A migraine is more than a headache – it’s the mother of all headaches (perhaps just behind ‘cluster’ headache, which must be the daddy!)

People often describe their bad headache as a migraine – but is it? A migraine is a serious medical condition to those that suffer them.

What is a migraine and what are the causes of migraine?

Symptoms of a migraine vary between individual sufferers, but usually involve a combination of the following effects: Distorted vision, blind spots or zig zag lines, a feeling of nausea, maybe even being sick, a headache, often to one side of the head. The pain can be severe. I have often described the headache as feeling as though I’ve been hit over the head with a baseball bat. Other symptoms include a dislike of bright lights and loud noise.

Another symptom I have suffered is a difficulty in thinking clearly – not being able to remember the names of people or even common everyday objects.

Symptoms can last from 2 to 12 hours for the majority of sufferers, although some people take literally days to recover.

Like many I usually head straight to a dark room to sleep it off. People fail to see why you can’t just carry on with a ‘headache’. If only they knew.

There are two types of migraine – classic which features the aura or distortion in vision, and common migraine which doesn’t. Migraine is more common in women with a quater of all women effected – only around one in twelve men suffer.

The frequency may vary from every couple of days to a couple of times a year.

The causes of migraine headache are not entirely understood, however it is believed to be connected to a series of triggers. It may well be that one trigger isn’t enough – a combination may be needed to set you off. I find that hunger along with stress is tempting fate. Others blame red wine, chocolate, cheese

I can tell when a migraine is coming from an almost instant blind spot appearing in my field of vision. Once this ‘aura’ starts, that’s it. The days over for me - shut my eyes and get to sleep. My aura usually lasts for about half an hour – then it’s over to the headache.

Well things are changing for me now.

I tried various things. paracetamol  which are of no use to me, migraleve, these might help – I was never really sure and my last medication was Imigran. This certainly cured the zig zag lines in my vision but actually made the headache worse. I stopped taking these as I found that I felt much rougher for a couple of days after. It was like waking up after a fight with Mike Tyson.

Natural cures for migraine can work as I have finally discovered. There are solutions to migraine headaches and I'm please to have found one that works for me. Visit www.causeofmigraines.com to see what I found, you will be glad you did.

One of the commonest migraine headache symptoms is an intense throbbing pain that is normally situated on just one side of the head near to the temple. Migraines are also often accompanied by other symptoms which include sensitivity to light and noise, queasiness and occasionally vomiting.

Migraines are fairly common and affect about 10% of the population of the United States, or more than 28 million Americans. They are also much more often seen in women than in men (about 3 times as many women suffer from migraine headaches) and can also be found sometimes in children.

Although migraine headaches are so common and generally very painful with an attack lasting anywhere from a matter of hours to several days, only roughly half of all sufferers ever consult their physician and the rest elect to suffer in silence.

Migraine headaches had long been thought to be were the result of a of dilation of the blood vessels in the head but, despite the fact that there is no general consensus, medical opinion seems to be moving away from this theory in favor of a genetic basis for this condition. Current thinking is that migraine headaches are produced by the interaction of certain brain chemicals like serotonin with the nerve cells. At this point in time however the truth is that we really do not know what cause a migraine headache.

In fact there are two forms of the condition, the first of which is referred to as ‘classical migraine’and is characterized by an associated ‘aura’. In this case ‘aura’ refers to visual light effects which are experienced just prior to the arrival of a headache including such things as bright light spots and flashing lights. In a few people a total loss of vision can be experienced for a few minutes before the arrival of the headache.

The second type of migraine headache is a migraine without the ‘aura’.

Just as we do not know what causes a migraine, we also have little idea about just what gives rise to an attack, although there are a number of factors that do appear likely to trigger an attack. For instance, too much sleep appears to be one factor, as does skipping meals or eating certain foods like cheese.

Hormones are also thought to influence the onset of attacks and their severity and this is evidenced the higher incidence of migraines in women. In part this is thought to be because estrogen affects the blood vessels and some studies have noted that there is a connection between the contraceptive pill (which contains estrogen) and migraines.

However, just to confuse matters studies have also shown that simple everyday activities such as climbing a flight of stairs can trigger an attack, as can exposure to heat or cold, loud noises, flashing lights and occasionally stress.

Happily, there are various migraine medications available today, although no single treatment has proved to be really effective in all cases. Over-the-counter medications are however rarely effective and, if you suffer from migraines, you would be best advised to seek the help of your physician in finding a solution which works for you.

There cannot be many of us who have not experienced a headache at some point and yet, although they are so common, their cause remains a mystery. Also, though we often talk about a headache there are in fact several different types of headache.

Migraines for instance affect about ten percent of Americans (in the region of 28 million people) and attack three times more women than men. Yet, in spite of the fact that such a large number of people regularly suffer from migraines, we still have little idea about just what causes them. There are of course a number of theories, the latest of which holds that they are caused by the interaction of brain chemicals such as serotonin and the nerve cells of the brain, but we do not know for for sure that this is the cause.

Cluster headaches, which are much rarer but also much more intense than migraine headaches, affect only about one person in three hundred and tend to afflict men far more than women. Again however we only have a provisional idea about just what causes the stabbing pain which is often felt behind one eye in these especially painful headaches. A few people think that a problem with the hypothalamus might be the cause but, at this time, there is no sound evidence to support this theory.

The the most commonly seen form of headache is what we generally call ordinary or tension-type headaches and once again these are not well understood. In this case the list of possible causes is extremely long indeed and includes everything from the food we eat to the amount of stress we are under. Attempting to pinpoint a specific cause has however so far proved too difficult and just what produces the common everyday headache remains something of a mystery.

The only saving grace however is that there is a large number of medicines available to us to cope with the different types of headache and most of these are both safe and effective for the majority of sufferers.

Migraine headaches have long proved hard to treat and the original ergot drugs used in their treatment had varying degrees of success. These drugs were then replaced by triptans which proved to be more effective but which sadly carried some disadvantages. Today however a new generation of triptan drugs are proving safe, have fewer drawbacks and are effective for the majority of sufferers.

There has also been an increase in the use of preventive medications for migraines like beta blockers, calcium channel blockers, anti-depressants, anti-seizure medications and various other drugs that are commonly used to treat other well known conditions. For many people these will indeed stop headaches from attacking at all, while for others they act to lower the frequency of headaches.

For ordinary headaches over-the-counter medications like paracetamol and aspirin (which have been around for more than one hundred years) and newer medications like ibuprofen provide effective and safe relief in the majority of cases. For people suffering from frequent headaches though care does need to be taken because even the lowly aspirin can have side effects if taken too frequently.

In spite of the fact that there is still so much that we do not know about what causes really bad headaches the fact that we can treat them effectively is comforting to the many sufferers and particularly to the large number of individuals who are afflicted by often very debilitating migrane headaches. Surprisingly enough though only about half of all migraine headache sufferers ever seek medical advice and so there are millions of individuals today who are needlessly suffering in silence.

If you are bothered by headaches and find that simple over-the-counter medications like aspirin or paracetamol do not do the trick then, instead of sitting and suffering in silence, drop in to see your physician who will almost certainly be able to help.

Safe, Pain Relief with Thought Field Therapy (TFT)

Wall Street Journal article says “Top Pain Scientist Fabricated Data in Studies, Hospital Says”

“The anesthesiologist allegedly faked data in 21 studies on the use of various painkillers, including Vioxx”.

Pain is the most common reason older adults, age 65 and older, visit their doctor. The older adult population is rapidly increasing as the baby boomers age.

Pain is often considered by experts to be a silent epidemic in the United States. In the U.S., an estimated 50 million people suffer from chronic pain caused by a disorder, disease or accident.  An additional 25 million people suffer acute pain resulting from surgery or accidents.

Loss of productivity due to pain continues to be a burden on companies and families. In a study done in 2000 it was reported that 36 million Americans missed work in the previous year due to pain and that 83 million indicated that pain affected their participation in various activities.¹

From these statistics it is clear that pain and its treatment is a major problem confronting our modern culture. A survey done by the American Pain Society² in 1999 revealed that more than 40% of people suffering moderate to severe pain were unable to find adequate pain relief.

Inadequate pain relief is one of the top reasons people experience a reduced quality of life.  Chronic and increasing anxiety is another of the top reasons quality of life diminishes.  The medications for both of these often interrelated issues, are usually toxic leading to many complications and side-effects, even death.  Individuals on blood thinners can’t even take most medications for physical pain and are left with little or no option for their pain relief. 

Thought Field Therapy (TFT) is a little-known, but highly effective, drug-free and non-invasive way to reduce or eliminate even chronic pain without the risk of medications.  TFT was discovered and developed by California clinical psychologist, Dr. Roger Callahan.TFT works with nature’s healing system, combining modern psychology with the acupressure meridian system.   

With the known risks of painkillers, the fraud appearing regularly in the studies of these painkillers, suggesting unknown risks, we need to help pain sufferers learn and use safer methods for managing pain.

³Researchers at Oxford University in the United Kingdom have found that the anxiety caused by the anticipation or experience of pain makes the perceived level of pain much worse.  This often leads to the addition of anxiety medications, which have their own set of risks and side-effects.  TFT effectively reduces or eliminates anticipatory anxiety in addition to reducing the pain. 

Length of relief from pain, per occurrence, is also important to the sufferer.  In a ⁴study, TFT provided longer relief than that experienced from pain medications.  (a free copy of this study is available on www.TFTRX.com).

⁵Statistically significant results were obtained with all problems and symptoms treated with TFT in a study at Kaiser Behavioral Health Services.  These problems  included anxiety, depression, alcohol abuse, anger, anxiety due to medical condition, bereavement, and chronic pain along with others.

“When I observe a number of suffering patients who did not respond to our usual treatment modalities, suddenly get better after TFT treatments are given, I don’t need a double-blind controlled study to tell me the value of Callahan Techniques® TFT.” 
James McKoy, MD, Chief, Pain Clinic, Chief, Rheumatology Service, Assistant Chief, Neuroscience Department    

Pain relief can be one of the most important means for improving the quality of life for thousands of people.Individuals suffering from chronic diseases like fybromyalgia, cancer, heart disease or arthritis may use TFT with their medications to reduce the stress and anxiety and consequently enhance the effect of the medication.

It makes sense that we use a natural, risk-free process to relieve and manage pain first, before spending large sums of money for medications with known side-effects and risks. 

To learn more about this safe alternative for pain management, visit www.TFTRX.com, Self-Help Products, TFT and Health Series.  The study mentioned above is available as a free download.

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1. Pain in America: A Research Report, Survey conducted for Merck by the Gallup Organization, 2000.
2. Chronic Pain in America: Roadblocks to Relief, survey conducted for the American Pain Society, The American Academy of Pain Medicine and Janssen Pharmaceutica,1999.
3. Plonghaus, A., Tracey, I., Gati, J. S., Clare, S., Menon, R. S., Matthews, P. M., & Rawlins, J. N. (1999). Dissociating pain from its anticipation in the human brain. Science, 284(5422), 1979-81.
4. Thought Field Therapy and Pain, by Robert Pasahow, PhD, in The Thought Field, Volume 11, Issue 2,  
5. Thought Field Therapy Clinical Applications: Utilization in an HMO in Behavioral Medicine and Behavioral Health Services, Kaiser Behavioral Health Services, Sakai, Caroline, et al., J Clinical