Monday, August 25, 2008

How to Cure Headaches

There are various types of headaches that often bother people and disable them from doing the regular activities. There are three types of headaches- Tension related headache, migraine headache and cluster headache. The tension headaches are caused because of tightness of muscles in various parts of the head and body.

The muscle contraction of the face, neck, scalp and jaws can give rise to this type of headache. It can last from 4 hours to 7 days. Though this headache is not intensified because of the physical activities but the recurring headaches can have serious impact on your lifestyle.

Then the migraine headaches which manifests in pulsating pain and the patients often have symptoms like nausea and photo sensitivity. About 14% of women suffer from the menstrual migraine attacks. Then the cluster headaches are the rarest form of headache which generally affects men and the pain is felt around the eyes and on either side of the head.

There can be other reasons of headache as well. Sometimes headache can arise from stressful lifestyle, skipping meals, high intake of foods like chocolates, cheese, side effects of drugs and symptoms of other diseases like meningitis, brain cancer and brain tumor.

Cures of different headaches

There are a number of painkillers available in the markets which come with promises to kill the headache permanently. But they often help you out with temporary relief and leave a number of side effects on you. Some of the popular drugs are paracaetamol, anti-inflammatory drugs etc.

But there are certain remedies which are easy and will never affect you much. You will not need to take those pills any more but you will be free from this frustrating physical problem. First of all you need to identify the root cause of your headaches.

If the reason is sleepless nights or skipping meals or excessive consumption of drinks with caffeine then this is better to keep a check on these. You need to have a balanced diet everyday which should not include a lot of carbohydrate as this is not good for those who suffer from migraine headache.

You should seep for at least 7 hours a day and try not to do any compromises with that. Regular exercising will keep you fit and you will never experience headaches. You should take a lot of healthy liquids which keep the body hydrated and the headaches at bay. Smoking and alcohol intake are two important reasons of headaches; hence you should avoid them.

These are the simple techniques to keep away headaches. Relaxation will really help you to get rid of recurrent headaches. So make some small changes to your lifestyle and food habit to cure the headaches permanently.

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Menstrual Migraines and Headaches

Menstrual migraine is a particular type of migraine headache that attacks many women every month before they get their periods. This can continue during the days of menstruation. This is somewhat different from the normal migraine pain even if it is occurring to the same woman.

The duration and intensity of pain differs from the general migraine attacks. Menstrual migraines are at least three times severe than that general one. Among the total number of female patients of migraine around 70% report that this is because of the menstruation.

Almost 14% women get affected by this and this happens on the second day of menstruation and can continue till the 3rd day. This is another true fact that the migraine pains that occur during those particular days of the month fetch more attention of a woman than the other times.

But at the times the other physical problems like menstrual pain and cramps reduce the intensity of the pain. Women who are already prone to migraine attacks get menstrual migraines because of the misbalance of estrogen hormone in those days.

Conventional treatment of menstrual migraines

There are various drugs that are prescribed to treat the menstrual migraines. The commonest one is taking Triptan for 6 days starting from two days prior to the date of the menstrual cycle till the cycle ends.

This is a part of the Prophylactic treatment. The constituents of this medicine are eletriptan (Relpax), rizatriptan (Maxalt), sumatriptan (Imitrex), naratriptan (Amerge), lmotriptan (Axert), frovatriptan (Frova) and zolmitriptan (Zomig).

Then there are non-steroidal drugs which are basically anti-inflammatory medicines that are used as a treatment method of menstrual migraines. A nasal spray that can also be used to reduce the menstrual migraine pains is Dihydroergotamine (DHE).

Home remedies of menstrual migraines

You need to eat a balanced diet regularly and at a scheduled time. Never ever skip meals as this can give rise to low blood sugar level and excessive hunger which often create the menstrual migraines.

Sweets intake and diet rich in carbohydrates are another two reasons of getting menstrual migraines. Dehydration is one of the reasons which can cause migration and this is the reason why you need to take a lot of fluids regularly. Tight sleep for at least 7 hours a day is mandatory for those who suffer from menstrual migraines.

Beverages like alcohol, wine, beer and foods like chocolates, cheese etc are strict no-no for you. Regular exercise will not only keep you fit but also control your menstrual migraine problems. Take less stress and use some relaxation techniques to keep yourself away from this trouble.

If you are one of the sufferers of menstrual migraine then this is advisable to take the home remedies and not going for the drugs for a more effective reduction of menstrual migraines.

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Herbs for Headache

Is it possible to find out at least one person on this earth who has never suffered from headache? Probably not because this is the commonest health problem which has no serious manifestations but can be too severe to make you disable to complete your daily activities.

There are various types of headaches. Generally when you are skipping meals or spending sleepless nights you become prone to get headaches. These are caused by the contraction of muscles. This is generally known as tension type headache.

The other type of headache is caused by the migraine attacks. This pain can linger for 4 to 72 hours and it can be so excruciating that the patients get additional symptoms like nausea, photophobia and too much sensitivity towards light and noise.

The last category of headache is the cluster headache where the pain is felt around the eyes and generally occurs in men. There are quite a number of ways to treat the headache. Some people go for the painkillers which offer temporary relief but have long-lasting side effects.

Certain life style changes can also improve the headache conditions. But the other effective method to treat the headaches is the herbs. They are natural and provide permanent solution to the headaches.

Herbs that can sure headaches

There are quite a number of herbs which are widely used to cure the headaches fast and effectively. Feverfew is a herb which belongs to the daisy family. They have proved to be very helpful in curing the migraine headaches. There have been many researches which show that if you take the dietary supplements of feverfew on a daily basis then the chances of getting migraine attacks reduce substantially.

Peppermint is another herb that can create a soothing effect and cure the headaches with its coolness. The other similar herb is Passionflower which has slightly different effects than the peppermint. It comes with certain amount of sedative effect. This can slowly release the pressure on the mind and body and gradually cool the brain to cure headaches.

Cayenne pepper is another effective option that can cure the headaches because of its heating effect. You might feel an intense pain initially but this will gradually reduce and you will feel better. These herbs were used to combat this problem in the ancient ages especially in India and China.

The popularity of the herbs in curing headaches is growing gradually and this is the reason why many researchers are taking interest in finding out more herbs which have similar effectiveness. So this is the time to get rid of those harmful painkillers and go natural with the herbs to fight the pulsating pain caused by different types of headaches.

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Migraine Remedies

Migraine headache is a particular type of headache which generally attacks women. Almost 18% of women face this headache compared to the 6% men who suffer from the same. The children under 18 years also get affected by migraine headaches.

The general symptoms of migraine headaches are excruciating pain on either side of head, vomiting, photophobia and over-sensitivity towards sound and noises. This can stay from 4 hours to 72 hours and the pain is felt unilaterally.

The migraine headache can get intensified due to regular physical activities like climbing staircases or walking. There are various remedies of migraine and this includes both medication and home remedies.

Conventional migraine remedies

The common migraine remedies include the painkillers and other types of tablets that the doctors prescribe to their patients. The tablets that are generally recommended to the patients suffering from migraine are codeine, paracetamol, ibuprofen, diclofenac and aspirin.

Now the problem with these migraine remedies is that they are not really effective in banishing the pain for good. Some of them might give you temporary relief from the pain but the pain will not go away completely even after taking the tablets. There are certain drawbacks of these painkiller drugs.

They have various side effects like constipation, indigestion and nausea. The other drugs which are prescribed to take at the commencement of the migraine attack are Imigran and Zomig. But long term usage of these will again cause serious side effects.

Home migraine remedies

The first thing that a migraine patient should do is to change his or her diet chart. They should cut down the amount of carbohydrate that they take on a regular basis while they increase the fat content. The reason is that there are many people who report to have a migraine attach just after consuming a large amount of carbohydrate rich food.

The inclusion of olive oil and food rich in oil content like Mackerel and sardines will lower the chances of migraine attacks. Butterbur or Petasites hybridus is a herbal migraine remedy which is popularly used in Germany. The vitamins of the “B” group are considered to be the most effective ones to ward off the migraine pain.

There are many physicians according to whom the mineral magnesium is something really important to keep away migraine. This is the reason why magnesium supplements are used to treat the patients suffering from migraine pains.

Migraine has been bothering people for a long time now and many researches have been conducted to know formulae that can reduce the pain or cure it completely. The general surveys say that the home remedies for migraine are far more effective than the artificial medicines. Certain lifestyle changes can cure migraine easily without any side effects.

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