Headaches and migraines.
If you have suffered with headaches and migraines you know how awful they are.
Even the thought of getting another headache can make you feel anxious, change your lifestyle and cause you to worry about things that might trigger the headache. Hypnosis is an adjunct treatment that can help.
If you get headaches and migraines you are not alone. It’s estimated that 50% of the world’s population get headaches and migraines.
Headaches can vary from mild pain to excruciating pain that results in people going to hospital. The words headaches and migraines are often used interchangeably but migraines are considered to produce the worst pain and can result in visual disturbances, nausea, vomiting and an inability to do everyday activities.
Headaches and migraines impact not only the individual who is suffering from the pain but also their families who feel helpless to do anything. Added to this frequent time off work can result in financial difficulties and some people may lose their job.
Headaches vs migraines
Headaches and migraines can cause pain in the head, but migraines will be more severe and have other symptoms.
Why do people get headaches and migraines?
The exact cause of all headaches is not known. It is known that there are physiological changes and there may be environmental and genetic aspects. Stress and anxiety, and hormonal changes also contribute to headaches.
Some people get migraines and headaches every week while others may only have them once or twice in their lifetime.
What triggers headaches and migraines?
Many causes of headaches and migraines are unknown but triggers include:
- Stress and anxiety
- Hormonal changes
- Lack of sleep and tiredness
- Allergies
- Some foods and drinks such as cheese and alcohol
- Staring at a computer too long
- Neck, back and jaw problems
- Low blood sugars due to missed meals
- Dehydration
- Excessive exercise
Types of headaches
Headaches can vary according to the pattern or position of the pain.
- Tension headaches
- Sinus headaches
- Cluster headaches
Types of migraines
There are several different types of migraine. Often classical migraines are described as severe headaches with or without auras (This involves a number of sensory disturbances such as zig-zag lines in the vision, flashing lights and tingling in the fingers).
According to the Migraine Trust there are 11 categories of migraine:
- Migraines with auras
- Migraines without auras
- Chronic migraines
- Menstrual migraines
- Hemiplegic migraines
- Migraine with brainstem aura
- Vestibular migraine
- Abdominal migraine
- Cyclical vomiting syndrome
- headache associated with exercise
- Other headache disorders
There are even migraines without pain called silent migraines.
This might seem a scary list but it is essential that anyone with frequent headaches and migraines gets a medical diagnosis.
Treatments
Treatment involves preventing the headache or migraine as well as treatment the symptoms.
The usual treatments consist of taking pain killers, triptans (they act on the brain) and medicines that prevent sickness. Some severe migraines need other treatments like Botox injections and nerve stimulation.
Complementary treatments include acupuncture, some herbal remedies, anything that helps with relaxation and hypnosis.
Hypnotherapy has been shown to help headaches especially those related to stress.
If you want to talk about your headaches or are considering hypnotherapy contact Linda at Awaken the Change
