What Can You Do About Your Chronic and Nagging Headaches?Sep 5, 2008 | by Guest | Read | No Comments

By Dr. Michael Funicello, Infinite Healing Arts

We’ve all had one at some time in our life. Some people experience them more than others. When discussing headaches, let’s be clear. We are not speaking of the occasional headache or the ‘morning headache’ after a, shall we say, ‘festive’ evening the night before. The headaches discussed here are concerning the more chronic or repetitive forms.

So, what are some of the most common causes of headaches and what can you do about them? There are essentially 3 types of headaches. If you do a search online you will come up with a bunch of listings, but this list of 3 will incorporate all those in some fashion. Let’s start with the most common type:  dehydration.  You’ve likely heard that almost 80% of your body is made up of water. Water is in your cells, your brain, your blood, your nerves, your organs and every tissue. When you are dehydrated, whether it is from exercise or any number of medicines and foods, your body’s physiologic processes are altered. Without adequate water, your kidneys must work harder, your balance of electrolytes in your blood gets out of balance and your cells begin to lose optimal function. When this cascade happens, your body is trying to send you a signal that there is a problem and it may result in a headache.

The next common type of headache is what we could call a chemical or toxic headache. This category includes headaches caused from a variety of substances that we eat, drink or breathe that can contribute to your body’s reaction in producing a headache. Many people are learning about the many ways that specific foods can trigger more sub-clinical allergic reactions (typically undetected in routine allergy testing) and cause biological imbalance that leads to headaches. Some common trigger groups include wheat, soy, dairy and - gasp - even chocolate (sorry, but it’s true). Many types of medicines also have headaches as their most common side effects. Even headache medicines can have ‘rebound headaches’ as their common side effects…hmmm. Although there are also several variations, migraine headaches would fall into the chemical/toxic headache group.  Some of the same trigger food groups that cause the allergy-type headache response are also linked to migraines, like red wine, chocolate and rich cheeses. Migraine headaches have specific categories based upon their onset, symptoms of visual disturbances, light flashes, intestinal disturbance and severe disability during an episode.

The third and final group of headaches is the tension or stress headache. This headache affects more people than the others and has been increasing in prevalence as our lives have increased in time and stress demands. These headaches most often occur by having the smaller muscle groups of the back, and more specifically the neck region, becoming over-stressed, then ultimately fatigued to exhaustion. When these muscles spasm and fatigue, whose job is to provide postural support to the spine and spinal cord, they cause the delicate nerve tissue to be stretched, compressed or irritated resulting in headache pain.  Headache sufferers of this type of chronic pain often find that relying on over the counter drugs or more stronger prescription medications to ease their headaches has little long-term benefit. Eventually, they don’t help you with your headaches, mostly, because they aren’t helping to deal with the underlying issue that stems from your body’s ability to adapt to the demands of your life at home and at work. This chronic form of headache requires you to develop new strategies within your body to more effectively and appropriately respond to your life’s demands. Proper stretching, enhancing your unconscious postural balance, through improved nerve function and optimal spinal alignment are essential to create lasting relief from this most common type of recurring headache.

For more information, you can go to www.infinitehealingarts.com or call Dr. Michael J. Funicello, DC at 480.558.1560 to learn more about what to eliminate your headaches.