3 Kinds of Headaches and How to Treat Them

Headache is a symptom of pain whether serious or not. It occurs in migraines, tension-type headaches and cluster headaches. The location may be in one part of your face or may be in the whole head. Well, if you feel the pain sometimes can be difficult to describe.

There are different types of headaches, their causes and more importantly, how to make them go away.

Migraines

Migraines are severe headaches that affect more boys than that girls, and more women than men. The cause isn’t clear, but genes do play a role.

Aside from pain, there are other symptoms, such as sensitivity to bright lights, an odd smell in the air, swirling colors, confusing thought patterns. Auras can occur a few seconds to a couple hours in advance. They usually but not always subside once the actual migraine hits.

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Migraine Treatments

B Vitamins:

• Vitamin B12: B12 deficiency can cause some serious problems like migraine vulnerability.
• Folate: In women migraine sufferers, take more folate had reduces migraine attacks. Higher doses may be better; 1 mg folate was ineffective, while 2 mg folate was an effective prophylactic.
• Riboflavin: In a research, patients who suffered from migraines have a Riboflavin deficiency. A 2004 study found that giving riboflavin to patients with migraine reduced their frequency and resulted in fewer uses of anti-migraine abortive meds. Riboflavin decreased migraines in kids and teens in one study, but others have had mixed results. All in all, it appears safe and effective for adults, and perhaps worth a shot in kids (just don’t get your hopes up).

Magnesium: Taking magnesium supplements will help to prevent migraines. According to the studies that during a migraine attack shown a low magnesium level. Therefore, magnesium deficiency and migraines may be related. What important is to consult a doctor.

Red meat: Red meat is the best source of both L-carnitine, riboflavin, and vitamin B12. Throw some sauteéd spinach in there and you’ve got a big dose of L-carnitine, riboflavin, and magnesium. Make it beef heart and you’ll get some CoQ10 as well. Make it liver and you’ve got yourself some folate.

Just don’t forget the dual nature of red meat. Red meat may help your migraine, improve your body composition, boost your performance in the gym, increase bone mineral density, and help your grandma’s brain work better, but it’s going to kill you!

Triggers: According to Chris Kresser, the most common triggers are foods containing histamine, tyramine, or arginine. Actually not all foods and drinks, but it can be trigger by the common household chemicals and perfumes. Stressful situations, powerful emotions and non-corporeal phenomena can also be triggers for some individuals.

Supplementation: In a recent research gave a proprietary magnesium, riboflavin, and CoQ10 supplement to migraine sufferers. The supplement was a huge success, reducing symptom severity and duration.

Meditation: Mindfulness meditation seems to work.

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Cluster Headaches

Cluster headaches are probably the most painful type of headache, but they don’t last as long as a typical migraine. The pain usually on one side of the head, usually centralized around the eye, and come in waves or “clusters.” Cluster headaches are more common in men than women.

Cluster Headache Treatments

Psychedelics: May help to reduce the severity of cluster headaches.

Sex hormone replacement: Cluster headaches frequently appear in people with low testosterone levels. When you give testosterone to male cluster headache sufferers with low testosterone, symptoms improve. Half experience total remission.

Circadian hygiene: For decades, researchers have found many examples of circadian misalignment in patients suffering from cluster headaches.

• Headaches has been linked to a wide range of sleep problems.
• In non-sufferers, melatonin and cortisol secretion are synchronized; as one goes up, the other goes down. In cluster headache patients, there is no synchronization. Almost half show no evidence of melatonin or cortisol rhythm at all.
• Individuals with cluster headaches are more likely to sleep poorly. Headache frequency correlates with daylight hours, increasing during winter and late autumn and decreasing during spring, summer, and early fall.

Melatonin supplementation (10mg in the evening in one study) seems to help. I’d imagine that getting more natural light during the day and less artificial light at night will also help.

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Tension Headaches

The most common type of headache is tension headaches which usually feels like a constant aching or pressure. This type of headache, have many different causes, some physical, some psychological. Women are more likely than men to get tension headaches.

Tension Headache Treatments

Vitamin D/Sun:

There’s a fairly consistent relationship between latitude and headache occurrence. The further away you are from the equator, the less sun and the more headache. This probably holds true for migraine as well.

Massage: Gently massage your temple until the tension headache diminishes. It can be more complicated, employing trigger point therapy. Maybe it’s Thai massage. Maybe it’s just your significant other rubbing your neck and head while you watch Netflix together. Perhaps the most reliable way to alleviate a tension headache with massage is to focus on the sub occipital muscles along the base of your skull.

You don’t necessarily need a massage therapist every time. Touch heals, and healers needn’t be experts.

Chiropractic: Spinal manipulation may help some tension headaches, particularly combined with massage. It improves range of motion along the cervical spine, which should also help prevent future headaches.

Exercise: Regular exercise can reduce  headaches.

Address posture: People with chronic tension headaches tend to show more forward head posture and have more active (read: painful/tender) trigger points along the neck and upper shoulders. Avoid text neck. Break up sitting time and especially staring-at-a-device time.

Trigger point therapy: Trigger point therapy purpose is to alleviate the source of pain, so individuals with tension headache can try this kind of therapy. You can experience a significant decrease in pain with this treatment.

Relax: Just relax and find a quiet place and be calm.

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Source: marksdailyapple

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