The Complete Herbal Guide: A Natural Approach to Healing the Body - Heal Your Body Naturally and Maintain Optimal Health Using Alternative Medicine, Herbals, Vitamins, Fruits and Vegetables (41 page)

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Muscle relaxants

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NSAIDs:
Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs

Unfortunately, some chronic daily headaches remain resistant to medications.

Prevention

Taking good care of yourself both mentally and physically.  This can help prevent chronic daily headaches.

1. Avoid potential causes:
   If you are not sure what causes your headaches, keep a headache journal. Include details about every headache. When did it start? What were you doing at the time? What did you eat that day? How did you sleep the night before? What is your stress level? How long did the headache last? What, if anything, provided relief? You may see a relationship and then you may be able to prevent future headaches.
   
2. Get enough sleep
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   Go to bed and wake up at the same time every day and even on weekends. If you are not tired at bedtime, read or watch television until you become sleepy.
   

1. Do not skip meals:
   Start your day with a healthy breakfast. Eat lunch and dinner at about the same time every day. Avoid any foods that seem to trigger headaches.
   

1. Exercise:
   Exercise causes your body to release chemicals that block pain signals to your brain. Choose exercises you will get pleasure from such as walking, jogging, swimming or biking. Remember to start slow.
   

1. Decrease the stress in your life:
   Become more organization.  Organization in your life will reduce stress.  Do not try to do too much at once.  Take it one day at a time and be positive.  Positive thinking is effective.
   

1. Relax:
   Take some me time.
   

1. Stop smoking:
   Smoking can cause headaches or make them worse even chronic.
   

Other treatment

Acupuncture:
This ancient technique uses hair-thin needles to promote the release of natural painkillers and other chemicals in the central nervous system. There is some evidence that it can help control headaches and other conditions that cause chronic pain.

Biofeedback:
With this relaxation technique, you can learn to control headaches by producing changes in bodily responses such as muscle tension, heart rate and skin temperature.

Hypnosis:
During a hypnosis session, a trained hypnotist might suggest ways to decrease your perception of pain and increase your ability to cope with it — such as visualizing a calm, safe place when a headache strikes.

Meditation:
During meditation, you focus on a simple activity, such as breathing or repeating a single word or phrase. The practice creates a deeply restful state in which your breathing slows and your muscles relax — which can help you manage pain and reduce the stress that can cause or worsen a headache.

Massage:
Massage can reduce stress, relieve tension and promote relaxation. Although its value as a headache treatment has not been determined, massage may be particularly helpful if you have tight, tender muscles in the back of your head, neck and shoulders.

Herbs, vitamins and minerals:
Some dietary supplements — including magnesium, feverfew and butterbur — seem to help prevent or relieve some types of headaches, but there is little scientific support for these claims. If you are considering using supplements to treat headaches, check with your doctor. Some supplements may interfere with the effectiveness of prescription or over-the-counter drugs or have other harmful effects.

Chiropractic care:
Spinal manipulation can effectively treat some types of pain, but studies do not support claims that chiropractic care relieves headaches. Chiropractic manipulation of the neck has been associated with injury to the blood vessels supplying the brain. Rarely, this may cause a stroke.

If you would like to try a complementary or alternative therapy, discuss the risks and benefits with your doctor.

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When you feel congested, you usually experience pressure around your eyes, cheeks and forehead. Your head is usually hurting. It feels like a sinus headache, but you do not know that for sure.

Headaches usually go together with sinusitis, a condition in which the membranes lining the sinuses become swollen and inflamed. Many people who think they have sinus headaches in fact have migraines or tension headaches.

When sinus headaches caused by sinusitis do occur, correct diagnosis and treatment are the keys to getting better quickly so you can go back to your daily routine.

Symptoms

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Occur in the morning

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Pain in the head

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Feeling of pressure and fullness in your cheeks

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Feeling of pressure and fullness in your brow

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Feeling of pressure and fullness in your forehead

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Pain may get worse when you bend forward or lie down.

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If sinusitis becomes chronic, the headaches may become a constant dull ache.

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Yellow-green nasal discharge

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Sore throat

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Fever

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Cough

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Fatigue

What is the difference between a sinus headache and a migraine?

The signs and symptoms of the two types of headaches often have common characteristics. Migraine pain often gets worse when you bend forward, and migraines can be accompanied by various nasal signs and symptoms such as:

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Congestion

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Facial pressure

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Watery nasal discharge

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Pounding or throbbing, aggravated by noise or bright light

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Accompanied by nausea

Causes

Sinusitis can be caused by colds, allergies, bacterial or fungal infections, problems with the immune system, or structural problems in the nasal cavity. The caused by pressure changes in the sinuses can trigger headaches.

Risk factors

Sinusitis can affect anyone. You may be more likely to develop chronic sinusitis if you have:

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Asthma

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Nasal growths (polyps)

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Allergies to dust

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Allergies to mold

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Allergies to pollen

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A weak immune system

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A condition that affects the way mucus moves within your respiratory system, such as cystic fibrosis

Treatment

If you are diagnosed with sinusitis, your doctor may recommend antibiotics. You should always finish the entire prescribed medication, even if your signs and symptoms go away before all the pills or capsules are gone. This is the only way to get rid of the bacteria causing the infection. If the sinusitis is related to inflammation or allergies, your doctor may prescribe corticosteroid nasal sprays or pills.

As the sinus infection clears up, the sinus headaches should disappear. Over-the-counter pain relievers, decongestants and saline nasal spray might help you feel better too. If a structural problem in your nasal cavity is contributing to sinusitis or sinus headaches, surgical correction may be recommended.

If you continue to experience headaches, your doctor may look for other possible causes.

Prevention

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Wash your hands often.
Soap and water can help you avoid the upper respiratory infections that can lead to sinusitis. You may want to ask your doctor about a yearly flu vaccine as well.

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Avoid
cigarettes, cigars and pipe smoke.
These and other air pollutants can cause your sinus membranes to swell.

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Use a humidifier.
Adding moisture to dry indoor air can help prevent sinusitis. However, watch out do not overdo. High indoor humidity can create mold and dust mite growth. Be sure the humidifier is clean and free of mold.

If you develop a cold or other upper respiratory infection, take good care of yourself. Drink plenty of fluids. Keep your nasal passages clear by gently blowing your nose, one nostril at a time.

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Angina is a chest pain or irritation that occurs when there is a lack of blood flow to the heart. Angina can be hazardous to your health, so it is important to take notice to chest pain you are experiencing, know what is normal for you, teach yourself how to check, manage it, and understand when you need to get medical care.

Types of Angina:

Stable angina:
The pain is predictable and present only during hard work or extreme stress, fading away slowly.

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Unstable angina:
This may signal an impending heart attack. Unstable angina is angina pain that is different from your regular angina pain or pain that occurs while at rest. The angina may occur more frequently, more easily at rest, feel more severe, or last longer. Although this type of angina can often be relieved with oral medications (medicine taken by mouth), it is unstable and may progress to a heart attack. Usually more intense medical treatment or a procedure is required.

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Prinzmetal's angina:
This is when angina occurs when you are resting, when sleeping, or when exposed to cold temperatures. In these cases, the symptoms are caused by decreased blood flow to the heart's muscle or from spasm of the coronary artery. The majority of people with this type of angina also have coronary artery disease. These spasms occur close to the blockage.

Causes

When blood flow to an area of the heart is decreased, it impairs the delivery of oxygen and vital nutrients to the heart muscle cells. When this happens, the heart muscle must use alternative, less efficient forms of fuel so that it can perform its function of pumping blood to the body. The byproduct of using this less efficient fuel is a compound called lactic acid that builds up in the muscle and causes pain.

Symptoms

Common symptoms:

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Pressure

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Squeezing

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Burning

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Tightness in the chest

Symptoms usually start in the chest behind the breastbone.  It may also occur in the arms, shoulders, neck, jaw, throat, or back.  It may feel like indigestion.

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The pain or discomfort:

1. Occurs when the heart must work harder, usually during physical exertion
   
2. Is expected, and episodes of pain tend to be alike
   
3. Usually lasts a short time (5 minutes or less)
   
4. Is relieved by rest or angina medicine
   
5. May feel like gas or indigestion
   
6. May feel like chest pain that spreads to the arms, back, or other areas