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ourofin:

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What your headache is tellin you

I haven’t seen this post in a min but precisely when I have a headache RN it comes up in my feed

Two quick additions, as someone who suffered from chronic migraines

1. Behind the eyes: eye strain or just long stress. More sleep will definitely make this feel better.
2. Temples: unclench your jaw, as that bone is putting too much pressure on your temples.

This is a fucking life saviour with the amount of headaches I have

About 90% of the time a migraine is telling me I ate something I shouldn’t have. Drilling pain behind one eye. Why just one? IDK. 

ok but what if i have recurring headaches that affect my entire head? feels like my whole brain is swelling up like a bruise? what’s that about 😕

If you are having recurring headaches and you don’t know why and your doctor doesn’t know why, ask for a referral to someone who might have better tools to find out.

Headaches are often diet related–allergies, fluctuating caffeine intake, too much histamine (google “migraine diet”) or sulfite.

Headaches can be medication-related. Sometimes opiates give people headaches, which is just unfair. 

Some people get headaches in response to some food additives. 

Headaches may be a response to tension, but tension can also be about nutritional imbalance. Many people take a lot of calcium but don’t take magnesium. Or they eat a lot of sodium but not enough potassium. Maybe they don’t get enough trace minerals. Maybe they’re taking the wrong type of b-vitamin (methylated b-vitamins may work better for a lot of people than “standard” versions. I like B-right from Jarrow because it’s affordable and “the right stuff.”)

Headaches can be about dehydration or electrolyte imbalance. Coconut water is a really good place to start.

“Hangover” type headaches can happen from more than just alcohol. Too much sugar can give me that kind of headache, and it is brutal. Some people get a headache from too much fried food or food fried in the wrong oil or if allergic, food fried in contaminated oil.

Sometimes headaches are mechanical. Ehlers Danlos can cause stretching, sagging and malalignment in the tissues that support the head and brain. An upright MRI may be needed to rule out chiari malformations. 

Headaches can be caused by inflammation of pretty much any tissue in the head–sinuses are a frequent culprit, and dental-related nerve pain.

If you are having frequent headaches, starting with hydration, electrolytes and minerals is good. Stabilizing caffeine intake (give it 4 days after any major change before you decide that didn’t work) and cutting out alcohol/cigarettes and other unnecessary drugs and waiting for any withdrawal to subside might work. 

My pt does alignment things to my neck and skull (I have EDS) to make sure my muscles aren’t spasming in response to malalignment. Good chiropractors can also help, but you have to be REALLY careful with chiro if you have a connective tissue problem.

If none of those help, checking for dental, sinus and dietary issues may find the problem. Getting a problem wisdom tooth pulled helped my headache number drop precipitously. A neti pot might help sinus-related issues. Doing an elimination or whole-foods or AIP diet might help (and then you add foods back and figure out which ones were the problem.)

Severe pain should be taken seriously and evaluated to rule out cancer, aneurysm or other big scary issues. But if those have been checked out and the doctor is shrugging, it’s not hopeless. 

!!! this is such good info, thank you 🙏

I’ve been doing an elimination diet for months now and I actually got a referral to an allergenist last week, though I still need to make an appointment (executive dysfunction ahoy). I have a million GI issues so it might be diet related but my gastroenterologist insists it couldn’t be connected in any way so idk.

Yeah, I’ve got two pending appointments that need to be made and I doan wanna. Gastros are fine, but they don’t tend to be big picture kinds of guys. When people start talking to me about elimination diets and unknown gut issues, I immediate ask if they have hypermobile joints, repeat joint injuries or multiple other health issues. These systems are ALL related.