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What Is the Ache In Your Head: Headaches Discovered

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Headaches can be debilitating and extremely painful.

Headaches will plague everyone at one point in their life or for the unfortunate, far too many times.

Below are the top three common headaches

… and a few suggestions on prevention and/or treatment.

Tension Headaches

Tension headaches are the most common type of headaches; usually due to muscle tension in the upper neck and shoulders.

Causes
Stress: any type of stress (emotional, physical, work related, family related), missing meals, dehydration, lack of sleep, eye strain (think about computer and tv watching)

Prevention
Be aware of what is triggering your headaches: how has work been, watching too much tv or missed a few meals?

Treatment

– Hydrate yourself: sip water and/or herbal tea
– Take a warm bath
– Castor oil pack over shoulders

Migraine Headaches

Two thirds of people who experience migraines are women. This is an interesting statistics and definitely raises questions about investigating hormone levels. However, with all diseases and illnesses, the causes are multifactorial, so be sure to investigate every aspect of daily lifestyle.

Possible Causes:

Stress: any type of stress (emotional, physical, work related, family related), any type of change (particularly, weather, light, odours), food sensitivities (MSG, gluten, dairy) and hormone levels.

Always consider stress: (any type of stress – emotional, physical, work related, family related), missing meals, dehydration, lack of sleep.

Treatment
– Find a dark space that is quiet
– Cold compresses
– Speak to your doctor about hormone testing and food sensitivities

Sinus Headaches

The sinuses are located in your forehead, around the eyes and nose. When they swell, they irritate the nerves in the area and constrict the blood vessels resulting in a sinus headache.

Possible Causes

Infection of the sinuses due to head cold. There is a link between sinus health and the health of the digestive system

Always consider: stress (any type of stress – emotional, physical, work related, family related), missing meals, dehydration, lack of sleep.

Treatment
Alternating hot and cold compresses to the sinuses.
Be aware of possible food triggers: wheat/gluten and dairy being the most  common
Take daily probiotic ( email me if you have questions about brands)

Case Studies

A few years ago, I had a 7 year girl visit me with her mother. Her complaint was daily headaches that brought to the nurses office. We look at her diet and I noticed she drank no water; just juice. We made the transition of juice to iced herbal tea. Within a week, her headaches completely went away!

A woman came to my office with chronic sinus infections and headaches. Every six weeks, she went to her MD who gave her antibiotics; this had been going on for years. We immediately took gluten and dairy from her diet and I had her do daily castor oil packs and high doses of probiotics for three months. It was crazy the results; she only had one sinus infection in that three months and has not had one since. She later discovered dairy being her food culprit.

xx

dr. heather

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