Vitality News Health Articles

Even though our brain itself is insensitive to pain, various parts of the skull such as the scalp, face, mouth and throat have nerve fibers that are sensitive to pain and which can hurt. Headache - or cephalgia - ordinarily is used to describe any sort of pain that would appear in one or several of these sensitive parts of the skull.

Headaches can be classed into two groups: Primary headaches, such as stress headache, cluster headache and migraine headache, which are not caused by any other condition; And Secondary headaches which are caused by an illness.

Headaches are the most frequent disease of the nervous system. Everyone will be affected by them at some point in their lifetime, but for 55 million Americans, it is a common thing. According to the World Health Organization, one adult in 20 suffers from recurring headaches, with women being more at risk than men.

Headaches can be greatly handicapping and are able to very negatively affect the individuals who have to go through them. Work ability is lessened for those individuals, which can be detrimental to their financial situation.

Social skills are also reduced as the pain, or the fear thereof, can make people more moody. Some people who have migraine may even have to always be careful about everything they eat, everything they see, and also everything they smell, as certain strong or disagreeable sensations may be hurtful.

Because headaches are considered such a common, harmless disease, the individuals who suffer from them on an everyday basis also have to face the incomprehension of their peers. This social barrier can also prevent people from seeking the attention of a doctor and looking for an appropriate treatment. However before it can be treated, a headache has to be “identified”.

We have already seen that there were two major types of headache: Primary and Secondary, each subdivided into several other subcategories. Their symptoms can differ as well as their causes and, naturally, how they should be treated. This is the reason why they have to be diagnosed by a doctor in order to receive proper treatment.

Stress headache, also referred to as tension headache, is the most common kind of primary headache and is responsible for almost 90 percent of headaches. It is commonly seen as related to stress or related to muscular and skeletal problems in the area of the neck.

Tension headache is usually momentary and can persist from several minutes to several hours, but might persist for several days in the most acute cases. It is commonly described as a strong steady pressure, usually on both sides of the head, or spreading around it, occasionally also affecting the neck.

Migraine is relatively different and is thought to most certainly have a genetic origin. Migraines are caused by the release by the brain of substances that cause pain, which spread to the nerves and vessels in the head. Migraine typically occurs once a month and lasts for a few hours, with accompanying symptoms like nausea and intolerance of normal degrees of light and sound.

Cluster headaches often happen frequently and are short lasting. They are also extremely painful. They happen in clusters of 6 to 12 weeks and every one or two years, usually at the same period of the year. The pain is excessively bad and affects the whole head, most often starting with the eye, and then spreading to the forehead, nose and mouth. It is much more rare than some other types of headache and mostly affects men.

Headaches are generally cured using over-the-counter painkillers such as aspirin, ibuprofen or paracetamol. A doctor may also advise to avoid some usual causes of headaches such as noise or certain foods.

Caffeine, Magnesium and Vitamin B2 have also been regarded as useful in the treatment of migraine. Drugs however are costly and can have negative side effects, particularly for people who have to use them on a regular basis. This is the reason why you may want to think about another way of preventing and fighting the numerous types of headache.

NLP and Hypnosis have indeed proven to be working and can help you to dissipate pain in any part of your body, including the head, as well as trying to be more relaxed meanwhile. Stress is one of the first causes of headache, and specific hypnotic methods exist to dissipate both stress and headaches in a few seconds.

People who suffer from migraine or cluster headache can often feel the first symptoms before the migraine actually happens, and may learn self-hypnosis techniques to abort them before they become too painful. Therapists who understand how handicapping a headache can be have invented these methods.

Hypnotherapy is a drug free method of treatment and will help you find the relief you have been looking for. Headache is a grave condition with numerous forms, affecting millions of people worldwide. Learn to fight it and to relax with the soothing method of self-hypnosis.

Alan B. Densky, CH is a Hypnotherapist and NLP Practitioner. He has developed a very effective migraine and headache relief self hypnosis program. His Neuro-VISION NLP site also offers a free video self-hypnosis blog, Free MP3’s, and a complete hypnosis article index.

- Alan B. Densky, CH