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Migraines – It’s Not “Just a Headache”

Your throbbing tension headache may be caused by more than your lousy boss. In fact, it may be a migraine, a debilitating vascular condition that strikes over 28 million Americans of all ages. According to the Mayo Clinic, 70% to 80% of sufferers have a family history of migraine, and women are three times more likely than men to experience this intense pain.

Yet migraine remains one of the most misdiagnosed, mistreated, and misunderstood diseases today. For example, the September issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine reports research findings from South Carolina that examined 2,991 patients who had been diagnosed with sinus headaches. The researchers discovered that of these subjects, more than 80% met the diagnostic criteria for migraines.

Migraine symptoms include:

• Severe pain, typically on one side of the head

• Pain has a pulsating or throbbing quality

• The degree of pain affects the daily activities of the sufferer

• Nausea and/or vomiting

• Sensitivity to light and sound, and often, touch

• Attacks last four to 72 hours, sometimes longer

• Visual disturbances or aura

• Exertion, such as climbing stairs, makes headache worse

Because migraine is so often misdiagnosed, migraine sufferers seeking help at an emergency room may be turned away, when they are suspected of pandering for drugs. Or sufferers may try to “just tough it out”. Either course of action can be dangerous, since Migraine can induce a host of serious physical conditions: strokes, aneurysms, permanent visual loss, severe dental problems, coma, and even death.

In fact, according to the New England Journal of Medicine, "migraine can sometimes lead to ischemic stroke and stroke can sometimes be aggravated by or associated with the development of migraine." Twenty-seven percent of all strokes suffered by persons under the age of 45 are caused by Migraine, which is why exploring all the possible treatment options available is the most prudent action for a migraine sufferer to take.

Great strides have been made in prescription medication for the acute phase of a migraine attack. The downside is that most drugs - even aspirin - can cause a "rebound" or withdrawal headache, if taken for more than two or three days in a row. And many patients experience side effects from prescription, including drowsiness and loss of sexual desire.

However, a 1998 study conducted by Northwestern College of Chiropractic in Minnesota, compared chiropractic care to certain drug therapies used for tension and migraine headaches. The study, published in the Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics, followed 218 headache sufferers who were given either chiropractic care or drug therapy or both. Pain was reduced 40 - 50% in all groups initially. However, four weeks after all care was stopped, only the chiropractic group still retained the benefits, while those who received the drug therapy lost about half of their improvement.

The results of a more recent study, published in the February 2000 issue of the Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics, (JMPT), showed that people suffering with migraine headaches were helped with chiropractic care. The randomized clinical trial was conducted in Australia at the Chiropractic Research Center of Macquarie University. In this study, 177 volunteers were studied who had experienced migraine headaches for over 18 years, on average. Many of the participants also suffered from neck pain.

Among the group that exclusively received chiropractic care for two months, 22% reported a 90% reduction in frequency of their migraines. And fully 50% reported significant improvement in the intensity and length of each migraine episode. The study also showed that those who received chiropractic care were able to reduce their medication use, with a significant number reducing their medication usage to zero. Additionally, 59% had no neck pain after a period of two months, and another 35% had a decrease in neck pain.

Chiropractors have had great everyday success with treating migraines, and the research confirms what their patients have reported. The ongoing studies show that chiropractic care may be as, or more, effective as prescription medications for the treatment of migraine, but with much fewer side effects. Migraine sufferers should definitely consider chiropractic as a treatment option.

Chiropractors have had great everyday success with treating migraines, and the ongoing research confirms what they have known all along: Chiropractic care may be as, if not more, effective as prescription medications, and with fewer side effects, migraine sufferers should definitely consider chiropractic as a treatment option.

For more information or to answer any questions you may have about migraines, call HealthQuest Chiropractic at (877) 789-HEAL (4325).

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