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Better Health Update #25 - Monte Kline, Clinical Nutritionist

Headaches

Headaches are perhaps one of the most common and most aggravating health problems. Tens of millions suffer from headaches and migraines, many even on a daily basis. The most common conventional medicine approach to headaches is simply taking an analgesic - a pain killer. I have often told my clients:

You don't have a headache because your body has a deficiency of aspirin!

Unfortunately, that simple logic seems foreign to most people, so they pop pain killers as if they're helping the headache. When you take a pain killer for your headache, all you're doing is treating the symptom. To add insult to injury those pain killers may damage your stomach, kidneys or liver. To really solve this problem we need to get down to the root causes.

THREE GROUPS

Most headaches belong to one of three groups:

1. Migraine - This is a recurring, severe headache typically characterized by throbbing on one side. It may be accompanied by nausea, dizziness, vomiting, impaired vision, and sensitivity to light. Over 20 million Americans experience migraines anywhere from daily to years apart.

2. Cluster - These headaches are similar to migraines, but tend to be of shorter duration, typically occurring in series over weeks or months. They are usually centered around one eye.

3. Tension - These are usually connected with muscular tension and stress. They may occur in any location.

MEDICAL EXPLANATIONS

Conventional medicine tends to look at headaches in terms of secondary causes. For example, they note that migraines are triggered by constriction of blood vessels within the head followed by dilation of blood vessels. Decreased brain metabolism is believed to initiate the attack. Hormonal level changes are also believed to be a cause.
This is all well and good, but why don't they ask what causes the constriction, what causes the decreased metabolism, what causes the hormonal changes? Because conventional medicine's approach to headaches, like other problems, is to treat the symptom. So who cares what really causes that symptom? Take this pill!

CAUSES OF HEADACHES

So, if headaches are not a deficiency of aspirin, what does cause them? While there may be one cause, it is more likely that your headaches have multiple causes. From my experience, the following are the main possibilities:

1. Food Sensitivities - I've put this one number one intentionally. I think it's probably the most common cause of headaches, though hardly anyone is aware that common food reactions may be a cause of their headaches. Virtually everyone we see at our clinics who has headaches shows significant food sensitivities. Wheat, baker's yeast, and cow's milk are the most likely culprits, but reactions to any food can be a cause - again your headaches probably have multiple causes.

2. Environmental Sensitivities - This is another leading cause, again in the allergic category. Reaction to molds, dust, pollen and the like frequently cause headaches. If you feel better in a different environment (on vacation, etc.), you may be reacting to something in your home or workplace.

Having listed this as a cause, let me now contradict myself and say that environmental sensitivities are not really a root cause, but more of a secondary cause. Generally people first have food sensitivities and then develop environmental sensitivities. Either one is rooted in inadequate digestion. Allergic sensitivity problems are best helped by cleansing and restoring the digestive tract.

3. Constipation - Speaking of the digestive tract, another frequent cause of headaches is constipation. If you are having less than one bowel movement per day (two per day is more ideal), you're recycling toxins, and that often produces headaches. Remember the colon is basically a fluid recycling organ . . . and that means you recycle water-soluble toxins back through the circulation, liver, etc. Don't even think about any other causes of headaches if you have one bowel movement every two or more days.

4. Candidiasis - Overgrowth of the common yeast organism, Candida albicans, often produces headache symptoms. Candida overgrows in the body as a result of taking antibiotics or hormonal medications, primarily. While it begins in the digestive tract, it can also affect other areas of the body. Basically what would cause the headaches (or other candidiasis symptoms) is the toxins produced by this yeast/fungal organism as it proliferates.

5. Sinus Infections - Sinus problems are very common with our Pacific Northwest clients - I think we must be the sinusitis capital of the world! Infection or congestion may produce headaches. Generally sinus related headaches are indicated if the areas above and below the eyes are sensitive to pressure. This "cause" is actually most often caused by other causes like food sensitivities and candidiasis.

6. Hormonal Imbalances - Women dealing with menopausal or menstrual problems often experience headaches. Generally a hormonally caused headache will fall at a particular time in the cycle with a menstruating woman. Menopausal headaches may not have a particular time of the month. As with some of our other causes, the underlying causes of the hormonal imbalances are typically related to nutrient deficiencies or sometimes, food reactions.

7. Low Blood Sugar - If you get headaches typically mid to late morning or mid to late afternoon, low blood sugar may be the cause.

8. Nutrient Deficiencies - Deficiency of any nutrient could produce headache symptoms, though the B-vitamins and magnesium are particularly key in my experience. Those, and other nutrients may affect hormonal balance, muscular tension, constipation or other headache factors.

9. Chemical Toxicities - Toxicities from chemicals, heavy metals, drugs, etc. can likewise produce headaches. One of the first thoughts to cross your mind when you have a headache should be that your body needs some kind of detoxification.

10. Dental Toxicities - Various dental problems may produce headaches. Infection, such as an abscessed tooth would be one. Toxicity from root canals, cavitations (the space left after a tooth is pulled), or mercury amalgam dental fillings have all been known to produce headaches (not to mention many other symptoms).

11. Structural Problems - Several structural problems may be the cause of headaches. Simple spinal misalignment, cranial suture tension, or TMJ (temporomandibular joint) dysfunction in the jaw can all lead to headaches. In my experience headaches that are not corrected by dealing with the typical allergic sensitivities, toxicities, and nutrient deficiencies are usually structural in origin.

12. Stress - When all is said and done, basic emotional stress probably produces more headaches than any other single cause. Think of the headache in this instance as kind of a "circuit breaker" that's letting you know you're exceeding your capacity.

These are some of the more common causes of headaches, but how to we solve them with natural medicine?

HEADACHE RELIEF

Before giving some recommendations, let me again emphasize that the key is finding the cause and dealing with it. Depending on the cause the following possible approaches should be considered:

1. Improve the diet - The basics of eating a good, natural food diet apply in this health problem, as with any other. Refined sugar is the number one thing to avoid, plus refined grains and food additives like MSG and aspartame.

2. Get regular - If you're not having at least one bowel movement per day, using a psyllium product (like Pro Bulk M) or an herbal laxative (like Herbalax) is a must.

3. Get off sensitive foods - Testing at the clinic is the best way to find out which foods are a problem. Short of that, you just have to observe your reactions, or try eliminating the more commonly sensitive foods and see it symptoms improve.

4. Basic supplementation - To correct any nutrient deficiencies you should be on a good, hypoallergenic multi-vitamin (like Ultra Preventive) and probably also a multi-mineral (like Mineral Complex).

5. Chiropractic care - If you have headache problems, you should also see a chiropractor regarding spinal misalignment problems. I particularly recommend practitioners trained in cranial therapy, which seems to get more to the root of the structural problems.

6. Stress reduction - Everybody I know that's overstressed from the way they live and work tells me it's impossible to change their situations to relieve the stress. That, of course, is baloney. It's a matter of priority. If you really believe there's no escaping the stress of your present job, you better get another one.

However, before you give notice on your job, your marriage, your church, or whatever, recognize that stress is really not situational. The test for that is simple: If there are other people in that same situation that are not stressed out, it therefore must be you and your reactions to the situation that are the issue. You are ultimately in charge of whether the situation gets through to you or not.

The wrong way to react is by thinking that you are a victim, that other people or things are controlling your stress. The right way to react is to realize that God is in ultimate control of both good and bad situations, and that this situation has design in your life. Become sensitive to what God is trying to teach you in the situation, how He desires to use you in that situation, and what His overall plan is. A bigger view of our circumstances helps with headaches and everything else.

DISCLAIMER: The information contained in this publication is for educational purposes only. It is not intended to diagnose illness nor prescribe treatment. Rather, this material is designed to be used in cooperation with your nutritionally-oriented health professional to deal with your personal health problems. Should you use this information on your own, you are prescribing for yourself, which is your constitutional right, but neither the author nor publisher assume responsibility.