Homeopathic Healthcare: More Homeopathic Articles
George Guess, MD
MIGRAINE HEADACHES
Any consideration of migraine headaches should include nutritional considerations. Many migraine sufferers experience aggravations of their headaches from food allergens. Some common food/chemical allergens include milk, wheat, chocolate, egg, oranges, benzoic acid, cheese, tomato, tartrazine, rye, among others. Additionally amine-containing foods and substances can provoke constriction of blood vessels in the head and thus migraines. It would be prudent for migraine sufferers to eliminate these to see if their avoidance makes a difference; principal among them is: alcohol (especially red wine), nitrates, chocolate, cheese, cured meats, yeast extracts; cured, pickled, soured and fermented foods; monosodium glutamate, etc.
The diet should avoid primarily alcohol, cheese, chocolate, citrus fruits, and shellfish; it should also be low in animal fats and high in fresh fruits and vegetables, fish, garlic, and onion.
The following supplements — quercetin - 500 mg/day, flaxseed oil - 2 Tbsps/day, niacin - 50 mg/day, and magnesium - 500 mg/day — may prove useful as well. Additionally, some migraine sufferers find that the intensity and frequency of their headaches diminishes by taking any of the following botanical medicines on a long-term basis: feverfew, cayenne, gingko biloba.
Homeopathic Remedies
Chronic constitutional homeopathic treatment can cure the tendency to suffer migraines. This treatment is complex and typically requires professional homeopathic treatment. Self (and family) treatment with the indicated remedy from the list below can be quite effective in rapidly alleviating acute migraine pain. The symptoms are listed in an abbreviated manner.
Dosage: Take one dose of the remedy in the 30C potency every hour for intense pain, every 3-4 hours for more mild discomfort. If there is no relief after 2-3 doses, move to another remedy.
APIS (honeybee): A sensation of swelling and pressure; stinging and burning, in the head. Stabbing pains with sharp cries. Eyelids swollen. Rolls the head in bed from the pain. The pain is located in the occiput and back of the neck. Awkward; drops things. The pain is worse from: heat, motion, touch; better from: cold (air, applications), pressure.
BELLADONNA (deadly nightshade): Severe, sudden, throbbing headache. Sudden onset and disappearance. Right-sided headache. Red, flushed face. Dilated pupils. Better from bending the head backward, rest. Worse from: drafts, cutting the hair, heat, jarring, light, noise, washing the head; in the afternoon, especially 3 p.m.
BRYONIA (wild hops): Bursting, pressing headache, especially located over the left eye and left temple. Must keep perfectly still as even the slightest motion worsens the pain, even moving the eyes. Feels sick and faint on rising up from bed to a seated position. Better from pressure, tying up the head, cool air and applications, closing the eyes. Irritable; averse to being disturbed.
GELSEMIUM (yellow jasmine): Pressing headache or of a band around the head. Sore neck and shoulders. Blurred, dim or lost vision before, during headache. Heavy eyelids - looks and is sleepy, dull, confused. Worse from: emotions, anticipation, shock; warm, humid weather, motion. Better profuse urination, continued gentle motion.
GLONOINUM (nitroglycerine): Violent throbbing, similar to Belladonna. Upward surges of blood to the head. Holds his head in his hands. Worse from: any heat (sunlight, etc.), motion, jarring, shaking the head; bending the head backward (opposite of Belladonna), 6 a.m. until noon. Better from: air, elevating the head, cold air and applications, being still.
IPECACHUANA (ipecac): Headache with constant nausea and vomiting. Unable to vomit; if manages to do so, no relief follows. Nausea with clean tongue.
IRIS VERSICOLOR (blue flag): Visual migraine - blurred vision before the headache. Nausea and vomiting with headache. Worse from eating sweets, heat. Better from open air and gentle motion. Burning of tongue, throat, esophagus. Vomiting of ropy mucus. Periodic headaches; eg, weekly; often occur upon relaxing from mental strain.
LACHESIS (bushmaster snake venom): Left-sided headache. Throbs in waves; bursting, surging headache. All the blood feels as if it is in the head (like Glonoinum). Pain beginning on the left side and extending to the right. Worse from suppression of the menses. Must loosen the collar. Worse from: heat, after sleep (wakens with headache during the night or in the morning), suppressed discharges, light touch, alcohol. Worse during menopause. Worse before the menses and better with the onset of the flow. Better: open air, cold, discharges.
LYCOPODIUM (club moss): Right- sided headache. Headache worse from 4-8 p.m., in warm rooms, from the heat of the bed. Pain begins on the right side, then shifts to the left. May have a right hemianopsia before headache — loss of the right visual field. Headache associated with gastric symptoms, especially excessive gas and abdominal distention. Also worse from eating to satiety. Better from: warm drinks, motion, cold applications, urination and belching.
MELILOTUS (red clover): Bursting headache through the entire head, as if the brain will burst through the skull. Better from a nosebleed and menstrual flow. Can be aggravated with the onset of menopause. Fiery red face.
NATRUM MURIATICUM (sodium chloride): Blinding headaches — vision dim or lost before or during headache; fiery zigzags seen before headache. Headaches worse from the sun and light, and reading, at 10 a.m. (to 3 p.m.), before and after menstruation, and after grief. The pain can feel like little hammers or it can be pressing, crushing, throbbing. The headache may be associated with a cold, hay fever, or herpetic eruption. Periodic headaches - every day, or third or fourth day. Better from sleep; from lying perfectly quiet in bed
NUX VOMICA (poison nut): Various headaches: over the eye, occiput, frontal headache (wants to press hard against it). Sensation as of a nail through the head. Precipitated often by indigestion, after eating to excess. Sensitive to noise, light, odor. Irritable, angry. Sensitive scalp. Worse: cold, open air, uncovering; coffee, excesses, mental exertion, stress. Better: heat, pressure, wrapping head.
PHOSPHORUS (phosphorus): Throbbing, burning, congestive headaches. Worse from external stimuli, such as odors, noise, touch. Often sudden onset, like Belladonna and Glonoinum. Headaches with hunger or preceded by hunger. Flashing lights before headache. Coldness in the occiput (with brain fatigue). Chilly, yet better from cold. Wants cold drinks. Better from cold, rest, sleep. Worse from heat, motion, lying down.
PULSATILLA (windflower): Wandering head pains; also a predilection for the right temple. Hot head, better from cold applications. Menstrually related headaches or worse from suppressed menses. Thirstless. Weeps easily. Vomiting with headache. Weeping with headache. Headache worse on the side lain on. Worse from: heat, overeating, eating fats, rich food, ice cream; lying with head low. Better slowly walking in open air, cold, consolation.
SANGUINARIA CANADENSIS (blood root): Right-sided headache, worse before the menses. Headaches are relieved by vomiting and/or belching. Headache from exposure to the sun. Also, "sun" headache — starts in the morning, increasing all day, lasting til evening. Regularly recurrent headaches; e.g., every 7 or 28 days. Pain starts in the occiput and spreads over the head to the right eye. Palms and soles burn; the patient uncovers them in bed.
SEPIA (ink of the cuttlefish): Left-sided migraine with nausea; also may feel like a band around the head, with throbbing, stinging. Headache aggravated by stooping, coughing, light, jarring, during/after menses, and exposure to warm rooms. Relief is obtained from either lying down and being quiet or from vigorous exercise; also better from sleep, even a short nap. Better tight bandage, warm applications. Menopausal migraines. Headache with nausea, loathing of food.
SULPHUR (sulphur): Periodic every 7 (or 14) day migraine, worse Sundays in working people. Rush of blood to the head, and pressure out the eyes. "Tight hat" sensation. Headache from pressure of the hat. Worse motion, eating, drinking, becoming heated. Red face. Warm. Burning palms, soles, top of the head.
Dr. Guess, a family physician, has practiced classical homeopathic medicine for 25 years. He is the editor of the American Journal of Homeopathic Medicine. He practices in Charlottesville. 434-295-0362. Web page: www.doctorguess.com
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Dr. George Guess
2776 Hydraulic Rd, Suite 101
Charlottesville, VA 22901
office: 434-295-0362
fax: 434-295-0798
email: gguessmd@earthlink.net
website: http://www.doctorguess.com/
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