Another week spread before us and our lives offer hope and a promise of a life with all manner of positive possibilities ahead of us. Choose the positive, be strong and keep going on–you may not discover immortality, but your life will be so much more worth the living thereof.
Pictures today are leaving London and going to the more civilized country side of the UK…in this instance the Cotswold. As you notice above things aren’t much different in a UK petrol (think gas if you’re American) station than at home.
Quotes are from HEADACHE RELIEF By Drs. Allan M. Rapaport & Fred D. Sheftell.
and if you haven’t guessed we’re looking at headaches…and we’ll recover at the end with a bit of Outlander relief.
Below is something very different than the US at least on the exterior…a Micky D’s That’s McDonald’s to those of you not up on the jargon.
“We on the other hand assert that headache is as genuine a medical problem as diabetes, hypertension or heart disease.”
https://www.etsy.com/listing/489755257/good-condition-mms-peanut-1993-christmas?ref=shop_home_active_1
Americans spend billions every year on over the counter and prescription medication to combat pain and a lot of that is spent for treatment of headaches. Many, maybe even most of you out there have had headaches, some on a regular basis. What causes your headaches is a very important question that if answered may help you or someone you love deal with these, sometime debilitating, painful episodes.
One thing to remember is if you have chronic pain (or even just regular weekly or even monthly headaches) you should get with your doctor—chronic pain should never be dismissed with out a full medical work-up. Headaches could be an indication of many problems including
1 Brain tumors
2 Elevated blood pressure
3 indications of unresolved problems following an injury to your neck or head which you think is healed.
4 Elevated blood sugar
5. Complications or side effects of medication you’re taking–you see this with blood thinners and hypertension (high blood pressure) drugs to name a few.
6 Allergies
7 Hormone disorders including menopause
8 Sinus infections and/or congestions
And those are only a few–often if you treat the condition–the headaches will go away, keeping you free of the pain and from taking an over abundance of pain medications and loosing time from work, or with those you love.
“It is the variety and frequent unpredictability of these headaches triggers that leads to much of the confusion about what causes a headache.”
Not all headaches of course are caused by serious (or not so serious illnesses). Some of the more common causes are:
1. Stress (that ugly villain arises again) and tension–cause by contracted/kinked neck and scalp muscles.
2. Food allergies
3. Nutritional Issues
4. Changes in the weather.
I am a sufferer–or was–of headache and whenever a front came through I would get headaches (Migraines run–more like wreak havoc–in my family) and we don’t even want to talk about a hurricane coming anywhere near.
5. Natural compounds in the food which cause a reaction in some people.
6. Chemical compounds in food
Including
a. TYROMINE: Chocolate, red wine and aged cheese (the best parties ruined!)
b. Nitrates: Canned meets and hot dogs.
c. MSG found in lunch meat and canned soup
While, interestingly enough Tryomine causes blood vessel contraction, Nitrates cause Dilation—but both cause headaches.
“Psychological factors are not, in most cases, the ultimate cause of chronic headaches.”
In PRESCRIPTION FOR NUTRITIONAL HEALING—The Balchs (James F. MD and Phyllis A, C.N.C.) provide a long list (13 in fact–but as you can see in the illustration above the possibilities can go on forever) of headaches and their causes….I’ll share a few of them here now.
Caffeine headaches:
Caffeine and the inconsistencies in its relationship to headaches will come up again later this week, but in the Balchs’ tome (and it is a very large book) this one is “throbbing pain caused by blood vessels that have dilated due to coffee withdrawal and ingesting “small amount of caffeine, then taper off” is the treatment….not the cause of my headache—I have no desire to stop my caffeine intake thank you very much.
Hangover headaches: (3 guess on the cause of this one) Symptoms are described as migraine like–throbbing pain and nausea–because alcohol causes dehydration and dilation of blood vessels in the brain. Drink plenty of (no not hair of the dog) water and fruit juice and ice packs to the neck don’t hurt either.
Menstrual Headaches (duh) Usually shortly before and during–sometimes even just after—but as is common with everything hormonal in our female lives it can strike at mid cycle or even ovulation…naturally. It’s caused by variation in estrogen and the Balchs recommend taking Vitamin B6, potassium and extra magnesium to make it go away.
“…people with biological conditions that creates chronic headaches may be affected by personality and environmental factors”
Just one more as this is one I’ve not dealt with:
Tic Douloureux
It’s described in book involving short, jabbing pains around the mouth, jaw or forehead….found most often in women over 55 years.
for which the cause is unknown….but they recommend nutritional supplement but advise that surgery may be necessary…hum I’m thinking this is a nerve and not a blood vessel problem?
Tomorrow we’ll look at migraines and cluster headaches and others that might be confused or even throw us into the worse conditions—those painful conditions that affect so many of us and actually greatly influence our–or our family and friend’s lives.
“Clearly, for headache treatment to be effective, both health professional and patient must be willing to work together in a cooperative, collaborative relationship.”
Jamie’s remedy for Black Jack Randall (see above)
Sam’s remedy for cyber bullying:
My remedy for depression and droughtlander see below:
“We believe the future looks much brighter for those who suffer from headaches. There is increasing interest by scientists and researchers around the world in clarifying the mechanisms that produce head pain.”
“You’re also the one who know taking an aspirin doesn’t help. Or if it does you may be worried about how often you seem to need aspirin or some other headache medication.”
“The list of famous people who suffered from headache:
Karl Marx
Virginia Wolf
Miguel Cervantes
Lewis Carroll
Sigmund Freud
Frederic Chopin
Charles Darwin
Ulysses S. Grant
Thomas Jefferson
Peter Tchaikovsky
and
George Bernard Shaw
all suffered from headaches.
So, reportedly, did Julius Caesar.”
