Imagine A Life Without Headaches
Headaches. We all have had them. Most of the time they’re a minor nuisance that soon passes, but for 45 million Americans it is a chronic pain that contributes to the loss of 157 million workdays a year, not to mention the missed opportunities to enjoy life. Migraines, the worse kind of headache , leaves a person incapacitated laying in a dimly lit room, or may build in intensity to the point of vomiting, which curiously often brings a measure of relief.
The conventional medical approach to headaches is sorely lacking (no pun intended). As is typical of our ‘disease care system’, rather than addressing the underlying cause of headaches, the primary orientation is toward drug therapy, whether over-the-counter Ibuprofen, or prescription Imitrex and narcotics. Even Ibuprofen and other aspirin- like drugs are not without substantial risks. A little known fact is that 16,000 Americans bleed to death each year from NSAID’s. In my practice I rarely recommend these drugs simply because acupuncture is so effective and safe.
Shortly after opening Still Mountain Clinic in 1984, one of the first patients I saw had terrible migraine headaches that started at the tender age of four. Gradually over the years her headaches increased in frequency and severity until at age thirty-eight when we first met, they were occurring two to three times a month and where so severe that she could hardly care for her two young children during her spells. What was most peculiar about her headaches was that they never occurred twice in a row on the same side of her head, always strictly alternating first one side, then the other. How interesting! Having been a physics major in college, I began to think of what kind of process could do this. I hit upon the idea of a capacitor which has two flat charged plates of opposite polarity separated by a small space. When the charge builds up high enough a spark jumps across the gap and the system begins all over again to charge up again. Since then I have come to realize that headaches are just like a storm cloud that comes in over the mountains. The sky darkens, an uneasiness fills the air until at last the headache comes with wind, rain and lightening. When the storm passes everything feels calm, clear and light.
Well over 95% of all headaches are directly caused by accumulated stress. All of us have had the minor headaches of unexpected car trouble, getting behind schedule on a tightly packed day, or a spat with our significant other. But there are more serious headaches that nag at us and lack a simple solution, like a partner with a drinking problem, a meaningless job with an over-demanding boss, or not enough money in the bank. To solve these sorts of headaches it takes much more than a pill. Even acupuncture, if not supported with self-help strategies, will only provide temporary relief. It requires a more comprehensive approach to learn how not to attract so much tension-dandruff from your surroundings and then how to brush it off efficiently on a daily basis.
At the end of the day with chronic headaches, the pain in your head is not the real problem. It is no more than a humble messenger sent from Mother Nature, and if you don’t like the message, you don’t shoot the messenger. Learning how to skillfully face the pain in one’s life is the only healthy approach that leads to a complete solution. Then the message of the headache, well received, will be an impetus to transform your life for the better.