linked to migraine without aura. In a study where thirty migraine patients were treated with magnesium versus ten treated with placebo, the number of patients experiencing relief was so high that the possibility of the test results being coincidental was less than a 1 in 1000 chance.(2) The magnesium was administered as a magnesium citrate supplement, 600mg per day, orally. Patients were assessed by computerized tomography before and after the three month treatment period.
Citrus fruits also contain histamine, another suspect in food related allergies. A study at Texas Tech in El Paso TX found a correlation between high histamine levels and migraine attacks in susceptible persons.
An unhappy relationship between hypoglycemia and migraine can be heightened by drinking of orange juice, lemonade or other citrus juice in an attempt to raise the blood sugar – the orange juice can actually increase the migraine pain and the blood sugar level is blamed instead. This justifies the importance of maintaining a food diary and testing for food allergies.(3)
One woman related how she had taken migraine medication daily for years, washing it down with an 8 oz glass of orange juice each morning. Finally, when her sons were diagnosed, it became apparent that by giving them juice daily, she had simply been stimulating the cycle of migraines. Incidentally, orange flavored drinks such as Tang and Sunny D also contain migraine triggering substances similar to the natural fruits, so if citrus is a problem for you, avoid them as well!
Elimination of citrus is much simpler than many other migraine trigger foods, and is relatively easy to live without. For people suffering severe food intolerance migraines, living without orange juice, lemonade and key lime pie was a minor exclusion from their diet.
Sources:
(1) pubmed15159465.do, Cure Hunter, 05/25/2004
(2) Magnesium Research, Jun 2008;21(2):101-8. PMID: 18705538, by Koseoglu E, Talaslioglu A, Gonul AS, Kula M. Erciyes University, Medicine Faculty, Neurology Department, Kayseri, Turkey
(3) Leira R, Rodriguez R, Revista de Neurologia 1996 May;24(129):534-8
Research by Grace-Alexander
When I used to have migraines, bananas would give me migraines and I thought it was the excess potassium but I couldn’t find any back up in science.
I was allergic to a number of foods (any kind of cheese except cottage cheese, coffee, chocolate, tuna fish, grapes, not gluten or wheat though etc) Since I got completely rid of my migraines, I also got rid of my food allergies and thankfully now can eat anything.
I believe that you can too.
Amber told me she’s researching all types of foods that trigger migraines and that don’t and that she’s really starting to go head over heels into Migraine Research which is GREAT because there is a lot of information on the web and I would love all the natural solutions, remedies and treatments be listed on one website (err.. this one!) for your benefit.
So thank you again Amber for sharing this with everyone.
How to Relieve Stomach Migraines Naturally
Migraines are usually known as severe headaches but there are also stomach migraines, which if untreated, are also as painful. Although rare, this kind of migraine is treated via medication and other easy steps.
Stomach migraines are conditions of the health that can bring about extreme pain to a person. There are varied causes, signs, and treatments of such migraines and those will actually depend on an individual’s lifestyle. This kind of migraine should not be viewed as an illness, as it is one of your body’s way to inform and warn you that there is something wrong with your health.
How does one then identify a stomach migraine? The symptom that is usually experienced by a patient is internal aching in the stomach. This is because the muscles of the stomach vigorously contract to ease the pain. Other people may feel bloated or otherwise experience an acidic tummy, even for those non-hyper acidic folks.
There are also those who occasionally vomit and feel nauseous. It is also possible that the stomach pain may spread to key muscle areas located in the torso, making you feel weak all of the sudden, like you are about to faint. The pain chemical prostaglandin is actually responsible for the feeling of pain spreading throughout.
Some may suffer more than just stomach pains, as headaches may concurrently occur, which can sometimes immobilize the patient. Because of this, many of those who suffer from stomach migraines have high anxiety levels, which cause them to also increase their level of adrenaline. This actually makes the situation worse.
Children are the usual victims of this ailment, especially those between three to ten years of age. This often makes it difficult for parents to identify it as a stomach migraine because their kids have a hard time describing what they are experiencing. To address this, consult your pediatrician when the problem occurs.
To treat a stomach migraine, the first thing you have to do is minimize your consumption of food that is loaded with artificial flavor and substances. This will ease the options of the stomach in order to stabilize its activities. Next on the to-do list is to drink beverages that are not acidic, nor should they contain substances that are acidic. It is also beneficial to consult a gastroenterologist to avoid attacks in the future. And when visiting the doctor, make sure that you explain clearly to him or her what type of food you have eaten as well as other activities you have been taking on so that proper evaluation can be done regarding your condition.
Article from: www.healthbulb.com/migraines/how-to-treat-migraines-of-the-stomach/
Sile’s personal note: I found that drinking room temperature Seven Up or Sprite in very small quantities actually relieved my stomach when I had stomach migraines. Alternatively warmed water with a spoonful of sugar and lemon calmed the compulsive hiccup sensation in my stomach.
What Are Menstrual Migraines?
Menstrual headaches or migraines appear to occur when estrogen levels in the blood drop during the menstrual cycle. Estrogen is involved in setting the threshold for pain activity. Falling estrogen levels are associated with a greater sensitivity to pain and increased activity in body systems that cause inflammation. These changes can make women more susceptible to experiencing several different types of pain, such as headache, cramps, and muscle or joint aches, just before or during their menstrual period.
Taking oral contraceptive pills (i.e., birth control pills) can exaggerate the drop in estrogen levels before the start of menstrual bleeding. Consequently, taking the pill can sometimes worsen migraine patterns. Many women will experience an improvement in their health and a decrease of or even no migraines after menopause.
There are a number of natural medicinal and non-medicinal treatments for the prevention of menstrual migraine.
Non-Medicinal Treatments for Menstrual Migraine
Women with migraine are generally more susceptible to dietary, physical, environmental, and other triggers for migraine attacks during the week before and the first few days of their period. Following are some guidelines that can decrease the likelihood of having a migraine from these triggers.
- Eat regularly scheduled, well-balanced meals. Avoid missing meals because low blood sugar and hunger are frequent triggers for migraine attacks. On the other hand, avoid eating sweets or meals the contain a lot of carbohydrates because doing so might lead to a rapid drop in blood sugar levels two to three hours after you have these foods (this is sometimes called a “sugar or carbohydrate crash”).
- Drink plenty of fluid. Avoid dehydration because this too is a frequent migraine trigger.
- Get a good night’s sleep. Follow a regular and consistent schedule of waking and sleeping. Avoid going to bed late, “sleeping in,” becoming sleep deprived, or a haphazard sleep schedule.
- Stay away from well-known migraine triggers such as wine, beer, or other alcohol containing drinks; chocolate and other sweets; aged cheeses such as cheddar or Brie; and salty foods, especially during the week before your period.
- Participate in a regular aerobic exercise program. If you have not been exercising regularly, discuss exercise plans with your doctor and set up a physical conditioning plan that matches your needs. Start your exercise program slowly and gradually build up your level of activity as your physical condition improves.
- Learn and regularly practice biofeedback and other relaxation techniques. These types of treatment have demonstrated excellent benefit in clinical studies; and best of all, there are no potential side effects.
Above content provided by the National Pain Foundation in partnership with Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. For advice about your medical care, consult your doctor.
