Homeopathy 

MIGRAINE - KING OF HEADACHES

No one knows the pain unless until he gets it, i.e. pain & its intensity can be recognised only by the sufferer. This is true in cases of ‘Headache’ too. 
Head, which contains brain & special senses, gets ache, when any of the things / contents get a disease or become overstrained. Headache usually arises as a functional symptom where often no one can find a cause or analyse it. Headache often interferes with day-to-day activities and makes life annoying. Headache is one of the very common complaints caused due to the sleepless, tense world a person finds himself or herself in. Tense moments in life induce each and everyone to experience headache, at least once in their life time irrespective of sex and age. Any way, males and children suffer less commonly than females. 

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In this advanced medical world too, most of the headaches are often treated over counters. Even though every one realises the head as the most important part of the body, the need of immediate relief compels them to do so. The highest selling medicines or most commonly used medicines or counter promoting medicines will usually pertain to headaches. Lots and lots of drugs keep coming into the market with the claim of cure within minutes. But they fail to sustain in the market in view of adverse effects and inability to sustain relief. Also as new medicine comes into the picture, a new type of headache too arises i.e. due to the way of suppression and their let outs.

Now-a-days, people are always in a hurry and expect immediate relief, so they often go for painkillers just like that with a view to continue their work. They never even go into the factors for the disease to know about the cause and its rectification. They forget about the causes till the headache comes again and reminds them with intensified suffering. This type of attitude always brings complications due to delay in treatment or progression of disease. 

HEADACHE – is a more general term which means pain in the head. It may be due to brain disorders (disease / tumours) or moods or referred pain from diseases of eye, ear, tooth, nose, face and sinuses. Headache may also indicate an internal serious illness (like meningitis or brain tumours or fits.) So, it is better to get examined and analysed by an expert in all the cases of headache, irrespective of acute or chronic nature. Causative factor can be identified if case is dealt in a detailed manner, so that preventive measures can also be taken to avoid recurrences. Every one should be aware that safe procedure in expert hands is always praiseworthy. 

Ache in head normally cages the brain and its work. Headache is one of the most common symptoms which manifests, whenever the person gets generalised complaint (fever, food poisoning, constipation, vomiting and starvation). It also arises due to local causes. Severity and period of suffering may vary with the type of headache / disease. Headache may be of different types depending on the causes. Often related causes are

• Familial – family trait had been identified in many cases thus confirms its genetic criteria 

• Emotional – fear, mental stress and strain, worry & sadness, anxiety, tension, contradiction, anger, loathing of life, fear of failure, over excitement, sleeplessness, waking suddenly from sleep and fearful dreams.

• Physical – Starvation / increased appetite, indigestion, vomiting, overwork, fatigue, loss of sleep, lying posture, travel, heading while playing foot ball, injury to head, playing vigorously, sexual excesses, head bath, oil bath, massage, sun bath.

• Eye - visual disturbances, refractive errors, bright light, glaring flash lights, eye strain with lot of reading or watching movies, watering of eyes, glaucoma (eye pressure).

• Ear – middle & inner ear infection, sensitive to high frequency noise, water entering the ear, cold wind blowing into the ear.

• Nose – common cold, stuffy nose, allergic rhinitis, sneezing, smelling irritant / allergic perfume, agarbathies, hooding flowers, sinusitis (infection of para nasal sinuses), nasal polyp.

• Dental pain can also referred as headache sometimes.

• Neck – cervical spondylitis, obstruction or plaque in carotid artery / vertebral artery.

• Nerves and neurons of brain – loss of sleep, overwork, irritability, anxiety, depression, mood swing, brain tumours.

• Vascular – Obstruction / stenosis / resistance developed in the arteries and veins which supplies the brain can cause headache due to ischaemia (reduced blood flow) or cramp, likewise dilatation and fullness of the arteries / vein can also bring headache due to fullness or pressure (increased blood flow). 

• Meninges irritation – as in meningitis. 

• Ventricular pressure - Hydrocephalus – increased pressure in the brain.

• Abdomen / stomach – constipation, starvation, vomiting, food allergy, indigestion overeating, gas trouble. 

• Metabolism – allergic disorders, increased histamine secretion.

• Drugs – allergic drugs, nitrate drugs, hormonal drugs (contraceptive pills).

TYPE OF HEADACHES – Headache is classified under different headings.

Primary – cause from brain itself as a functional disorder Secondary – due to referral from a disease / dysfunction of any part of the body.

It can also be classified as

• Physiological – headache caused due to stress & strain, menstrual changes, hormonal changes, starvation / increased appetite, loss of sleep, sexual excesses.

• Pathological – headache due to brain tumours or diseases 
  Also, commonly headache is classified as

• Nervous headache- which originated from nerves

• Vascular headache- which originated from blood vessels

• Mixed type of headache – whose origin involves nerves, blood vessels and muscles.

The headache can also be named after the place of origin, i.e. with their respective sites 

• Headache in the front part is called Frontal Headache

• Headache in temples / sides are called Temporal Headache / Parietal Headache. 

• Headache in back part is called Occipital Headache

• Headache in upper & centre is called Vertex Headache

• Headache in face is called Facial headache (often this will be neurological).

Most of all, Tension headache and Migraine are the most disturbing headaches. Tension headache is very common and its pain will be a constant, dull aching and generalised one, all over the head. It is more emotional in origin than others. The tense world forces our brains to work more even during sleep (subconsciously) & leads to headache. Changing the habit / environment or avoiding the precipitants is more important than treatment or painkillers.

SYMPTOMS OF HEADACHES Each and every type of headache differs in presentation with place, nature of pain and its intensity. 

The headache can be in the form of hammering headache, screwing headache, pricking headache, beating headache, bursting headache, throbbing headache, pulsatile headache, heaping headache, tight / heavy / pressure / tension headache, dull headache, sick headache, psychogenic headache. Headache often is with bilateral presentation, but can be unilateral in cases of migraine. 

Other than pain in head, nausea, vomiting, giddiness, photophobia (sensitive eye to light), tiredness, dullness, lack of concentration, muscular spasm and mild stroke can also accompany in many cases of headache. 

TRIGGERS AND AGGRAVATING FACTORS OF HEADACHES – a small spark can provoke a fire. Triggers for headache may differ from person to person. Often it will be a case of hot sunlight, noise pollution, bright flashing lights, change in smell (with perfume, bathies), change in altitude, weather, time factor (jet lag), allergic or unusual foods, stress, sleeplessness, hunger, constipation, alcohol, weather change, sex, menses, jet log, lower sugar level, gas trouble, drugs. 
Headache often create a condition of irritable mood where even trivial matters aggravate (intensify) the symptoms & make the condition intolerable and miserable. The common aggravating factors are bright light, sun light, noises, motion, bending, cool wind, changes in environment & weather, unusual foods. 

MIGRAINE - The king of all the headaches is ‘MIGRAINE’. It is an intensified severe type of unilateral (occasionally bilateral) headache of unknown cause (often). Unlike other headaches, it will not persist all the time. It would come at intervals wherein the sufferer would fear to live. How Migraine is different from all other form of headaches and how can it be managed or cured?

(TO BE CONTINUED)

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Published on Feb 6^th, 2006