| They come in all shapes and sizes, and their | | | | are legion. Migraines may arise from allergies, blood |
| causes and cures can be as varied as their | | | | pressure imbalances, cranial damage to the dura |
| effects. But is popping pills the best way to deal | | | | mater (the lining that envelopes our brain and |
| with them? It might give fast relief in many | | | | spinal cord) from impact injuries, spinal |
| cases, but that doesn't do much to eliminate the | | | | misalignments, hormones, liver problems and colon |
| root cause. So let's look into the head and see if | | | | impactions, to name the most common. |
| we can discover some more permanent | | | | Some things to do to alleviate migraines include |
| resolutions. | | | | regular colon, liver and kidney cleansing and detox |
| On the outer layer of the head, we find the scalp. | | | | programs; competent chiropractic and massage; |
| This muscle membrane is the thinnest anywhere | | | | CranioSacral or Quantum-Touch Therapy; and |
| on our bodies (except for the eyelids). This | | | | sufficient hydration. |
| means that it's most sensitive to dehydration. | | | | Last, let's look at a common cause of many |
| When the scalp is insufficiently hydrated, it gets | | | | headaches -- the sinuses. Besides the two under |
| tight around the skull, causing the all-over pounding | | | | our eyebrows and two behind our cheeks, there's |
| type of headache. It happens "the morning after," | | | | a large one behind the face, the ethmoid sinus. |
| as well as when those tissues don't have enough | | | | The sinuses produce about a quart of fluid every |
| water. Fortunately for us, this is the easiest type | | | | day. A quart! (Even more if we suffer from |
| of headache to remedy - just drink more water! | | | | allergies!) Its purpose is to keep the nasal and |
| In fact, being well hydrated can minimize, if not | | | | throat passages moist so the tissues don't get |
| eliminate, many types of headache. | | | | dried out with our breathing and talking. But the |
| Next under the scalp we find the skull itself, made | | | | fluid doesn't only flow down our throats. There |
| up of plates that look like puzzle pieces fitting | | | | are ducts, lymph channels in our faces and necks, |
| together with a jaw hanging from it. Headaches | | | | which are part of the lymphatic node cleansing |
| that source from misalignments of these cranial | | | | network throughout the head. When these |
| plates may develop after an impact injury to the | | | | channels get clogged or become constricted, the |
| head, TMJ, dental braces, or low back/hip injuries | | | | fluid backs up and we feel pounding in our faces, |
| (which travel up to the skull). | | | | in our eyes, in our foreheads. |
| You can resolve this type of more localized | | | | The most common factors that aggravate and |
| throbbing by getting sessions of CranioSacral, | | | | prevent drainage (besides infection and airborne |
| Quantum-Touch or Reiki Therapy. Some | | | | irritants, like chemical cleaners and "air fresheners," |
| chiropractors may also have experience realigning | | | | which thicken the fluid) are neck and shoulder |
| the cranial plates. | | | | tension and dehydration. What to do? |
| While we're still on the skull, realize that headaches | | | | Giving yourself a good neck and shoulder rub -- |
| can source from tension from tight neck and | | | | better yet, have someone else do it! -- helps free |
| shoulder muscles, pulling the skull down and | | | | the muscular constriction from sitting and staring |
| compressing the neck. These headaches can be | | | | at a computer monitor or tv for hours on end. |
| relieved sometimes with chiropractic alone or with | | | | Flexing and turning your head, shrugging and rolling |
| a combination of massage and chiropractic. | | | | your shoulders, and "making faces" or giving |
| Then we come to the brain itself. Head pains | | | | yourself a good face scrub periodically throughout |
| coming from intracranial pressures may indicate | | | | the day also helps keep the drainage channels |
| things like tumors, vascular problems, etc., and are | | | | open and the fluid moving. |
| outside the scope of this article, requiring the | | | | Drinking enough water thins the lymph fluid, |
| attention of a good neurologist. But some | | | | making it easier to drain. |
| headaches affecting the brain may be what are | | | | There it is again. Water. Pure or filtered or spring. |
| called "rebound" headaches. And this usually refers | | | | A simple enough solution for many of the kinds of |
| to a reaction from medications. | | | | headaches that otherwise can ruin your day. |
| The next kind of headache we'll look at is the | | | | Bottoms up! |
| dreaded migraine. The sources of these monsters | | | | |