If you have ever experienced a migraine, you know that very few maladies compare to the severe pain, intensity and nearly total brain and body shutdown of a migraine. Even worse, research shows (JAMA) migraine to be a progressive brain disease and more and more people suffer from them. It’s not surprising that migraines are on the rise considering the hectic pace of life, worries about money, lack of time for work, play and family. But what concerns me even more is the dependency on drugs that don’t contribute to improved health but do lead to a long list of moderate to severe side effects from the long term use, and can result in an increase in the severity and frequency of subsequent episodes.
Looking for the causes (triggers) of migraine can be a daunting task. These include alcohol, missing meals, dehydration, hormone changes, low blood sugar, etc. Because the cause(s) can often be traced to diet and lifestyle, making appropriate changes can improve or even eliminate the condition for many people.
You may already know that migraines typically affect one side of the head and can be accompanied with nausea vomiting and vision changes. But the long held theory about the root cause of migraine—that changes in blood vessels are responsible for the throbbing brain pain with each heartbeat, is now changing.
The New Migraine: Studies now show that during your migraine, a slow excitation, electrical wave is followed by a wave “spreading cortical depression.” These waves of electrical excitation and depression cause blood vessel constriction and low oxygen, and are responsible for the “Aura” of migraine. This cycle may begin 24 hours before the attack and causes inflammation which then leads to irritation of cranial nerves in the brain (specifically the trigeminal nerve) and severe pain to the face and head. This nerve activation causes a release of brain chemicals called neuropeptides like substance P and serotonin. When this occurs, pain can spread to other places in the body. Many brain areas are involved in this process (the hypothalamus, raphe nucleus, locus coeruleus, substantia nigra, red nucleus and glia) and so we know that migraine is really a brain dysfunction rather than a vessel problem as previously thought. Either way, the migraine event can last for days with impaired thinking, mood changes, sleep disturbance and lingering pain.
WHAT DO YOU DO NOW?
Since we know that migraine is both neurological and inflammatory, it should be approached with holistic techniques that deal with those conditions. Our functional medicine/chiropractic neurology approach is to direct our attention toward the brain by balancing brain areas of decreased function. During a migraine episode blood flow changes occur in specific areas of the brain along with increased nerve sensitivity. This can be addressed with specific and precise neurological techniques to stimulate the areas of decreased function that are allowing blood vessels to expand and contract abnormally. Also eliminating mechanical triggers like spinal imbalance can stop headaches caused by nerve compression. In addition electrical stimulation at the front or back of the head has been shown to be helpful in reducing the migraine frequency.
The inflammatory aspects of migraine are even more complex. This is because many of the problems have been laying in wait for months or years. Inflammation, whether it is in the nerve or at the system level is not only a concern in regard to headache but for heart disease, Alzheimer’s, joint degeneration and autoimmune conditions. With the aid of both laboratory testing and neurological examination a non-drug brain strengthening protocol is implemented to stabilize the imbalances present and a natural metabolic approach to decrease brain inflammation. So, if your current level of health care frustrates you, consider our approach, which has been very successful decreasing the severity and frequency of migraine.
If you are interested in seeing if you are a candidate for our breakthrough procedures for treating Migraines and Chronic Headaches give us a call at (925) 279-4325 or visit WalnutCreekHealth.com to schedule a free consultation with Dr. Davis.
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