BS: Headaches

Subject: Headaches
From: GUEST
Date: 04 Jun 02 - 02:32 PM

Please help. Migraines tension sinus I get them all. Every day it's one or the other. Remedies?

Subject: RE: BS: Headaches
From: wysiwyg
Date: 04 Jun 02 - 03:29 PM

Find out what your body is trying to say NO to, and SAY NO to it.

~Susan

Subject: RE: BS: Headaches
From: Morticia
Date: 04 Jun 02 - 03:43 PM

see a doctor......you know it makes sense.

Subject: RE: BS: Headaches
From: MMario
Date: 04 Jun 02 - 03:47 PM

headaches can be a symptom of so many things (especially migraines) that it only makes sense to see a doctor

Subject: RE: BS: Headaches
From: catspaw49
Date: 04 Jun 02 - 03:48 PM

Volunteer for guillotine experiments or see a doctor.

Spaw

Subject: RE: BS: Headaches
From: harpgirl
Date: 04 Jun 02 - 06:45 PM

I consider myself an expert on headaches, especially migraines...I have discovered that my triggers are good chocolate (as in Godiva) and sauna baths. Chocolate only gives me a #4 migraine but a sauna will lay me out with violent throwing up and a #10 headache, both last for three days.

I avoid my triggers and take a combination of feverfew, Vitamin B2 and Magnesium Asporotate, after considerable research. Peg would be proud of me...good luck!

Subject: RE: BS: Headaches
From: harpgirl
Date: 04 Jun 02 - 06:53 PM

PS...a nurse I once worked with in a PHP, explained to me that sleeping under a ceiling fan would give me sinus headaches. She was right, of course. I have to have the ceiling fan here in Florida so I often take sinus medication before going to bed and avoid smoke, which is most difficult on Friday nights, at our weekly session!

Subject: RE: BS: Headaches
From: Gareth
Date: 04 Jun 02 - 06:58 PM

Suggest you also see your Optician - It helped me !

Gareth

Subject: RE: BS: Headaches
From: Mudlark
Date: 04 Jun 02 - 06:59 PM

Seeing a doc is always good advice, but for noninvasive remedies, alternating hot/cold showers sometimes helps, even plunging hands and wrists into alternating hot/cold water sometimes helps...something to do with blood flow. For tension headache get a vibrator (no jokes!) and work over your neck, shoulders, etc. This sometimes even works for sinus headaches when used over sinus cavities, like under eyes, forehead, etc. Stretching yoga-like exercise can sometimes nip an oncoming one in the bud.

Keep a journal of everything you eat, and any other externals that might be impacting you, see if you can see a pattern developing. Sinus headaches often are allergic and may be due to something that is ubiquitous, like scented detergent, or common foods, like wheat.

Subject: RE: BS: Headaches
From: Mr Red
Date: 04 Jun 02 - 07:09 PM

Well I have taken to watering my booze - and I only drink cider - 3.5% ABV at that. AND limit to 2 X 500ml cans or 4 if the day is a long one.
If your doc doesn't recommend a diet diary then do it anyway. It may be job/pillow/driving tension, it may be anorak and boring but compared to the migraines?
cause and effect and all that.
see the doc though.

Subject: RE: BS: Headaches
From: katlaughing
Date: 04 Jun 02 - 07:27 PM

Face your fears/prejudices/whatever and post as a member...you'll feel much better.

Subject: RE: BS: Headaches
From: GUEST
Date: 04 Jun 02 - 07:33 PM

Thanks, Kat.

Very unhelpful

Subject: RE: BS: Headaches
From: kendall
Date: 04 Jun 02 - 07:35 PM

I had headaches for years; quit smoking and got a divorce.

Subject: RE: BS: Headaches
From: greg stephens
Date: 04 Jun 02 - 07:38 PM

Have a drink.Drink less. Lie out in the sun. Stay in the shade.read an enjoyable book.rest your eyes.Stay totally quiet. talk to friends. and SEE A DOCTOR

Subject: RE: BS: Headaches
From: GUEST
Date: 04 Jun 02 - 09:41 PM

Thanks for the advice everyone.

Subject: RE: BS: Headaches
From: Peg
Date: 04 Jun 02 - 11:31 PM

you go harpgirl! :)

peppermint essential oil inhaled at the first sign of headache can be very helpful at nipping them in the bud; I also will rub a bit into my palm at the fleshy part below the thumb; this is a shiatsu technique and also helpful. Other essential oils good for headache are rosemary (especially headaches caused by muscular tension--try a few drops in a hot bath) and lavender...and Peppermint tea drunk right after eating (not too hot) is useful for those who experience headaches after meals (this may be MSG realted, BTW; when eating at Chinese restaurants, always make sure they don't add MSG to your food!)

I get headaches from being dehydrated more quickly than anything else. This is related to the coffee syndrome headaches many people experience; their energy lags and the headache kicks in, they drink coffee and feel alert and the caffeine makes their brain blood vessels swell and they feel temprarily better...many headaches can be traced to consumption of various substances, allergens or no (sugar, MSG and caffeine the main culprits, not to mention alcohol).

Stress and tension also aggravate headaches and cause them once this tendency is established. Yoga and stretching, in addition to regular exercise (even walking) will help the muscular tension. In some cases seeing a chiropractor helps if the back is out of alignment.

Harpgirl is correct about avoiding one's triggers; but only through keeping track of diet, habits and daily stimuli can one determine which triggers of many possible ones are setting off the headache...

good luck!

peg

Subject: RE: BS: Headaches
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 05 Jun 02 - 02:55 AM

Have you ever had any blows to the head? I only started getting migraines (average No. 4 grade, up to and including nausea) after I got kicked in the head. And I always know when to get my eyes tested because I get migraines daily, increasing in severity until the glasses get checked.

Lavender oil on the back of the neck, peppermint oil in a burner, all work for me.

Oh, and if you've been in a car accident, get checked out for whiplash too!

LTS

Subject: RE: BS: Headaches
From: rich-joy
Date: 05 Jun 02 - 05:47 AM

Are you male or female? (coz Fibroids can cause ALL of those symptoms (and more), oh joy of joys ...)

Subject: RE: BS: Headaches
From: Mrrzy
Date: 05 Jun 02 - 09:47 AM

Those little around-the-eyes things that you keep in the fridge (available at Bed Bath and Beyond at the very least) really work, to my amazement, if it's sinus-induced as you say. Also putting cold on the back of your neck, if a regular migraine. Good luck! And don't underestimate the power of drugs. If Excedrin (which IS *THE* headache medicine) doesn't work, add some Darvon, and somebody will turn the switch and suddenly, no headache. But you have to be really suffering, or you get high and then you might as well have the headache for all the good it does you...

Subject: RE: BS: Headaches
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 05 Jun 02 - 02:26 PM

I've sometimes taken 'Migruleve' which some sadistic basket has decided should be fluroescent pink and in an orange bubble pack.... 1 will take the edge off it, 2 and I'm so far off with the pixies, I don't CARE how my head feels!

LTS

Subject: RE: BS: Headaches
From: GUEST
Date: 05 Jun 02 - 04:31 PM

Darvon? Migruleve? Are these UK OTC medications? I've never heard of them...

Rich, what do you mean about fibroids? (I'm female.)

Thanks again all.

Subject: RE: BS: Headaches
From: Les from Hull
Date: 05 Jun 02 - 05:08 PM

You could try testing for allegies.

I use Olbas Oil (which contains peppermint oil and menthol) which is excellent for sinus problems and other headaches, and is available over the counter in the UK. It's better than those prescription jobs that you squirt up your nose, which can actually make things worse in the long run. It's an excellent nose clearer, and so useful for singers who are trying to avoid the old-folkie nasal tone that sounds as if you've got an Iron Jelloid up each nostril.

You can also use peppermint and lavender in a bath (careful with the peppermint or you won't stay in the bath very long, try 2-3 drops at first).

Subject: RE: BS: Headaches
From: rich-joy
Date: 06 Jun 02 - 04:04 AM

Guest, Fibroids are benign tumours, that for reasons known only to themselves, grow in (mostly) the uterus. Most women have them by their forties. They can be singular or multiple. They can stay small and cause NO problems or they can grow and grow and cause a HUMUNGOUS array of health problems, from annoying to downright painful and dangerous. In the US, a large percentage of diagnosed fibroids end in unnecessary hysterectomies - but that's another story!! If you think there's a chance you have these (putting on weight, e.g.), checkout this site : http://www.uterinefibroids.com (but be warned, it can be unsettling reading) Speaking from personal experience, I sincerely hope your symptoms are NOT caused by fibroids. Cheers!!!! R-J

Subject: RE: BS: Headaches
From: Morticia
Date: 06 Jun 02 - 01:23 PM

BTW, go to your optician too and if they don't offer, ask for eye pressure readings....best to be on the safe side and I've just been told that my headaches ( numerous and very debilitating) may be linked to the abnormal pressures in my eyes....

Subject: RE: BS: Headaches
From: 53
Date: 06 Jun 02 - 01:35 PM

Try Migraine Excedrin tablets, you can buy them over the counter without a script. Glenda has migraines and they work great for her. Bob

Subject: RE: BS: Headaches
From: Jon Freeman
Date: 06 Jun 02 - 07:04 PM

Definately see an optician as well...

I know someone who had been taken to the doctors with headaches whith no resolution and as far as I understand it, things dragged on for a couple of months before the optician was considered.

When she went there, the optician said something like "get her into hospital for tests at once" There were a lot of worries, and tests... Things were OK though as the cause turned out to be a known possible side effect of the drug she had been prescribed by the doctor for acne...

Jon

Subject: RE: BS: Headaches
From: GUEST
Date: 06 Jun 02 - 07:09 PM

Whilst Jon no doubt has a point regarding the optician,

GO AND SEE YOUR DOCTOR

remains the best advice

Subject: RE: BS: Headaches
From: Jon Freeman
Date: 06 Jun 02 - 08:02 PM

Guest, you seem to have missed the point that the doctor had missed the cause, a cause that came about a drug that he had given. Perhaps you also fail to understand that opticians do more than just test how well you see.

Jon

Subject: RE: BS: Headaches
From: Rt Revd Sir jOhn from Hull
Date: 06 Jun 02 - 08:29 PM

Guest-goto doctor, maybe you have got brain cancer, my friends couson had headaches and she died of brain cancer (she was only 21) if you go to hospiltl they will put your head in a big machine called a cat scanner and look inside it.i dont know why its called a cat scanner, it should be called a people scanner.Do you work somewere werre there is flouresent lights? they can cause headaches as well, but you can get special glasses, (or change the lights0.john

Subject: RE: BS: Headaches
From: GUEST
Date: 06 Jun 02 - 09:25 PM

Well I guess I was looking for more folk remedies...since I've seen doctor on top of doctor, general practitioners, nurse practitioner, an allergist, opthalmologists...have even had one of those MRI thingies.

The bottom line is, it must all be in my head. :D

Again thanks for the suggestions.

Subject: RE: BS: Headaches
From: Jon Freeman
Date: 06 Jun 02 - 09:29 PM

Sorry Guest, I see I've done my (in)famous misreading again. I was replying to what I had read, not what you had written.

Sorry again,

Jon

Subject: RE: BS: Headaches
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 07 Jun 02 - 02:27 AM

Tried meditation or relaxation techniques?? Stretching your neck regularly might help too...

1. Chin down on your chest, and push the top of your head to the ceiling, whilst dropping your shoulders. Try not to move your head from side to side as this will make your neck go spang and your ears will tingle.

2. Push your chin up to the ceiling whilst keeping your shoulders down (good for excercising those extra chins).

3. With head dead straight and facing straight ahead, tip head to left, dropping right shoulder, and vice versa.

4. with head in last position, make a whole rotation roll, dropping alternate shoulders as you get to them.

5. Finish with a shoulder roll, pushing both shoulders backwards and forwards, repeat with altnerate shoulders and relax.

These can be done at your desk (or in the toilet if you work open plan) or on the bus/train/car at the lights, and don't need equipment.

Never stretch till it hurts. If it hurts, you're damaging something.

LTS

Subject: RE: BS: Headaches
From: fogie
Date: 07 Jun 02 - 06:17 AM

All useful advice Im sure but you can contact the British Migraine Assoc. run by and for migraine sufferers. Last address I have is 178a High St., Byfleet, Waybridge, Surrey KT14 7ED. Tel. out of date try directory enq.

Subject: RE: BS: Headaches
From: Wolfgang
Date: 07 Jun 02 - 07:44 AM

i dont know why its called a cat scanner

CAT isn't a word in this context but an acronym.

Wolfgang