Mercola.com
Call Toll Free: 877-985-2695
SEARCH:
The World's #1 Natural Health Website

INVITE YOUR FRIENDS
Import Email Addresses from almost any email service to invite your friends.
Invite Your Friends Invite Your Friends
BROWSE BY
CATEGORY

TRANSLATE THIS PAGE:
Arabic Translation Chinese Translation Dutch Translation French Translation German Translation
Korean Translation Japanese Translation Portugese Translation Russian Translation Spanish Translation

Top Products

Safe Solutions for Debiltating Migraines

Posted By Dr. Mercola | January 25 2007 | 4,640 views

Women who get chronic headaches are also more likely to be depressed, feel tired, and have a wide array of other physical symptoms, according to a new study.

The study examined more than 1,000 women at headache clinics in five states. Of them, 593 had fewer than 15 headaches per month (episodic headaches) and 439 had more than 15 headaches per month (chronic headaches). Ninety percent of the women were diagnosed with migraines.

Chronic headache sufferers were four times more likely to report symptoms of major depression, and three times more likely to report symptoms such as low energy, trouble sleeping, nausea, dizziness, pain or problems during intercourse, or pain in the stomach, back, arms, legs, and joints.

Patients with severely disabling migraines were 32 times more likely to have major depression if they also reported other severe symptoms.

This suggests a common cause of both migraines and major depression. More studies are currently underway to test whether severe headache, severe physical symptoms and major depression are linked through a dysfunction of the neurotransmitter serotonin.

 

Dr. Mercola's Comments:

It's no surprise that women who suffer from migraines and chronic headaches are often plagued with depression, along with many other physical symptoms. Headaches are so common that Americans dish out more than $1 billion every year to get relief from migraines. And the pain associated with migraines can be so severe that some patients will actually consider suicide as a reasonable alternative.

The good news here is that most of the very same solutions for treating migraines also work to ease depression, eliminating the need for useless drugs that often worsen the problem.

Among them:

Well over 90 percent of the many hundreds of patients with migraines that I have treated were improved by either removing the allergic triggers in their diet and/or addressing the underlying emotional baggage.

Typically, removing all processed foods, sugar, wheat and pasteurized dairy are highly effective in helping many with migraines.

This is very important for helping you improve your response to stress and also the underlying inflammatory conditions that tend to predispose one to migraines.

I have also found intravenous magnesium to be a very effective tool to abort migraines. It does not seem to work orally, but when given as an IV most migraines disappear in a few minutes. The magnesium causes the blood vessels to dilate and makes the person very warm, depending on how fast the IV is pushed. I usually use a 1500 mg IV for the average adult.

However, as I progressed in my medical understanding I rarely required the use of the IV magnesium as EFT seems to work far more quickly, more effectively and typically provides a permanent solution, unlike IV magnesium.

On Vital Votes, reader Tom from Grandview, Ohio says:

"I have not experienced a headache in about three years.

"I can only speculate as to why that is now the case, because I used to get occasional headaches like everybody else. What I have been doing differently for about three years is I have:

  • Quit taking all prescription and over the counter drugs, and so-called pain remedies.

  • Continued my vitamin, mineral, herbal and food supplementation regimen, and doubled the daily dosages.

  • Quit ingesting all refined and processed 'foods' (sugars, starches and carbo-grains as in white, or other non-whole grain breads) and all prepared foods in a package  are totally avoided. (They are nothing but trans fatty acid and high fructose corn syrup laden poisons).

  • Began a healthy diet of fresh whole organic foods, organic grass fed meat (beef, bison, chicken) and fresh wild fish.

  • Began eating a lot of fresh organic fruit and vegetables, walnuts, pecans, almonds, pumpkin and sunflower seeds between meals.

  • Quit eating all desert pastries, candies, pies, cakes, etc.

  • Cook with grape seed oil, organic butter, olive or coconut oil.

"It is all about the toxins that people ingest, day in and day out, that they believe are nutritional in value when indeed they are very unhealthy. They are being malnourished and they are slowly poisoning their bodies. Those items listed above that I have eliminated from my diet are indeed toxins. They poison the body's cellular structure, and I believe are a direct cause of sickness, pain, discomfort, inflammation, and disease. They upset the delicate balance of one's healthy human bio-chemistry.

"I could just about guarantee that doing as I have done would work for anyone who suffers regular headache pain, or arthritic joint pain and swelling. What I have been doing has eliminated my once severe joint pain, with the additional benefit of no longer experiencing headaches.

"It requires much will-power to forego pain meds when you are in pain, but if one is patient, one will notice one's chronic inflammation and pain subside, usually within two weeks. The gradual lessening of inflammation and joint pain will steadily continue. Within the year one could expect to be joint free and feeling great, and no longer experiencing headaches, as well.

"I am now at the point that I refuse to take even an aspirin to ease the pain of a physically injured muscle. It was tempting, recently,  when I pulled side and back muscles after improperly lifting a heavy object, to seek pain relief, but I tolerated the pain and babied the injured muscles. They healed quicker than they ever had in years prior, as in the days when I would take ibuprofen for every little pain event. Trust me, it is bad medicine.

"Pain meds actually cause further injury to damaged tissues. They mask the pain allowing one to further aggravate an injured body part. They also cause a pain rebound effect. Keep in mind the pain is your body's way of forcing you to rest, so it can properly heal itself."

Other responses to this article can be viewed at Vital Votes, and you can add your own thoughts or vote on comments by first registering at Vital Votes.


Related Links:


Republish this article

 
The World's #1 Natural Health Website

* These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease. If you are pregnant, nursing, taking medication, or have a medical condition, consult your physician before using this product.

Disclaimer: The entire contents of this website are based upon the opinions of Dr. Mercola, unless otherwise noted. Individual articles are based upon the opinions of the respective author, who retains copyright as marked. The information on this website is not intended to replace a one-on-one relationship with a qualified health care professional and is not intended as medical advice. It is intended as a sharing of knowledge and information from the research and experience of Dr. Mercola and his community. Dr. Mercola encourages you to make your own health care decisions based upon your research and in partnership with a qualified health care professional.

*These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease. If you are pregnant, nursing, taking medication, or have a medical condition, consult your physician before using this product.

Disclaimer: The entire contents of this website are based upon the opinions of Dr. Mercola, unless otherwise noted. Individual articles are based upon the opinions of the respective author, who retains copyright as marked. The information on this website is not intended to replace a one-on-one relationship with a qualified health care professional and is not intended as medical advice. It is intended as a sharing of knowledge and information from the research and experience of Dr. Mercola and his community. Dr. Mercola encourages you to make your own health care decisions based upon your research and in partnership with a qualified health care professional.

© Copyright 1997-2012 Dr. Joseph Mercola. All Rights Reserved.

 

More Health News

The Latest Risky Fad to Hit Your Child's Pediatrician's Office

Read More »