complementary medicine

There are now many alternative and natural treatments to help people who suffer from headaches and migraines. In this article
I write about these type of remedies and also recommend the types of food people should avoid if they are always suffering from headaches and migraines.

There are many causes of headaches including:

Excessive amounts of alcohol

Over eating

An incorrect posture

Too much stress

Problems with teeth

Problems with a person eyes

It is important that we learn to deal with stress and to become more care-free. A lot of people react to stressful situations by turning to alcohol. This can only add to their problems and can lead to even more headaches.

If the person drinks to excess they may wake up with a hangover. If this happens to you I would advise you to drink plenty of water as you are likely to be dehydrated. Vitamin C is also useful to remove the alcohol quicker from your body.

If you are unable to live a stress-free life
it may be worth looking at alternative treatments. These are the types of natural therapy I would advise:

Osteopathy

Acupuncture

Homeopathy

Yoga

Tai Chi

The Alexander Technique


There are also certain foods and drinks which are a must to avoid for people who have regular headaches. These include:

Citrus fruits such as oranges and grapefruit

Chocolate

Cheese

Alcohol


Migraines

Headaches are annoying enough
however migraines can be severely painful. I have suffered with migraines for a number of years and have now studied the subject seeking a cure. I am determined to not have to live my life
having these migraines regularly throughout the year
as the pain is unbearable. Maybe I am a bit of a wimp
but they really do cause me a lot of grief.

There are a number of reasons or causes for migraines. These include bright lights
certain foods or loud noises. I have to say that I think my own migraines are caused by stress and anxiety. I have always been a worrier and have suffered with a low self-esteem for most of my life. There are many reasons for this lack of confidence
which I will not bore you with at this stage.

I decided that I needed to deal with my stress as well as learning about how to eradicate the migraines.

I am now able to relax and have accepted that no one person is perfect. I realise that I will make mistakes and as long as I learn from them
then that is OK. Worrying does not help me in any case therefore I have to stop doing it.

I have also used alternative health therapies to help me to reduce my stress including:

Herbal remedies

Meditation

Yoga

Tai Chi


I still have headaches as I have to admit that I do like to have a few beers around once a week. I have not however had a migraine for around nine months now. I am a lot happier in life and have learnt how to manage my levels of stress. I regularly meditate and use other natural remedies as mentioned above. This is what has helped me and I hope it helps you to.

There are many new migraine headache treatments available that can be both safe and effective. Natural treatments for migraine headaches are usually safer and cheaper than traditional pain medications. And in many instances they can relieve pain just as well or even better than prescription or non-prescription drugs. The possibility of a negative reaction to a safe and natural migraine headache treatment is still there
but it is less with most natural treatment methods than it is with pain-relieving medications.

Every person on the face of the earth is unique. Their body chemistry is different than anyone else's. One person may find relief from their migraine headaches with one type of treatment while someone else may try that same treatment and find no relief at all. No two people will experience the same reaction from the same treatment. But why is that?

Every body is made up of a mixture of chemicals. Every person produces certain chemicals in their body so that they will be able to function at their best. Histamines will increase gastric secretion and dilate the capillaries. Insulin is secreted by the pancreas and helps regulate the blood sugar levels. Hormones are produced by the body for many different functions. Adrenaline (epinephrine) is produced in response to stress. Every body is unique and produces different chemicals in differing amounts. When a person takes aspirin (a chemical) for their migraine headaches it changes the chemical make-up of that person's body.

You've always heard that when two chemicals
in the same amounts
at the same temperature
etc. are mixed together they will cause the same reaction. That may be true
but when one chemical (such as aspirin) is taken by two separate people their reactions will never be exactly the same because no two people have identical chemicals in their body. One person taking aspirin will not have the same reaction as someone else taking aspirin. And it's the same with natural migraine headache treatments. Since no two people are identical no two people will respond exactly the same to a treatment method for migraine headaches.

So just because one migraine headache treatment does not work for one person does not mean it won't work for your migraine headaches. There are many effective alternatives to taking medications when it comes to relieving migraine headaches. You just have to try one for yourself to see if it will work for you.

One natural and popular treatment method for migraine headaches is chiropractic care
or chiropractic manipulations. Studies have shown that over 80% of headache patients find some type of relief for their headaches with chiropractic treatment. And chiropractic treatment has been shown to be extremely safe. Spinal problems cause headaches and when these spinal problems are treated by chiropractors a high percentage of their patients experience relieve from their pain.

Another natural way to relieve migraine headaches is biofeedback. This is a safe and potentially effective way to eliminate pain. Biofeedback is not actually a treatment
but a training program designed to help a person develop the ability to control their autonomic (involuntary) nervous system. Functions that are normally automatic in the body
such as blood pressure regulation or heart rate can be controlled voluntarily. This technique makes it possible for a person to control their own heart rate
blood pressure
skin temperature or relaxation of their muscles.

It's no secret that stress causes muscle tension. And nobody will deny that muscle tension causes pain and headaches. And it's also a fact that by relaxing this muscle tension
especially in the neck and head
it is possible to relieve the migraine headaches or neck pain that is being caused by the tension. With biofeedback the machinery is not always necessary. Once the biofeedback technique is learned there is no longer any need for the equipment. The patient with migraine headaches can now produce the desired effect at any time. A person that has been trained with biofeedback can control some of their bodily functions
such as muscle relaxation
which can help relieve their headache pain.

Another cause of headaches can be the intake of too much salt. Some people just can't get enough of it. They pour it onto their food with wreckless abandon. And too much salt can and does cause headaches. What's the solution? Simply lessening the salt intake can sometimes prevent the headaches from occurring.

Food sensitivities have also been shown to cause migraine headaches in some people. Foods such as cheese
alcohol
MSG (monosodium glutamate - a food additive)
yeast
wheat
nuts
avocados
beans
bananas
oranges (and other citrus fruits)
pork
vinegar (and pickled foods)
dairy products
caffeine
chocolate
onions and others can cause migraines. Foods that cause migraine headaches are called "migraine triggers." People who experience migraine headaches because of food allergies can reduce or eliminate their pain by eliminating the foods that cause the headaches.

It sounds simple
but it takes a little detective work to figure out which foods
if any
are causing the migraine headaches. So how can you determine which foods are the culprits? The logical way is to keep a diary of what you eat and when. Get a small notebook
with each page representing one day
and make three columns on each of the pages. The first column on the left side of the page will contain the hours in the day. The second column down the middle of the page will be a list of the foods eaten that day. And the third column on the right side of the page will list the symptoms (headaches) that you experience.

Here's how the food diary works: if you had an orange
cereal and milk for breakfast at 8 AM you would write "orange
cereal
milk" in the middle (food) column directly to the right of 8 AM in the left (time) column. Make a note of everything that you eat on this list and at what time you ate them.

Next
whenever you experience a migraine headache write "migraine headache" or "headache" in the right (symptoms) column that corresponds with the time (in the left column) your headache began. For example
if you started feeling pain from one of your migraine headaches at 2 PM you would write "headache" in the right (symptoms) column directly across from 2 PM in the left (time) column.

Once you've had enough time to experience a few migraine headaches you will be able to examine your food diary to determine which foods you ate shortly before you began experiencing your pain. For example
if you had 3 migraine headaches over a one-month period
and you had milk shortly before each of the migraine attacks
milk may be the culprit. It may take a few weeks or even a few months to come to any conclusions
but over time
by figuring out which foods or ingredients in these foods
are causing your pain
you will be able to eliminate these ingredients and relieve your pain caused by these foods.

Probably the most common cause of headaches is just plain old stress. People who experience tension in their lives can get headaches from their increased tension. Stress can be caused by many things including work-related stress or family-related stress. And although it's not always possible to eliminate the cause of the stress it is often possible to relieve the muscle tension and pain that originates from the stress.

Biofeedback training (as explained above) is one way to help reduce stress. Other ways are taking a warm bath or shower
lying down and relaxing in a quiet dark room
having someone massage your neck and head (temporal region) muscles to help relieve your tension and muscle spasms or placing something cold (ice) on the back of the neck (at the base of the skull). When using ice it should not be placed directly on the skin. Some wet paper towels that have had the water wrung out of them should be placed between the ice and the skin. Regular exercise can also
over time
reduce tension.

We have discussed 5 natural treatment methods that are available to migraine headache patients. They are all considered safe and are effective for many people. There are many other natural treatment methods out there for you to try. If you have headaches it may be beneficial for you to try some of these treatments or search for others on your own. But as a word of advice
it is always a good idea to talk with a chiropractor or medical doctor before treating yourself for a health condition.