Wednesday Q & A with Dr. JJ - Migraines

Question: I have debilitating migraine headaches and hate taking medication, is there anything that Chiropractic can do to help?

Yes, Chiropractic has been shown to help tremendously. In the past two weeks, I had two patients come in with active migraines that would have sent them home to lay in a dark room for the rest of the day, and they left the office without any a headache at all.

Let's talk just a bit about what a migraine is, it is a throbbing pain that is usually one-sided, usually over the eye or near the temples or forehead. It frequently alters the activities of daily living and can last several hours to several days. Migraines tend to have sensory and emotional changes before a migraine. These can include changes in mood, becoming irritable or depressed. Some may have “aura” an hour or two before a migraine, which can include flashing lights, blurry vision or blind spots. Some can even have distinct smells or tastes as an indication that they are about to have a migraine.

The cause of a migraine is unknown, but clinically I have found them to be very much multifactorial (many causes). The medical profession believes they are predominantly neurological in nature, an imbalance of neurotransmitters, blood vessels and neurons in the brain, and I would mostly agree with them on this one. There's also a theory that it is a neurological response to vascular imbalances in the brain. The underlying cause of the imbalance to the nervous system is truly why the migraines occur; when you find and remove the imbalance to the nervous system, then you can get rid of the headaches for good. The underlying triggers for these migraines are wide ranging from lack of sleep, low or high blood sugar, food allergies or sensitivities, anxiety or stress.

The interesting commonality between all of these triggers is that they all tend to be linked to imbalances or misalignments of the spine especially upper neck and cranium. So what do you do if you are having a migraine? If your functional and can drive get in to see your Chiropractor, preferably one that uses Applied Kinesiology, so that they can find the underlying trigger. If you aren't functional, you should eat protein and fat, lay down, rest and relax as best you can. I hope you found this week’s Q & A helpful. Please pass it along and, if you have any questions, please send them to [email protected]
Cheers to the coming year and all it may bring!