Mens Health Blog. Medical Blog

As the unconscious receives our mental pictures and verbal suggestions portraying our hands as warm and re-taxed, it transforms them into physiological changes in the body. With surprising swiftness, the sympathetic nervous system, which constricts artery muscles, is replaced by the parasympathetic system, which relaxes artery muscles.

Almost immediately, arteries in the hand begin to dilate. As more warm blood flows into the hands, they naturally become warmer and heavier. Even at their first attempt, most people can raise the temperature of their hands by two or three degrees in just a few minutes.

As arteries in the hands dilate, this effect generalizes up the arms and throughout the entire body. The effect is twofold. First, scalp and cranial arteries remain too dilated to enter the Stage 2 constriction phase of the migraine process. Secondly, dilation of blood vessels in the hands and elsewhere draws blood away from the head. This effectively prevents the sudden bloating of arteries with blood should they enter Stage 3 dilation, and the migraine sequence is completely halted.

As we learn to warm the hands and, later on, the feet, we begin to discover that we can gain mastery over our blood pressure, pulse rate, immune system, muscular tension and, indeed, most of the body’s other involuntary functions. Thus biofeedback leads to a powerful feeling of self-mastery that quickly extends to other areas of life such as stopping smoking or going on a diet.

So noticeable is this phenomenon that in behavioral medicine it is known as the enabling effect. Because all forms of behavioral medicine place responsibility on the patient and involve the patient in playing an active role in recovery, behavioral medicine empowers us to succeed in whatever we do. Compare this with the feeling of helplessness and passivity that invariably accompanies dependency

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Comments (0) Mar 23 2009

Cluster headaches occur when arteries in the head overdilate in response to a lack of oxygen in the bloodstream. When pure oxygen is inhaled, the arteries return to normal size in just a few minutes and the headache is aborted.

Since vigorous exercise dramatically boosts oxygen up-take, it follows that any type of active, rhythmic exercise should stop a cluster as effectively as oxygen. And, indeed, this is perfectly correct. Any fairly vigorous exercise, such as jogging, usually stops a cluster headache within a few minutes.

The snag is that many cluster victims tend to be sedentary males who are often heavy smokers and whose breathing ability is already impaired. Instead of exercising, these cluster victims are advised to sit down and do a deep-breathing technique.

Only if you are physically fit and accustomed to vigorous exercise should you attempt to abort a cluster by active exercise. In any event, you should have your doctor’s permission before attempting either form of behavioral therapy described below.

* Deep Breathing Technique. At the first hint of an impending cluster headache, sit in a chair with your spine straight, and begin a series of long, deep breaths. Breathe steadily and do not hold the breath at any point. Fill the bottom of the lungs first and then fill the top of the lungs by expanding the chest. When you exhale, squeeze the abdominal muscle to expel more air from the bottom of the lungs.

If you begin to feel dizzy, slow the rate of breathing slightly. If dizziness persists, or if you have any other adverse effects, discontinue the technique.

As the long, deep breaths bring a sufficiency of oxygen to the arteries in your head, the blood vessels will return to normal size and the headache will generally disappear. This usually takes only a few minutes.

Although this technique is primarily for those unable to exercise, H can also be used by all cluster victims. However, if the headache intensifies, those able to exercise should begin to do so.

Exercise can consist of running or jogging, running in place, riding a stationary bicycle, or running up and down stairs. Ordinary walking, which seldom raises the pulse rate above 100 beats per minute, is not usually vigorous enough. However, race walking (heel-and-toe walking) works well.

Since you won’t want to stop exercising to take your pulse during a cluster attack, you should undertake a few trial sessions beforehand to determine how vigorously you need to exercise to raise your pulse rate to 120 beats per minute for 5-10 minutes.

Incidentally, no one over 60 should attempt this technique since a heartbeat of 120 may exceed the upper limit considered safe in aerobic training.

For either the breathing or exercise techniques to work, they must be commenced immediately a cluster strikes, preferably within a few seconds. When exercising, it’s best to stay close to home or the workplace in case the headache intensifies. Naturally, you would stop exercising at once if any adverse effects are perceived.

Cluster victims should also note that a brisk daily walking program, when maintained as a long-term prophylactic measure, can improve oxygen uptake to the point where cluster headaches are very unlikely ever to occur again.

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Comments (0) Mar 23 2009

A diet of anti-migraine foods provides us with the nutritional opposite of migraine trigger foods. Since it is usually foods of animal origin (including eggs and whole milk dairy products) that are high in amines and amino acids, the anti-migraine diet is basically vegetarian. In fact, thousands have ended their chronic migraines for good simply by becoming strict vegetarians.

Not only does animal protein promote migraine but so do the saturated fats found almost exclusively in animal foods. Saturated fats stimulate release of a prostaglandin that causes blood platelets to set off the chain reaction leading to Stage 2 of the headache process. Fats of all kinds also increase absorption of amines.

These facts emerged during a recent study by pain control researchers at Temple University in Philadelphia. They found that a near-vegetarian diet low in fats, animal protein and refined carbohydrates significantly helped reduce or eliminate migraine pain. Seventy-five percent of the diet consisted of complex carbohydrates (fresh fruits, vegetables and whole grains). Excluded from the diet were all fats and oils (especially butter, margarine, lard, saturated fats and shortening); all white flour, sugar and sweeteners; all whole milk dairy products; all nondairy creamers; and all nuts, olives, preserves, jellies, candies or frozen fruit juices with sugar added.

Other studies have revealed that the more a food is processed or preserved, the more likely ê is to trigger migraine. It makes sense, therefore, to avoid any prepared or processed foods containing fats, oils, sugar or eggs. In their place, we should eat freshly prepared primary foods (meaning foods exactly as they exist in nature). We should carefully avoid any aged, pickled, fermented, cured, smoked or marinated foods as well as all breakfast cereals that contain anything other than whole grains. Salt should also be minimized because it stimulates the vagus nerve in the stomach through which headache-producing impulses can be relayed.

Among foods which have a history of almost never triggering migraines are

* melons

* cooked whole grains (except wheat and corn)

* brown rice

* rice flour

* raw seeds

* puffed rice

* bran muffins

* all sugar-free cooked or dry whole-grain breakfast cereals

* tapioca

* homemade vegetable soups

* pure fruit juices

* mixed vegetable juices

* cooked fruits

Almost all cooked vegetables are safe, especially sweet potatoes and other tubers, asparagus, carrots, eggplant, beets, pumpkin, spinach, squash, broccoli, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts and tomatoes. Many of these are delicious when steamed or baked in a casserole or made into a soup or stew. Also permitted are small, occasional helpings of deep sea fish like cod or haddock, lamb, turkey and chicken without the skin. Bake, broil, steam or boil but do not fry and never serve with any oil, fat or sweetener.

Although most raw fruits and vegetables rank among the healthiest foods, occasional ones have been identified as potential migraine triggers that, in relatively rare cases, may provoke a headache in certain individuals. Unlikely as me possibility is, any raw fruit or vegetables identified as a migraine trigger should be avoided until it can be tested and safely reintroduced into your diet. Among raw fruits and vegetable occasionally identified as migraine triggers are citrus, tomatoes, bananas, avocadoes, plums and prunes; and peanuts, peas, and onions.

The anti-migraine diet should be followed for up to ten days, or for any lesser period sufficient to demonstrate whether or not your headaches are food-related. If your headaches continue as usual, they are very likely not caused by foods and you should return to your normal diet. If your headaches disappear, this is a strong indication that they are triggered by one or more foods you normally eat.

The following two steps gradually introduce back into your diet every food that does not actually cause a headache.

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Comments (0) Mar 23 2009

In this intermediate stage, stress mechanisms cause changes to blood vessels and to blood flow in the head. In Stage 2, each headache type follows a separate path.

Tension Headaches. As energy pours into muscles throughout the body, tensing them for emergency action, the shoulders, neck, scalp and facial muscles also contract. The trapezius muscle, which connects the shoulder, neck and collarbone, may contract into a knot.

In the neck area, muscles, nerves and arteries are all closely packed. Prolonged tension in the muscles of shoulders and neck excites neural pathways that refer pain impulses up to the sweatband area for a second phase of muscular contraction.

These nerve impulses control the synthesis of prostaglandin, a hormonelike substance released by the immune system in response to stress. Prostaglandin immediately induces contraction in the smooth muscles of blood vessels in the headband area, as well as making nerve endings in these blood vessels exquisitely sensitive to pain.

Prostaglandin synthesis is an essential step in muscle contraction headaches. To a lesser extent it also occurs in the vascular headache process. When this step is blocked by intervention, tension headache pain cannot be perceived.

Nowhere is constriction more evident than in the occipital artery, which supplies a network of arterioles that radiate out behind the ears and into the headband area of the scarp. In a desperate attempt to bring in more blood and oxygen, these blood vessels burst into a rigorous dilation.

The overall effect is to dilate blood vessels in a wide band around the head that includes the temples, forehead and hatband area.

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Comments (0) Mar 23 2009

One reason headache medications may fail to work is that the majority were originally developed for treating other diseases. While medical science has focused its efforts on finding a cure for killer diseases like cancer and heart disease, research into the causes and cure of headaches has been ignored. Primarily, this is because headaches are not usually life-threatening.

In 1987, the National Institutes of Health spent only $932,000 on headache research compared to over $500 million on heart disease. The result is that few drugs have been developed primarily for headache relief; and as far as curing chronic headaches goes, the other drugs don’t appear to be getting the job done.

Headache drugs are classified as either abortive painkilling drugs or as prophylactic drugs.

Abortive Painkilling Drugs. Chief among these are the nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) which inhibit synthesis of prostaglandins, hormone-like substances essential to the headache process. The principal NSAIDs include aspirin, acetaminophen and ibuprofen, all available OTC. These drugs work best on tension headaches.

Besides causing irritation or bleeding in stomach and intestines, continued use of aspirin may erode the intestinal lining and cause an ulcer, ft can also impair blood coagulation, increase the tendency to bleed, lead to a higher risk of iron-deficiency anemia in younger women, and increase risk of a bleeding-type stroke. Nor are acetaminophen or ibuprofen panaceas. Each has a discouraging list of adverse side effects.

Once migraine begins, it can be stopped only by a powerful vasoconstrictor tike ergotanune, a drug so fraught with side effects that it is prescribed only for severe migraine or cluster headache. Even then, it can be used only periodically. The steroid prednisone, occasionally prescribed to halt a cluster headache bout, has such a list of severe adverse side effects that it is used only when all else has failed.

Painkilling cocktails that often include codeine, tranquilizers or barbiturates are also commonly prescribed. All are addictive, and they are much overused. The analgesic lidocaine, another heart disease drug prescribed to relieve cluster headache, also carries a long list of adverse side effects.

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Comments (0) Mar 23 2009