A headache is any type of pain in your head. Headaches can have many causes. The most common type is tension headache, caused by muscle contractions that pinch nerves or blood vessels. Muscle tension headaches are very common and usually result from stress, eyestrain, poor posture, or nighttime grinding of teeth. Vascular headaches, particularly migraine, are caused by changes in the blood vessels of the head, first tightening (constriction), then relaxing (dilatation), although there may be nerve dysfunction involved as well. About half of those who have migraine headaches have a family history of migraines. Migraines can be triggered by many factors, including various foods, wind, excessive caffeine, emotional upheaval, sex, cold foods, hormonal fluctuations, exercise, or changes in altitude. No one knows what causes cluster headaches, but they may be triggered by certain foods, alcohol, or smoking.

Muscle tension and migraine headaches can occur together, or one can trigger the onset of the other. Migraines are usually more long lasting than tension headaches, but the latter can last for days at a time and be chronic as well.

Common Symptoms: Muscle Tension Headache

• Dull, steady pain
• Squeezing or band-like feeling around the head
• Entire head hurts

Common Symptoms: Migraine Headache

• One-sided.
• Pounding or throbbing.
• Nausea and vomiting.
• Auras may precede migraines: visual phenomena (flashing lights, zigzag or jagged lines, blind spots, focusing problems), speech difficulties, numbness and tingling, or psychological disturbances (disturbed thinking).

Common Symptoms: Cluster Headache

• Occurs in groups.
• Severe, piercing.
• Located around red, watery eye.
• Nasal congestion.
• Intermittent attacks with remissions: The typical headache lasts 30 to 45 minutes and occurs one to two times per day for one to four months.

What You Need to Know

Almost every conventional medication can cause headaches or make them worse as a side feet, so it is important to rule out medications as a cause before taking additional medications to treat the headaches. If you have headaches and are on a medication, check the Physician’s Desk Reference (PDR) to see whether that medication can cause headaches, or consult with your pharmacist.

General Recommendations

Diet: Food allergies are not known to play a role in tension headaches, but they may be involved in migraines and cluster headaches. Food allergy testing and elimination diets may be helpful in determining which foods play a part. Certain foods, including chocolate, cheese, beer, and wine, can also trigger migraine attacks and should be avoided if they do.

Meditation: Relaxation and stress reduction are essential in the treatment of muscle tension headaches and can also be very beneficial in migraine or cluster headaches. Meditation is the best means to relax and reduce stress.

Your Herbal Healing Action Plan for Muscle Tension Headaches

Step 1: Take Acetaminophen for Occasional Headaches

For mild, intermittent muscle tension headaches, take acetaminophen (Tylenol) or ibuprofen, which should relieve your headache within 20 to 45 minutes. If these don’t seem to be strong enough, your doctor can prescribe a medication containing butalbital (such as Fiorcet).

Step 2: Use Massage and Acupressure for Occasional Headaches

Massage or acupressure also can relieve acute headaches by applying pressure directly to the trigger points or tense muscles, usually around the neck, forehead, and temples.

Applying pressure on the acupuncture point LI-4 often quickly relieves headaches. This point is located in the web between the thumb and index finger, and it is usually quite tender. Apply firm pressure on this point and massage it for several minutes.

Step 3: Take Appropriate Chinese Herbal Remedies

Use the previous steps if you have occasional headaches. If your headaches occur more often or are constant, I recommend Chinese herbal formulas, which can work better than conventional medications and with fewer side effects. Ding Xin Wan, Qiang HUG Sheng Shi Tang, or Chai Hu Mu Li Long Gu Tang are formulas that are helpful in treating tension headaches. Consult a practitioner qualified in Chinese herbal medicine to determine which Chinese herbal formulas are the best for your particular condition. You should notice improvement within a few days to a week, although it may take three weeks to get the full effect.

Step 4: Undergo Acupuncture for Long-Term Relief

Acupuncture is very effective for reducing the frequency of or eliminating tension headaches, and I recommend it if the previous steps have not given you long lasting relief. Principal points for frontal headaches (on the forehead) are usually found on the face and toes; for occipital headaches (back of the head), on the hands, ankles and head; and for parietal headaches (sides of the head), on the face, head, and ankles. Always seek evaluation and treatment from a practitioner certified in acupuncture. You should notice improvement within six treatments, but you might need additional sessions to get the maximum benefits.

Step 5: Undergo Interactive Imagery or Other Psychotherapy

If the previous treatments don’t relieve your headaches, anxiety or underlying emotional problems may be the reason. At this point I recommend psychotherapy to help resolve these factors. I especially recommend interactive imagery, which I think works faster than regular psychotherapy. This is a mind-body method in which you mentally interact with images that represent your emotions. It’s a powerful way to uncover and deal with sub conscious psychological issues that you may not be aware of. If interactive imagery is not available, then you should seek other forms of psychotherapy.

Step 6: Take Magnesium and 5-HTP

If you continue to have chronic or recurrent tension headaches, the next step to try is supplements of magnesium (250mg to 400mg three times a day) and 5-HTP (100mg three times daily). These supplements can prevent muscle tension headaches in many people, but it may take one to two months before they start to work.

Step 7: Try Botox Injections

Injections of botulinum toxin (Botox) can help reduce the frequency of tension headaches. One to four injections are given at three-month intervals. The Botox is injected into various muscle groups, depending on the location of your headache.

Step 8: Take a Low-Dose Prescription Tricyclic Antidepressant for Chronic Tension Headaches

If your chronic tension headaches continue despite the previous steps, your doctor can prescribe low-dose antidepressants, such as amitriptyline (Elavil). These medications may take at least three weeks to work.

Step 9: Undergo Chiropractic Manipulation

If you still are having headaches, especially coming from your neck, chiropractic manipulation can be effective in relieving muscle tension and cervicogenic headaches (those starting in the back of your head/neck). You should feel relief within four to six treatments. Don’t continue these treatments unless your headaches are becoming less frequent and less severe.

Step 10: Use Biofeedback

If you still have tension headaches, I recommend trying biofeedback. For some people, biofeedback can be an effective treatment for reducing the frequency and severity of muscle tension headaches when other treatments have failed.

Your Balanced Healing Action Plan to Stop an Acute Migraine Headache

Step 1: Undergo Acupuncture

I recommend acupuncture first for an acute migraine attack, because it is very effective­it usually takes only 15 to 30 minutes to relieve most symptoms. With continued acupuncture, the severity and frequency of migraine attacks can be reduced and even eliminated. Principal points usually are found on the face, head, legs, and hands. You should always seek evaluation and treatment from a practitioner certified in acupuncture.

Step 2: Take an NSAID

If acupuncture has not eliminated your migraines and they are mild, your doctor can prescribe nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (such as Naprosyn, Daypro, Relafen, Mobic, or Orudis), or a combination of aspirin, acetaminophen, and caffeine (the migraine formulas of Advil, Motrin, or Excedrin). These drugs often can give you relief until the migraine passes. If you cannot take medications because of gastrointestinal symptoms from your migraine, you can try a new form of aspirin called oral dispersible; you take it without water and let it dissolve in your mouth.

Step 3: Take a Prescription Triptan Medication

If the milder medications do not help your migraines, or your migraines are severe, your doctor can prescribe drugs called triptans (Imitrex, Maxalt, Relpax, Axert, Amerge, Zomig, Frova). Imitrex was the first and is the standard triptan used by doctors. It’s available in nasal spray and injectable, in addition to oral, forms. The other triptans can be just as beneficial or even better. Zomig is about the same as Imitrex. You take it via a nose spray, and it works faster than the pill forms. Axert and Amerge have fewer side effects than Imitrex but may be less effective. Frova lasts the longest (26 hours, versus 5 hours for the others) and is recommended for menstrual migraines. Relpax is more effective than Imitrex at higher dosages (80mg) but has more side effects. Maxalt can be dissolved on the tongue and can alleviate migraines within 30 minutes. It’s more effective than Imitrex and is the most consistently effective of all the triptans. Basically, all the triptans can be equally beneficial. When one fails, another one may work, so you may have to try several to see which one is the best for you.

Step 4: Take an Ergotamine Medication

If the drugs in Step 3 are not effective, the next ones to try are ergotamine-containing medications (both oral and nasal spray). These include Ergotamine tartrate, and D.H.E. These drugs usually work better if you have warning signs that the migraine is going to happen or are in the early stages of migraine. There are more restrictions on using ergotamine medications because they cause blood vessels to contract.

Step 5: Receive a Narcotic Injection

If the above steps do not relieve your migraine, an injection of Stadol or Demerol may be necessary. These drugs can “break” the migraine, but you will probably have side effects of drowsiness and not be able to return to normal activity for several hours or even several days. In addition, you may need a repeat injection if your headache lingers.

Your Balanced Healing Action Plan to Prevent Migraines

Step 1: Avoid Trigger Factors

An important way to prevent migraines is to avoid anything that triggers them for example, stressful events, bright lights, flying, changes in barometric pressure, and various foods.

Step 2: Undergo Regular Acupuncture Treatments

Each time you undergo acupuncture, it can reduce the severity and frequency of your migraine attacks. Principal points are on the face, head, legs, and hands. Acupuncture works better if it is applied when you have the headache, rather than when you are symptom free, but it can be successful either way. Always seek evaluation and treatment from a practitioner certified in acupuncture. You should have improvement within six treatments, but you might need additional sessions to get the maximum benefit or to relieve occasional flare-ups.

Step 3: Take Appropriate Chinese Herbal Remedies

In Chinese medicine, there are many underlying causes of migraine headaches, and thus numerous herbal combinations may help. Chai Hu Mu Li Long Gu Tang, Long Dan Xie Gan Wan, Tzan Ma Gou Teng Yin Wan, or Qiang Huo Sheng Shi Tang, can all help reduce the severity and frequency of migraine headaches. An advantage of Chinese herbs over conventional medications and supplements is that, once your migraines are under control, you can reduce or discontinue them. You should notice improvement within three weeks, but you may need to take the formulas longer for complete relief. Consult a practitioner qualified in Chinese herbal medicine to determine which Chinese herbal formulas are the best for your particular condition.

Step 4: Take Riboflavin, Magnesium, Vitamin B6, 5-HTP, CoQ10, and/or Feverfew

If the previous steps don’t totally reduce the frequency or severity of your migraines, take riboflavin (vitamin B2, 400mg per day). If riboflavin alone is not effective, use it with a combination of magnesium (250mg to 400mg daily), vitamin B6 (100mg daily), 5-HTP (100mg to 200mg three times daily), and the herb feverfew (freeze-dried leaf at 50mg to125mg per day, standardized to contain 0.2 percent parthenolide). The combination product Migra-Lieve contains fever few with riboflavin and magnesium, which may give you adequate relief. CoQ10 (120mg daily) may also help prevent migraines and can be taken with the other supplements. Take these supplements along with your acupuncture treatments. You should see improvement within one to two months.

Step 5: Use the Nambudripad Allergy Elimination Treatment (NAET)

Foods trigger migraines in some people. In addition, food allergies can be a possible cause of your migraines. The Nambudripad Allergy Elimination Treatment, or NAET, combines acupuncture, kinesiology, chiropractic, herbs, and nutrition to desensitize you to foods to which you are allergic. It may take several months to notice improvement, depending on many foods are causing you problems.

Step 6: Use Biofeedback for Children with Migraines

In children, biofeedback is very effective in reducing the severity and frequency of migraines, but it’s not as effective for adults.

Step 7: Take Botox Injections

Injections of botulinum toxin (Botox) sometimes help reduce the frequency of migraine laches. One to four injections are given at three-month intervals and are applied at several different muscle groups, depending on the location of your headaches.

Step 8: Take an Appropriate Prescription Medication to Prevent Migraines

If you are stiil having persistent or recurrent migraines, your doctor may prescribe beta­blockers (such as propranolol or timolol) or the ACE inhibitor lisinopril (Prinivil, Zestril) to reduce migraine severity and frequency. If these drugs are not effective, amitriptyline, llproex sodium (Depakote), or gabapentin (Neurontin) are the next conventional lications to try. Each medication may have different results for different people, so you may need to try several to find the one that is most effective for you, with the least side effects. It may take several weeks to see improvement.

Step 9: Take Combinations of Medications

Some migraines are stubborn, and success requires diligence and experimentation. If the previous treatment steps are not effective, try the following in various combinations: aspirin, miltiple NSAIDs, gabapentin (Neurontin), verapamil, other beta-blockers, and the herb feverfew. Again each medication may have different effects on different people, so you may need to try several to find the one that is most effective for you, with the least side effects.

Your Balanced Healing Action Plan to Stop Cluster Headaches

Step 1: Receive Oxygen Inhalation Treatment

Oxygen inhalation during an acute attack is effective and safe and is the first treatment for cluster headaches. Your doctor needs to prescribe this treatment, which involves breathing oxygen through a face mask at a rate of 7 to 8 liters/min for 10 to 15 minutes, in a sitting position.

Step 2: Undergo Acupuncture

If oxygen doesn’t help, I recommend acupuncture as the next step. Principal points usually are found on the face, head, legs, and hands. Acupuncture during the headache gives the best results; you should get relief within 20 to 30 minutes. Always seek evaluation and treatment from a practitioner certified in acupuncture.

Step 3: Take Melatonin

If your cluster headaches continue, take the supplement melatonin (10mg), which sometimes can abort the attack.

Step 4: Take an NSAID

Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), especially the drug Naproxen, can be effective for headaches that last longer than 45 minutes. Unfortunately, many cluster headaches do not last that long, so you must take the NSAID as soon as you have a headache to get any relief from it.

Step 5: Take a Prescription Triptan Medication

If your cluster headaches continue after you have tried the previous steps, your doctor can prescribe drugs called triptans (Imitrex, Maxalt, Relpax, Axert, Amerge, Zomig). Imitrex was the first and the standard trip tan used by doctors, but the others can be just as beneficial, or better. Zomig is about the same as lmitrex. lmitrex is available in nasal spray and injectable, in addition to oral, forms. Zomig is given through a nose spray, and works faster than the pill forms. Axert and Amerge have fewer side effects than Imitrex, but they may be less effective. Frova lasts the longest (26 hours versus 5 hours for the others). Relpax is more effective than lmitrex at higher dosages (80mg), but it has more side effects. Maxalt can be dissolved on the tongue and can alleviate migraines within 30 minutes. It has better effectiveness than lmitrex and is the most consistently effective of all the triptans. Basically, all the triptans can be equally beneficial. When one triptan fails, another one may work, so you might have to try several to see which one is the best for you.

Your Home Healing Action Plan to Prevent Cluster Headaches

Step 1: Undergo Acupuncture

Acupuncture is very effective for reducing the severity and frequency of cluster headaches over the long term. Principal points usually are found on the face, head, legs, and hands. You should have acupuncture when you have the headache for best results, but preventive acupuncture is also helpful. Always seek evaluation and treatment from a practitioner certified in acupuncture. You should experience improvement within six treatments, but you might need additional sessions for maximum benefits.

Step 2: Take Magnesium, Vitamin B6, and 5-HTP

For cluster headaches that continue to recur, take a combination of magnesium (250mg to 400mg daily), vitamin B6 (100mg daily), and 5-HTP (100mg to 200mg three times daily). Magnesium prevents overexcitability of nerve cells and maintains the tone of blood vessels, vitamin B6 helps prevent histamine release (which can trigger headaches), and 5-HTP increases brain neurotransmitters, especially serotonin. It may take one to two months to notice improvement.

Step 3: Use the Nambudripad Allergy Elimination Treatment (NAET)

Foods and food allergies may trigger cluster headaches. The Nambudripad Allergy Elimination Treatment, or NAET, combines acupuncture, kinesiology, chiropractic, herbs, and nutrition to desensitize you to foods to which you are allergic. It may take several months to experience improvement, depending on how many allergens are sensitizing you.

Step 4: Take Prescription Medications

If the above treatments fail to relieve your cluster headaches, several prescription medications might help. You’ll need to take them long term to keep the headaches at bay. Talk with your doctor about possible side effects, which vary. These include the following:

• A combination of verapamil (240mg/day) and prednisone (60mg to 80mgfday), but use the prednisone for only 7 to14 days.
• Methysergide (2mg three times a day).
• Lithium, or valproic acid (Depakene), or both together.

Step 5: Undergo Surgery

There are some surgical procedures that can relieve cluster headaches when another treatment approaches fail, but there may be serious risks. Glycerol injection is the least risky. Surgery should be a treatment of last resort.

Tagged under:acupuncture cluster headache General Ailments headaches headaches symptoms headaches treatment ibuprofen migraine headaches migraines muscle tension tension headaches

Share This

Filed under: General Ailments