Monday, May 28, 2007

It's Not My Pain

I am sipping my coffee (some odd Indiana Jones inspired flavor from Boca Java) and shaking my head. The forums on the Internet are probably an anthropologist's dream of unique and strange behavior. They are intriguing, often helpful, a great way to meet others with like minds, and yet, they are also occasionally disturbing (but I'm preaching to the choir, I suspect).

Here's the latest. In response to a client (and my own interests), I posted a question about migraines and alternative methods of dissipating them in an alternative health Google forum. I have noticed now that it has gotten way off the subject and seems to be a battle about the legitimacy of acupuncture, chiropractors, does money exists, and other diatribes. So much for relieving the old headache.

However, I have received some interesting suggestions and remedies that I thought I would share (please note that this is not an endorsement of mentioned ideas. It is merely intended for the enjoyment of the reader):

  1. Organic coffee enemas
  2. Chinese herbs
  3. Getting rid of commercial household cleaners
  4. Drinking more water
  5. Adding a little bit of sea salt (trace amount) to water to balance trace minerals
  6. Acupuncture
  7. Chiropractors
  8. Pharmaceuticals
  9. Increasing magnesium
  10. Psychology

There were more, but these standout. The one I like the best and actually has helped me (my client is opting for drinking more water, along with my suggestion of relaxation and meditation) is a simple suggestion - It's not my pain. My family history includes brain tumors and head injuries. It was suggested that my subconscious mind may have taken on this pain of my loved ones. And saying to myself (along with deep breathing) that "it's not my pain" seems to really alleviate a lot of my head aches.

If you care to add any of your success stories in relation to headaches or migraines (or anything that you feel is pertinent), please share!

5 comments:

Lee Darrow said...

I am SO sorry to hear that you are a fellow migraine sufferer. I have had them since I was very young, my first being at about age 7 or so, as I recall.

One thing to look into with regard to these nasties in food allergies and, indeed, allergies, in general.

I discovered, to my dismay, that I am very sensitive to nitrites and nitrates in meats, which means that I have serious difficulties with imported hams and some types of sausages, particularly pork and pork roasts, as many of these products are heavily laced with these chemicals as preservatives. If I eat more than one mouthful and I am on the train to a three-day migraine that can be incapacitating, to say the least.

Preventative measures have helped - diet control, particularly, has helped, but so has a very minimal dose of Topomax per day, which seems to keep the neck muscles (part of my triggering mechanism) from going off on me and the use of Allegra-D (prescription level), too, helps.

I came to this when my migranes hit a level of one every 10 days or so about two years ago.

Now, I might have one once per month and those are controllable through self hypnosis, hypnosis CD's and general pain medication.

Since there are several kinds of migraines, as well as other bad headaches that are even more painful, such as cluster headaches, you might want to look further into the medical side of your condition with a neurologist, if you already haven't, given your family's history.

Regardless of whether you get the flashing lights, nausea, sound sensitivity or not, these things suck gravel through a shop-vac and can be precursors to a stroke, so please, if you haven't, already, get a workup by a neuro-doc.

It could save your life.

Respectfully,

Lee Darrow, C.H.

The Transparent Hypnotist said...

Wow. You were young when you started having migraines. That's awful!

Nitrates make a lot of sense as do any preservative.

What do you think of Topomax? Do you find many or any side affects?

Lee Darrow said...

Many people report a "deadening" of the intellect and I have found that, rarely, I will group for a word that I know that I should know or to recall a bit of trivia that I think I should have at my fingertips, but generally, I have not noted much.

One benefit to it is that I have lost a little bit of weight while on it! Not much, maybe about 8 pounds or so, but, still...!

And, for a time, I did have some trouble sleeping, but there were other things going on at the same time that could have contributed to that as well, so it's difficult to attribute the sleep situation to the Topomax...

Overall, on the very minimal dose that I'm on, I can't say that I have many, or hardly any, complaints about it.

Thanks for asking and I appreciate your commisseration.

Lee

Anonymous said...

I find a relaxation self-hypnosis session about 50% effective for aborting a migraine, when combined with Tylenol and a triptan.

For prevention I use Pizotifen (a serotonin agonist), trigger point release on my neck (a major cause of tension headache and migraine) and magnesium supplements. Can't vouch for the efficacy of the magnesium yet, although it has helped a lot with hand tremors.

At their peak I had almost an average of two migraines per day, at the moment I'm down to about one a week.

The Transparent Hypnotist said...

Thanks Nathan! That's awesome about the decrease! Keep us posted on your thoughts about magnesium. Do you know which kind you are taking, as in sulfide (I think) or citrate?