Heal your headaches in 3 simple steps.

A simple solution to your headaches and migraines.

According to American neurologist David Buchholz there is a simple 3 step solution to relieving chronic headaches and migraines.  Over the last few months I have had several patients follow the approach outlined in his book, Heal Your Headache, with great results.  You can listen to David himself outline his approach in the video below:

 The 3 steps are:

  1. Avoid prescription medications which cause rebound headaches.  According to NHS Choices rebound headaches are:

    Painkiller, or rebound, headaches are frequent or daily headaches that develop after taking painkillers for tension headaches or migraines over several months.  Strangely, painkiller headaches only become a problem for people who take painkillers to treat headaches. They don’t happen to people who take painkillers for long periods for other painful conditions, such as arthritis and back pain.

  2. Avoid known migraine triggers.  Some migraine triggers, like changes in barometric pressure, are hard to avoid so we need to avoid those that are more controllable.  David recommends strictly eliminating migraine food triggers for a period of 4 months.  This is long enough to get great control of most people’s headaches and migraines.  Foods can then be slowly re-introduced to get an idea of your individual tolerance level.  David does say that caffeine should always be strictly avoided though.
  3. Steps 1 and 2 may be sufficient but if you are still getting break through symptoms it may be necessary to take a drug to prevent your headaches and migraines, such as amitriptylene.  Prevention drugs raise the threshold at which your triggers can come together to trigger a headache.  They don’t cause rebound headaches.  It is my belief that acupuncture works to raise the headache and migraine threshold.

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