Migraine Headaches

Miriam Nyasha Kwari Herbalist

Hello friends and welcome to this week’s edition of our food, our medicine, where we will touch a little on migraine headaches.

A migraine headache is usually a moderate or severe headache that is felt as a throbbing pain on one side of the head. Many people also have symptoms such as feeling sick and some increased sensitivity to light or sound. Migraine is a common health condition, affecting both males and females and they usually begin in early adulthood.

There are several types of migraine, including:

• Migraine with aura-where there are specific warning signs just before the migraine begins, such as seeing flash lights
• Migraine without aura, which is the commonest type, where the migraine happens without the specific warning signs
• Migraine aura without the headache also known as the silent migraine, where an aura or other migraine symptoms are experienced, but a headache does not develop.

Common symptoms of a migraine

The main symptom of a migraine is usually an intense headache on 1 side of the head. The pain is usually a moderate or severe throbbing sensation that gets worse when you move and prevents one from carrying out normal activities. In some cases, the pain can occur on both sides of your head and may affect your face or neck.

Additional symptoms

Other symptoms commonly associated with a migraine include: feeling sick, being sick, increased sensitivity to light and sound, which is why many people with a migraine want to rest in a quiet, dark room

Some people also occasionally experience other symptoms, including:

sweating, poor concentration, feeling very hot or very cold, tummy (abdominal) pain, diarrhoea

Not everyone with a migraine experiences these additional symptoms and some people may experience them without having a headache. The symptoms of a migraine usually last between 4 hours and 3 days, although you may feel very tired for up to a week afterwards.

Symptoms of aura

About 1 in 3 people with migraines have temporary warning symptoms, known as aura, before a migraine.

These include: visual problems — such as seeing flashing lights, zig-zag patterns or blind spots, numbness or a tingling sensation like pins and needles — which usually starts in 1 hand and moves up your arm before affecting your face, lips and tongue,feeling dizzy or off balance, difficulty speaking,       loss of consciousness — although this is unusual

Aura symptoms typically develop over the course of about 5 minutes and last for up to an hour. Some people may experience aura followed by only a mild headache or no headache at all. From a herbal point of view, many possible migraine triggers have been suggested, including hormonal, emotional, physical, dietary, environmental and medical factors. These triggers are very individual. It can sometimes be difficult to tell if something is a trigger or if what one is experiencing is an early symptom of a migraine attack.

Women may experience migraines around the time of their period, possibly because of hormonal changes. These types of migraines usually occur 2 days before the start of one’s period to 3 days after. These are pure menstrual migraines. These may improve after menopause. Let us now go into a few examples of triggers of migraine headaches:

Emotional tiggers

Stress, Anxiety, Tension, Shock, Depression, Excitement

Physical triggers

Tiredness, poor quality sleep, strenuous work, neck and shoulder tension, low blood sugar, strenuous exercise

Dietary

Missed, delayed and irregular meals, dehydration, alcohol, caffeine, contaminated foods due to poor storage etc. foods can cause poor digestion, due to food intolerance, food allergies and constipation.

Some of that adds to liver stress because of poor eating habits and alcohol and hormonal imbalances. Caffeine can trigger migraines with consistent use, for it tightens blood vessels. When caffeine wears off, blood vessels begin to relax to their normal position, causing pressure in the head, that results in migraines.

Environmental triggers

Bright lights, flickering screens, smoking, loud noises, changes in climate, such as changes in humidity, temperatures and strong smells

Medicines

Certain types of prescriptive medicines over long periods of time may cause headaches, combined contraceptive pill, hormone replacement therapies.

So, if you know what is causing your headache, you can then herbally prevent them from coming on again, or at least that is what l believe in. There is a list of herbal teas in my in my favourites corner which include the following:

• Rosemary spice tea, especially before bed, for it is a calmative tea that induces sleep
• Chamomile tea, also a calmative that induces sleep
• Cayenne pepper spice tea
• Turmeric spice tea
• Ginger spice tea
• Amaranth seed tea
• Feverfew tea
• Lemon balm tea
• Lemon mint tea
• Spearmint tea
• Lemon grass tea

Of course, the legendary GRAVIOLA is always my most favoured tea drink.

While we are at this, it is very important to me that I thank you for reading these articles. A special thanks also for the phone calls that I have been getting to enquire about Graviola, after sharing my story with you last week. I am taking this chance to also emphasise that Graviola works and we should all take it. I will send pictures of Ryan as he is in the present, and one or two of the time he was sick. Again, many thanks and look after yourselves and each other.

God Bless

◆ Miriam Nyasha Kwari/0773378571/ [email protected]