The secret behind migraine

2017-05-19

The secret behind migraine

I believe that everyone has had a headache experience. Some headaches are mild and instantaneous, and some headaches can be painful for most of their lives. How do headaches form, and how to deal with them?

Headaches can generally be divided into three categories: vascular headaches, muscle tension headaches, and headaches caused by encephalopathy. Then let’s talk about the characteristics of these three headaches.

Category 1: Vascular headache

Vascular headache can be divided into migraine and cluster headache.

（1）Migraine

People think that they are suffering from migraine when they have a headache on one side of the head. This is a misconception. In fact, migraine has its special symptoms and causes. Approximately 35% of migraine patients have an aura before the onset of the headache. Among them, visual disturbances such as overlapping vision, bright light, color lines and sparkle of color dots, and hallucinations are also a common effects. The headache begins 10 to 20 minutes after the aura occurs, and it is the most painful within an hour. This headache feels very intense, pulsating and located on one side of the forehead, but each attack may not be on the same side, and it may also be on both sides at the same time. occur. The headache can last for 4 hours or more, and then become dull and painful for one or two days. Patients may also experience nausea, nausea, photophobia, diarrhea, cold limbs, and pressure and pain on the head and face. Some people may have an attack every few days, and some people only have an attack once or twice a year.

Most migraine sufferers are women, and the age of onset is 15 to 40 years old. Hormonal changes in the receptor affect many female patients with migraine relief or disappearance after menopause. There is no cure for migraine, but you can take medicine prescribed by western medicine when the symptoms appears to reduce the pain and frequency of attacks, or take preventive medicines to suppress the disease. Certain diets that are prone to migraine attacks include alcohol, chocolate, cheese, lemon, chicken liver, sardines, black vinegar, peanut butter, MSG, bananas, pork, caffeinated drinks, sausages, hot dogs, fermented or preserved foods and tomato.

（2）Cluster Headaches

This kind of headache has no symptoms, it usually occurs in the middle of the night and the pain is very rapid. The headache can be the most severe within 5 to 10 minutes, and the pain lasts for 30 to 45 minutes, rarely more than a few hours. Cluster headache only affects one side of the head, mostly located around the eyes and forehead, half of the face will be red and the eyes on the same side will be congested, watery, nasal red, nasal congestion, runny nose, no nausea. After the headache has passed, the sorrowful feeling will continue for several weeks. During these weeks, the headache can occur once every few days or several times a day, and then suddenly stop the headache for a few months, or one or two years then would reappear after a few months.

Clusters mostly occur in men, mostly in the 20-40 age group. People who smoke, drink alcohol or take vasodilators are more likely to get this disease. This type of headache is also a type of vascular headache. Western medicine can be used for prevention and analgesia, and a Western medicine prescription should be sought.

Category 2: Muscle Tension headache

The headache site occurs in the back of the head and temples as if there is a tight rubberband pressed on the head. The patient will feel that the head is “falling" or “heavy", and the cervical spine will be stretched or painful. The time of headache is relatively irregular, and it is usually easy to occur in a stressful environment. The reason is mostly caused by the working posture. The neck muscles are overworked and headaches are caused by the long-term cervical spine hitting the computer or reading.

Due to the imbalance between the neck and back muscles and the connected spine, the spine is easy to shift and compress the nerves, which makes the nerves unable to effectively control the muscles of the neck and back, and finally causes the cervical spine, back and head to be involved together. Pain, generally taking painkillers or anti-inflammatory drugs can only temporarily relieve the pain, but has no therapeutic effect. Chiropractors will use chiropractic treatments and manual corrections to correct the displaced nerves and relieve the tension of the back, neck and neck muscles, so as to achieve the goal of treating the symptoms and the root causes. Of course, to cure the tension headache of the patient still depends on the patient to maintain daily exercise and correct personal daily posture to maintain the health of the spine and muscles. If you encounter headaches caused by neck pain, you can do the following two neck stretching exercises immediately. If you feel numbness and severe pain in your hands during the stretching process, you should stop immediately and seek medical advice as soon as possible.

Action A: Head forward, then slowly turn your head to the left for five seconds, return to the original position, and then turn your head to the right for five seconds, repeat three times on each side.

Action B: Head up for five seconds, then turn down for five seconds, repeat three times.

Action C: Eyes forward, then hold the head side to the left for five seconds, return to the original position, and then hold the head side to the right for five seconds, repeat three times on each side.

Action A: Cross your hands behind your head, slowly press your head against your hands, give your hands relative resistance, keep your neck still, hold the action for five seconds, relax and repeat the action three times.

Action B: Put your hands on your forehead and repeat the above steps.

Action C: Put one hand on the left, repeat the above steps, then put one hand on the right, repeat the steps, repeat three times on both sides.

In addition to neck stretching exercises, you can also do more exercises to correct the head tilt. First face forward, keep your neck as close as possible to the wall, and then move away from the wall. Keep the movement for five seconds and then slowly repeat six times. At first, you may feel very sore in your neck. It is because the tight muscles and ligaments are stretching. As long as you practice more, the uncomfortable feeling will gradually disappear. In addition, choosing the right pillow and adequate sleep is also the best way to eliminate fatigue and relieve pain.

Daily care of the neck

1. When washing your hair, it is best to rinse under the shower, do not bend your head and wash in the sink.

2. The height between the desk or workbench and the chair should be moderate, and the neck should not be tilted forward.

3. When holding an object higher than your head, use a chair to raise it no matter how heavy it is, and avoid stretching your hand to grab it.

4. The correct lifting and lifting action is to squat down, bring the object close to the body and then slowly lift it up.

5. When driving a long-distance car, take a short break and move your muscles and bones when you get off the car. The distance between the driver’s seat and the steering wheel should be moderate, and the head, neck and spine can be comfortably leaned against the back of the chair.

6. There is no need to reduce any movement, just carefully analyze the entire movement process and correct those that put pressure on the neck. Appropriate exercise can improve the cardiopulmonary function and strengthen the muscles of the whole body, so that the body is maintained in the best condition and is not easily injured.

Category 3: Headache caused by encephalopathy

Encephalopathy refers to brain tumors, cerebrovascular tumors, or other brain diseases that can cause headaches. Most brain tumors dull pain, lying down, coughing, or sneezing will make the headache worse. The headache is more severe when getting up in the morning, in addition to the headache, the patient may experience vomiting, nausea, blurred vision and other neuralgias. If you have the above-mentioned headache symptoms, you must consult a doctor as soon as possible, so that early diagnosis will not delay your condition.

*If you have any enquiries about Chiropractic, please call 2804 6813

Data title: Chiropractor Dr. Matty Wong

(#) This is an individual case, and the actual results vary from person to person.