What's Your Problem?
- Acne
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- Babies - Fruit Juice
- Babies - Sleeping
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- Bed Wetting
- Blood Pressure - High
- Blood Pressure - Low
- Body Odour
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- Children - Speech Impediment
- Children and Television
- Cholesterol
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- Fasting
- Female Sexual Hygiene
- Fever
- Foot Rot
- Grief
- HIV - AIDS
- HRT - Premarin
- Halitosis
- Hangover Cure
- Head Lice
- Headaches
- Headaches and Migraine
- Heart
- Hepatitis
- Herpes and Shingles
- Hypoglycaemia
- Immunisation
- Insomnia
- Jetlag
- Kidney Stones
- Knee Problems
- Memory
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- Period Pains
- Polycystic Ovaries
- Pre Menstrual Syndrome
- Psoriasis
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- Sexual Performance
- Stings - Insects and Snakes
- Stomach Ulcers
- Thrush
- Underweight
- Varicose Veins
- Warts
- Water Drinking
- Worms
Please read our Golden Rules of self help before considering the information on this page.
Headaches
WHICH HEADACHE?
People often get upset and annoyed at me when I tell them it's not normal to have headaches. They feel as though I am having a go at them as if they were pretending, someone even said to me once: “I have headaches all the time, are you saying I'm not normal?!?”
Of course not. It's not the person who is not normal, it's the headache.
A headache is a way for the body to let you know it does not like something, that there is something wrong. The mistake is to take it as ‘just a headache', take a headache pill and forget about it. As soon as the pill wears off, bang! Headache again, and so it goes for the rest of your life. So let us see what are the possible causes of headaches are and what we can do about them.
The Hypoglycaemic Headache
This happens mid morning or mid to late afternoon, it can be accompanied with faintness and vertigo. It usually gets better with a cuppa and a biscuit but will return unless you have another cuppa. This is the simplest headache and the easiest to avoid, it's like the petrol light on your dashboard going on: the message is simple: “Feed me!” Having a good breakfast and lunch makes sure you never have these headaches again.
The Stress Headache
Very often a hypoglycaemic headache will be compounded by a stress headache. Your mind and body are telling you that you have bitten more than you can chew. This may be accompanied by a lower back pain. You avoid and treat it by:
- As per hypoglycaemic headache: make sure you have enough good fuel to cope.
- Keep things in perspective: will it really matter if you are five minutes late, if you haven't done the ironing today, if the kids have made a mess?
- Allow yourself time to do nothing and relax.
- Have relaxing herbal teas, such as: Chamomile, Lemon Verbena, Linden Flowers.
The Hormonal Headache
You know that one: that's the one you get once a month, usually before your period. This is an indication that your hormonal levels may be a little out of tune.
- Vitamin B6 is very good, especially if you have other premenstrual symptoms: 50mg a day for at least three months.
- Evening Primrose Oil is something a lot of women find helpful. A 500mg capsule a day, after food. If EP oil is going to work for you, you will know very soon. You don't need to take it for a year to see results.
- Chaste Tree is the herb to use. You can take it as a tea (it tastes like hell, but you can add honey) or you can go to a herbalist who will prescribe it for you together with other herbs you might need.
The Bad Neck Headache
This is a structural headache: usually the vertebrae in the neck are out of alignment. This can be caused by bad posture, the work you are doing (working on a computer with the monitor at the wrong level for instance), or even falling asleep reading or in front of the telly. Usually both neck and shoulders are sore as well.
- Have your neck attended to by an osteopath, chiropractor or acupuncturist.
- Check what you are doing and remedy it (like changing your chair, etc..)
- Improve your posture by doing exercises such as the Alexander Technique which free and strengthen the neck
Apply the remedies for Stress Headaches above, as stress is often part of the problem with tense neck and shoulders.
The Toxic Headache
I also call this ‘the liver headache'. If headaches are happening for no apparent reasons and if they come with a feeling of un-well being and sluggishness. This could be a sign that your poor old liver needs a clean up. If you don't have a naturopath handy for a personalised program, try this:
Stop all alcohol for one month.
Stop all sugar, cakes, biscuits, ice cream, chocolate for one month.
Have a lot of vegetables, especially green leafy vegetables and mixed vegetable juices.
Have a lot of grapefruit and grapefruit juice (unsweetened of course!)
Drink at least three cups a day of any of the following teas:
Dandelion
Chicory
Chamomile
St Mary's Thistle
Take some vitamin C powder (half a teaspoon twice a day) for a week or two at the beginning of your detox.
The Migraine
The way this is called ‘mi' you'd think it's only half a headache because it affects only one side of the head. However, migraines can be blinding with pain. They make you sensitive to light, noise and can cause nausea and vomiting. Their causes are diverse. Depending on the patient I might treat them as hormonal headaches but I always treat them as toxic headaches to get rid of them for good. When you are in the grip of a migraine:
Go in a dark, quiet room and lie down.
Apply cold compresses to both your forehead and the nape of your neck. Lying with an ice pack under your neck close to your cranium works well.
Rub the back of your neck and your temples with Lavender oil.
Drink small sips of Peppermint tea.
As soon as you can, go on a detox programme.
The Withdrawal Headache
When you stop doing whatever you were doing that your body was depending on (cups of coffee, chocolate, headache pills, drugs, alcohol) the first reaction you will get is a massive headache.
I can just hear you: “Great, Elyane! I am trying to get rid of the headaches and you are giving me a really bad one!” Have no fear, and have patience: this is only for a short time while your liver detoxifies your system.
Apply the principles as per Stress Headache and Migraine above.
Be patient. It's worth grinning and bearing it for a little while so as to be free of headaches.
The Hangover Headache
This is your body biffing you on the head to tell you not to do this again.
Far from me to go against the intelligence of your body and get in the way of a valuable lesson…
Oh! Alright! Proceed as per Toxic Headache for the day.
And don't do it again!
Warning! Warning! Headache
If someone who never has headache suddenly displays an unbearable headache coupled with stiff neck and general malaise, this could be something serious, such as meningitis. Nothing can shift this headache and medical advice should be sought.
So, there you have it. There is no miracle cure for a headache because a headache is Mother Nature's way to attract your attention. In the same way you would not ignore a red light on the dashboard of your car, don't ignore and suppress a headache. This way Mother Nature won't biff you over the head again!
IT WORKED FOR ME!
Mrs Dorothy Williams of Rockhampton writes: “Having suffered from migraines for most of my life I found that Feverfew and Rosemary are excellent remedies when taken immediately on approach of migraine. I now grow my own Rosemary and just steep a sprig in boiling water.”
Good on you Dorothy! I hope you will inspire many migraine sufferers to grow their own Rosemary bushes too.
For a personalised treatment please contact me here.
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The information on this website is not intended to provide personal medical advice, which should be obtained from a medical professional.
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