Elizabeth Wotton N.D. - Natural & Herbal Remedies for Headaches

Elizabeth Wotton, N.D.

Have you ever felt like there were hundreds of tiny hammers beating on your skull? Like your head was being painfully squeezed in a vise? Or like someone was drilling a hole right through your brow and into your brain? Have you ever had such a headache that the slightest noise sounded like crashing cymbals reverberating through your brain? That your eyes became so exquisitely sensitive to light that you couldnt bear to open them?

If youve answered yes to any of these questions, youre in good company. Headaches which can range from mild, dull aches that are merely annoying to debilitating pain that sends you to bed are the most common health complaint in the United States. In fact, while headaches affect virtually every one of us at one time or another, an estimated 45 million of us suffer from chronic headaches, often with pain so severe that it interferes with our daily lives.

Though headaches are considered an entity unto themselves, they are often the result of another problem elsewhere in the body. Poor posture, eyestrain, sinus infection, hormonal changes, platelet abnormalities, and food sensitivities are just a few of the conditions that can cause head pain. Most pharmacies are well stocked with headache remedies. But unless the underlying cause of the headache is discovered and treated, these remedies will provide only temporary relief.

This bulletin will help you explore the reasons why youre experiencing them. Understanding the mechanisms of your headaches will help you to treat them effectively with dietary changes, lifestyle modifications, and gentle herbal remedies and perhaps banish headaches from your life forever.

Headache pain originates from a network of nerves that run throughout your head and neck. The ends of these pain-sensitive nerves contain receptors called nociceptors that can be agitated by muscle tension, changes in blood flow, and chemical messengers released by other nerves or cells.

Once a nociceptor is agitated, it sends a message through the nerve fiber to your brain, signaling which part of the body needs help. The brain identifies the location of the pain by determining the nociceptors location. Brain chemicals released by the nociceptor stimulate the immune system to create a localized inflammation. This action increases circulation to the area, which brings increased numbers of white blood cells, oxygen, and nutrients.

The sensation of pain is sometimes isolated to a small area, but it may also radiate along the path of the blood vessel, muscle, or nerve, creating widespread discomfort. It may be felt deep inside the head, in a small spot, or across a broad region. In general, the stronger the pain, the more dramatic the bodys response, the greater the inflammation, and the larger the area of pain.

Sometimes there is no head pain at all a phenomenon that may occur with migraines. Instead of head pain, other features of migraine may be present, such as visual disturbances, nausea, confusion, or dizziness. Some people have headaches that follow a particular pattern, while others never have the same kind of headache twice. The next time you get a headache, observe where it starts and how it develops to see if you can identify a pattern.

Should You Call a Doctor?

Most headaches can be safely treated at home. However, recurrent or chronic headaches may indicate another medical condition that needs to be treated. In rare cases, a headache may herald a serious condition that requires immediate medical attention. Headaches that call for prompt medical care include:

A headache that appears suddenly and is very severe

A headache accompanied by seizures (convulsions), dizziness, or problems with balance

A headache accompanied by personality changes, confusion, or loss of consciousness

A headache accompanied by projectile vomiting

A headache associated with neck or head trauma, such as a fall or a car accident

A headache accompanied by eye or ear pain

A headache associated with a fever and stiff neck

A headache that prevents you from participating in normal everyday life

A persistent headache in someone who rarely or never gets headaches

Recurring headaches in children

The exact mechanisms that cause headaches are not well understood. Historically, headaches have often been grouped into two basic categories: vascular headaches, which are caused by the alternating contraction (vasospasm) and expansion (vasodilation) of blood vessels in the head, and muscle contraction headaches, which are caused by prolonged muscle contraction or spasm. Some rare conditions such as a brain tumor or inflammation of the arteries that feed the facial nerves may also cause headaches.

More recent advances in headache research suggest that these categories are simplistic and not an entirely accurate way of explaining headaches. Its more likely that headaches are caused by a variety of factors that sometimes overlap and affect circulation, muscle tone, platelet activity, the release of brain chemicals, and inflammation.

Thats why doctors today are likely to classify your headaches as mixed, which means that theyre a combination of vascular and muscle contraction headaches, or as traction or inflammatory, which means that theyre associated with diseases or structural abnormalities.

Muscle tension is responsible for about 90 percent of all headaches. In this type of headache, pain originates from two mechanisms: nerve pain and nerve irritation. Nerve pain is the result of prolonged muscle contraction that constricts the surrounding nerves and activates the nociceptors. The nociceptors, in turn, alert the brain to pain and initiate an inflammatory cascade a chain reaction of chemical activities that result in inflammation.

Nerve irritation, in contrast, is the result of restricted circulation, which inhibits the delivery of blood and oxygen to the tissues and prevents the transport of metabolic waste products away from those areas. This causes a buildup of pain-producing chemicals.

Conditions that contribute to muscle contraction headaches are overreaction to stressful situations, prolonged sitting, poor posture, spinal misalignment, head or neck trauma, anxiety, insomnia, dehydration, depression, and strenuous or repetitive physical exertion.

The headache begins in the shoulders, neck, or back of the head and spreads outward with a dull, constant pain that may feel like a band being tightened around the head. These headaches are usually temporary, lasting one to several hours. Chronic headaches of this type are caused by sustained muscle contraction and may last weeks to months. Occasionally, muscle contraction headaches may be accompanied by nausea, vomiting, and blurred vision.