Headaches
What are Headaches?
A headache is pain or discomfort in the head, scalp, or neck. There are three major categories of headaches:
- Primary headaches, which include migraine, tension, and cluster headaches:
- Tension headaches are the most common type of primary headache. They are characterized by dull aching head pain, a sensation of tightness or pressure across the forehead or sides and back of the head, tenderness of the scalp, neck and shoulder muscles and often a loss of appetite. While causes are unknown, potential triggers include stress, missing meals (which can result in hypoglycemia), depression/anxiety, poor posture, working in an awkward position or staying in one position for too long, and jaw clenching.
- Migraine headaches are the second most common type of primary headache. Symptoms include moderate to severe pain, which may be confined to one side of the head, head pain with a pulsating or throbbing quality, pain that worsens with physical activity or interferes with a person’s regular activities, nausea with or without vomiting and sensitivity to light and sound. Hormonal changes, food sensitivities/allergies, stress, changes in sleep, physical factors, changes in barometric pressure or weather, and sensory stimuli, including unusual or unpleasant smells (such as secondhand smoke, perfume, new building materials or paint thinners) are triggers.
- Cluster headaches are a rare type of primary headache characterized by short-lived attacks of sudden, severe pain around one of the eyes. The word cluster is used because these headaches typically come in groups or bunches. No exact cause is known, but research shows that they may be caused by complex, interacting abnormalities in the blood vessels, nerves, and chemicals in the head, brain, and face. Potential triggers include stress, relaxation, extreme temperatures, glare, allergic rhinitis (hay fever), and sexual activity. Eating certain foods may sometimes cause cluster headaches, and using alcohol- or tobacco-containing products worsens cluster headaches.
- Secondary headaches, which are those that are due to an underlying structural problem in the head or neck. There are numerous causes of this type of headache ranging from bleeding in the brain, tumor, or meningitis and encephalitis.
- Cranial neuralgias, the third category of headache, describe a group of headaches that occur because the nerves in the head and upper neck become inflamed and become the source of the pain in the head. Facial pain and a variety of other causes for headache, including sinus headaches, are included in this category.
Serious causes of headaches are very rare, but include, a brain aneurysm or tumor, stroke or transient ischemic attack (TIA).
Who is Affected?
More than 45 million Americans suffer from chronic headaches. Of these, an estimated 28 million suffer from migraine headaches. It is estimated that 6% of men and up to 18 percent of women will experience a migraine headache in their lifetime.
Up to 90 percent of adults in the United States have had or will have tension headaches. Tension headaches occur more commonly among women than men.
Cluster headaches affect approximately 1 in 1,000 people. Men in their late 20s are most affected, although women and children can also suffer these types of headache, as well.
Men and women who experience headaches for the first time over age 50 may have temporal arteritis. Symptoms of this condition include vision problems and pain that gets worse upon chewing. There is a risk of becoming blind with this condition, so treatment should be sought immediately if these symptoms are evident.
What are the Options for Treatment?
At the Magaziner Center for Wellness, we work with our patients to identify the source of their headaches through a full physical examination with emphasis on the biomechanics of the neck and head, biochemical analysis and discussion of their individual lifestyles. Our recommended treatments are customized to individually address each patient’s unique needs.
Since chronic stress may contribute to the development of the most common types of headaches, including migraines and tension-type headaches, our treatment also focuses on stress reduction, such as biofeedback and relaxation techniques.
Biofeedback is a technique that can help a headache sufferer learn stress reduction skills by providing information (feedback) about muscle tension, skin temperature, brain waves, and other vital signs.
At the Magaziner Center for Wellness, we use ONDAMED®, an advanced technology from Germany that uses a non-invasive, painless biofeedback technique to detect and repair areas of cellular imbalance and tissue inflammation that may be causing headaches or other health problems. ONDAMED® uses pulsed electromagnetic frequency (PEMF) when specific imbalances are identified to help put the body back in energetic balance and returns the body to its former state of wellness.
During an ONDAMED® session, patients may feel a mild tingling sensation, a feeling of release, a sense of calm or nothing at all. Some report feeling relaxed, refreshed and being able to think more clearly. ONDAMED® can be used independently or in conjunction with other.
Most studies on biofeedback indicate that it reduces the frequency and duration of headaches, both in children and adults. In general, the effects of biofeedback appear to be as good if not better than many drugs used for chronic headaches, and can be recommended as early treatment for recurrent migraines.
We also work with our patients to incorporate a regular practice of relaxation into their lifestyles, as events that cause stress, anxiety, and depression have been associated with chronic migraines and headaches. Simple changes in lifestyle – like getting enough sleep, regular exercise and eating a healthy diet – can substantially reduce the occurrence of headaches. In fact, the results of recent studies indicate that stress management therapy reduced headache, headache-related disability, and use of pain medications to a similar degree as therapy with antidepressant drugs.
Certain foods or food substances, such as chocolate, aged cheese, MSG, red wine, and others, may cause headaches in susceptible people. For long-lasting management of headaches, it is important to identify and reduce food-related headache triggers. That’s why at the Magaziner Center for Wellness, we test for food allergies and sensitivities before designing a treatment protocol. In many cases, treatment may also include improving digestion and assimilation and having a patient avoid certain foods which could be harmful to his or her wellbeing. We also treat nutrient imbalances that may contribute to headaches with vitamins, supplements and dietary adjustment. However, foods are not the only triggers – inhalants such as pollens, dust, molds, animal dander and environmental chemicals can also contribute to headaches.
We also test for celiac disease and progesterone allergies in women suffering from menstrual migraines.
Lastly, we have successfully treated headaches using prolotherapy (proliferative therapy), also known as Reconstructive Injection Therapy (RIT) or sclerotherapy, and platelet rich plasma (PRP). Prolotherapy is used for treatment of post-concussive syndrome headaches, headaches caused by trauma, and headaches that originate in the neck and shoulder blades. Often, patients are completely unaware of a history of trauma, or that their neck is causing their head pain.
Prolotherapy stimulates the body’s healing mechanisms and restores normal function in injured joints, cartilage, muscles, tendons and ligaments. It works by placing precise injections into the damaged area to stimulate cytokines or cell signals, enabling the immune system to naturally repair the damage. Unlike conventional pain management practices which rely on anti-inflammatory drugs or cortisone injections – therapies that simply mask symptoms and may cause further harm by adding to depression, increased pain and side effects ranging from gastrointestinal bleeding and ulcers – prolotherapy truly cures the underlying problem and eliminates pain.
In PRP therapy, we extract a small amount of your blood from which we develop a concentration of platelets and growth factors naturally found in the body that we then inject into the damaged area to promote healing. In addition to stimulating the body to heal itself, the platelet “graft” also forms a biologic scaffold that provides optimal curative conditions in the injured area. Many of our professional and highly competitive athletes use PRP to return to their sport when an injury does not heal, or time does not allow for an injury to sideline that athlete. With treatment of headache, PRP can speed healing of a severely damaged area that is generating pain and headache.
We use both Prolotherapy and PRP in many cases of headaches, as often the source of pain causing the headache and instability in the nervous system originates from the neck, trapezium muscles, the jaw, and the base of the skull. Often, reconstruction of damage in the neck and head can permanently restore joint function and eliminate the source of pain. Such was the case for our own Scott Greenberg, MD, who after searching for pain relief for more than a decade, was successful in eliminating his own debilitating headaches using Prolotherapy injections. He has been headache-free and leading a very active life for more than a decade now.