Call
us for an appointment if you suffer
from headaches or migraines.
Tel:
323-436-0303
Headaches
& Migraines
Headaches and Migraines
Of the millions of
headache and migraine sufferers, most are stuck with the choices of medications
and living with the pain. You could be prescribed to use pain-killers
of many types, opiates and pseudo-narcotics, even Prozac. Relief from
drugs, even when most successful, is only temporary. Side-effects are
often harsh. Just going to bed for a day often seems like the only way
to cope when a migraine attacks.
Is there a cause at the bottom of headache and migraine pain that can
be identified and dealt with? Successful treatment of chronic migraine
sufferers who had tried for years everything known to medical science
(and failed), and now are completely free of headaches shows that two
interlocking factors are the common causes.
Factor One is the low adrenal (and blood-sugar handling deficient) condition.
Worn-down adrenals (the "stress-relating glands") is a key factor
in causing the onset of a headache or migraine. When the adrenals get
worn out, a number of critical hormones become transitorily deficient.
One of the important hormones is the sugar-boosting (Glucocorticoids)
secretion that keeps the fuel (blood sugar) in normal levels between meals.
It keeps blood sugar from dropping to below normal amounts. The brain
is a major consumer of blood sugar, and when it is low, the brain really
suffers. Headache and tiredness are two of the common symptoms of drops
in blood sugar. Common (non-migraine) headaches also often have a low-adrenal/low
blood sugar cause. Adrenals are worn out in numerous and combined ways
(emotional stress, caffeine, alcohol, sugar, carbohydrate dietary imbalances,
other pain and injury, even familial factors passed through the mother,
to name some of them.)
Factor Two is compression of the nerves at top of the neck and base of
the skull, which control the amount of blood flow to the brain. This compression
of nerves at the top vertebral level (Cervical One) is typically found
in the migraine or headache patient. Testing will reveal the pinched nerve,
even though the person may have learned to live with it and take it for
granted. The nerves which control arterial diameter, when pinched, shut
down the amount of arterial blood to the brain, causing it to starve for
vital nutrients. Tiny misalignment of the upper cervical joints (only
a thumbnail's thickness in size) can result in diminished blood supply
to the brain. Accidents, injuries, stress, postural distortions are a
few of the common causes of such a misalignment, called an upper cervical
subluxation.
When these two factors
coincide: diminished blood flow to the brain, and diminished blood sugar
in that reduced blood flow, the brain gets a double-whammy. There's not
enough blood and not enough brain-fuel in the blood getting there. Then
the brain nerve tissue really takes it hard, and starts a migraine. These
two factors are seldom both identified, and seldom both effectively corrected,
which is essential to cure this condition.The correction of these two
causes should be both done together:
1. A careful skilled chiropractic analysis of the neck, and precise adjustments
to relieve the nerve pressure and restore full arterial blood delivery
to the brain.
2. A careful evaluation of adrenal and blood sugar function and an adrenal
repair and recovery program implemented. This program can take the form
of dietary education so that the person is not continually sabotaging
the adrenals by improper diet, drink or smoke. Very importantly the use
of the correct nutritional supplements can be the turning point for migraine
or headache elimination. Adrenal repair supplements, including non-hormonal
glandular extracts, vitamin, mineral and herbal components are often the
crucial make-or-break part of this program. Many supplements for blood
sugar are relatively ineffective, a very few are brilliantly effective.
Professional experience in this area pays off.
Both of these areas
are treated effectively at our office. The change in the quality of life
is dramatic, and typically other symptoms that you have considered unrelated
to the headaches or incurable also clear up.
Universal City Medical Group, Inc.
3535
Cahuenga Blvd West-Suite 206
Los Angeles, CA 90068