Headaches
Do you know anyone who claims that they have never suffered from headaches? Our guess is probably not.
Many people suffer from headaches – that sometimes unbearable pain that occurs behind the eyes and forehead or above the back of the neck. The difficulty with diagnosis and treatment of headaches is that there are different kinds, with different causes. So diagnosis becomes a matter of trying to narrow down the specific headache symptoms and what’s causing them. Not an easy task by any means!
And then… there are all kinds of headache relief treatments, from over-the-counter medications (OTC) to prescription drug medications, homeopathic remedies to alternative therapies, ice compresses to dark rooms – the problem is that all of these deal with symptoms and not the cause of your headaches.
It’s kind of like turning up the radio when you hear something that sounds wrong in your car. You won’t hear that noise anymore, but there’s still something making that noise that needs to be looked at!
If you suffer from frequent headache pain, or from headaches that take you out of commission for hours or even days at a time, you really need to keep reading to learn about a natural way to relieve headache pain for good!
Categories of Headaches
In order to come up with a more universal way to classify, diagnose and treat headaches, the International Headache Society agreed to the following categories of headaches in 2007:
- Primary Headaches – More than 90% of all headaches fall under this category, which includes migraine headaches, cluster headaches and tension headaches.
- Secondary Headaches – These include the other 10% of all headaches that result from other medical conditions, such as a sinus infection, brain tumor or aneurism.
- Cranial Neuralgias, Facial Pain, and other Headaches – These include headaches that are caused by inflammation of the nerves in the head or neck and facial pain caused by trigeminal neuralgia and other headaches.
For the purposes of this article, we will be concentrating on primary headaches because they are the most common category of headaches and sinus headaches, a secondary type of headache.
Primary Headaches: Types and Symptoms
There are three types of primary headache – tension headaches, cluster headaches and migraine headaches.
Tension Headaches
These are the most common type of headache. They generally cause mild to moderate pain and may occur frequently as a result of physical or emotional stress. They most likely occur when the muscles that cover the skull contract, causing pain.
- Symptoms of tension headaches include:
- Dull, steady mild to moderate pain on both sides of the head (bilateral)
- Described by some as a band of pressure that circles around the head, with more intense pain above the eyes
- May occur frequently, even daily, or sporadically (no particular pattern), without warning signs
- May be more common during middle age as a result of stresses that are common in this age group
Cluster Headaches
These are a type of common chronic headache that often occur at the same time(s) of the day for several weeks, months or even years at a time. The pain is usually on one side of the head and is accompanied by swelling and tearing in the eye and a stuffy or runny nose. Cluster headaches are far more common in men than in women and usually occur in from the ages of 20 - 40.
Symptoms of a cluster headache include:
- Severe, sharp and steady pain on one side of the head
- Usually occurs 2 – 3 hours after falling asleep during REM (Rapid Eye Movement) stage of sleep
- Worst pain lasts 15 minutes to 3 hours
- Eye and nose on same side as pain may be affected; eye may redden, tear or swell and nose may become stuffy or runny
Migraine Headaches
Migraines are the second most common of the primary headaches; they affect children as well as adults; in childhood the ratio of males to female sufferers is about equal while more adult women than men suffer from migraines.
Symptoms of a migraine headache include:
- Throbbing pain on one side of the head only
- May be precede by an aura – an early warning system that involves a visual disturbance, such as blurriness, seeing zigzag lines or flashes of light
- Nausea, vomiting, sensitivity to light and sound, fatigue, loss of appetite, weakness and/or sweating
Sinus Headaches
Sinus headaches fall into the secondary headaches category. They usually occur when you have a common cold because the buildup of mucous blocks the sinuses. This blockage causes inflammation – the cause of a sinus headache.
Symptoms of a sinus headache include:
- Dull, throbbing pain in sinus cavities located in cheekbones, forehead and across the bridge of the nose
- Facial swelling/inflammation
- Other sinus/cold-related symptoms, such as discharge from the nose, feeling of “fullness” in the ears and fever
Headache Relief Medications and Treatments
There are many different types of headache relief medications and treatments available. What you take or what a doctor may prescribe for you is usually dependent on the type of headaches you have and their causes.
For example, if you were suffering from tension headaches, these are generally treated with over-the-counter (OTC) remedies, such as ibuprofen, acetaminophen and aspirin.
If you are a migraine headache sufferer, there are many types of prescription medications available that are used to prevent migraines or to provide headache pain relief after symptoms are present.
And if you suffer from cluster headaches, preventive medications are often prescribed as well. For sinus headaches, medical doctors often prescribe medication to clear up the primary infection that is the cause of the headache.
Of course, if you have headaches during pregnancy, which can affect many moms-to-be, then there’s a whole different approach altogether!
Some people even find that alternative therapies, such as biofeedback, aromatherapy, meditation, massage and herbal treatments help with relief of headache symptoms.
It’s complicated because there really is no headache relief that works for all types of headaches, but there is a natural solution for all types of headaches that addresses their cause and not just their symptoms. You see, if you address the cause of your headache, you can eliminate symptoms. No symptoms…then no headache relief is needed. Sounds too simple? Read on…
Natural Headache Pain Relief
With so many different types of headaches and the difficulty in diagnosing exactly what type you have in the first place, imagine the amount of “hit or miss” opportunities occur in treatment!
Then… if you do happen to find a treatment for your headaches that works, there’s another problem. The treatment is either aimed at preventing symptoms from occurring in the first place or relieving them after they’ve already started. Does either of these two treatment scenarios address the cause of your headaches (whatever type you happen to have)? No, they don’t.
On the other hand, the sponsors of ChooseNatural.com are natural health care providers who believe in a drug-free approach to locating and correcting the cause of your headaches, so you don’t get them anymore.
How do they do this without drugs? They use gentle and safe spinal adjustments to relieve nerve interference that may be cause of your headache – no matter what kind you have. Our sponsors are chiropractors who have tremendous records of success in helping their patients’ bodies to heal so they no longer suffer from chronic, painful and debilitating headaches. Click here for a Choose Natural sponsor in your area.
Chiropractic Care for Headaches?
You bet! Headaches are one of the most common reasons for a visit to the chiropractor. You see, chiropractors believe that most illnesses and conditions stem from some type of malfunction in the central nervous system. Your nervous system controls every organ, every function, literally every cell in your body. So… when it isn’t functioning at an optimal level, then symptoms begin to appear.
What causes your nervous system to malfunction in the first place? Well, generally it’s the result of nerve interference that occurs when a bone is out of place. And that’s why chiropractors move bones – to put spines back into proper alignment and remove nerve interference so your body can function correctly.
How does a bone become misplaced? Usually you’ve experienced some type of head trauma. Perhaps it happened when you fell and hit your head when you were a toddler. Or, maybe you were involved in a serious automobile accident. The fact is, nearly everyone has been the victim of some type of head trauma in their lives due to an accident or injury. And it’s precisely these types of events that cause the spinal misalignments (bone shifting) that result in nerve dysfunction.
When this happens, the areas of the body that are controlled by the impaired nerves become “disabled” because their communication link to the brain (the affected nerves) is functioning either at half speed or not at all.
Chiropractors receive specific training to be able to locate and correct nerve interference (spinal misalignment), which restores proper brain-body communication and corrects the cause of your headaches. In fact, after any nerve interference is corrected and removed, the body heals itself, reducing or even eliminating the symptoms of any type of headache! Amazing, isn’t it?
Does Chiropractic Really Work for Headaches?
Research into the benefits of chiropractic care for relieving chronic headaches has shown favorable results. One study, which was published in the Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics, involved 218 headache sufferers who received either chiropractic care or drug therapy or both. Initially, there was a 40 – 50% reduction in pain in all three groups. However, four weeks after all care ended, only those who had chiropractic care still had the full benefit of their relief, while those who had received drug therapy lost about half of their improvement.
Another study, conducted at Duke University, compared chiropractic care with drug therapy, using the drug amitriptyline. Both treatments had similar short-term effects on tension headache pain; however, amitriptyline caused adverse reactions (side effects) in 82% of the study participants.
The more impressive findings occurred after all care was discontinued. Patients who had received drug therapy returned to the state they were in prior to the study. However, patients who had received chiropractic care continued to benefit from a significant reduction in headache frequency and severity – even when chiropractic care was discontinued. This leads to the conclusion that chiropractic care can correct the cause of headaches, resulting in lasting improvement beyond the time that a patient is actively under care.
Remarkable research results for sure – the same results that occur every day in our sponsors’ practices. No healthcare provider can guarantee these same results for every patient, but our sponsors can show you testimonials from all types of headache sufferers that pay tribute to the healing power of chiropractic care.
Why don’t you pick up your phone and call one of our sponsors today? Then, make an appointment to visit the sponsor’s practice for an examination and consultation. You’ll be grateful that you’ve finally found a caring and compassionate healthcare professional who wants to help you become headache-free and healthy by addressing the cause of your headache pain. Click here for a Choose Natural sponsor in your area.
