Headache Fundamentals

Nearly everyone experiences a headache at some point in life. The vast majority are “tension type”. Usually characterized as a “band” of steady, dull pain across the forehead and/or across the back of the head/neck, affecting both sides.
Migraines affect women (~20-25%) more than twice as much as men. Usually characterized as a throbbing, intense and debilitating pain, affecting one half or the entire head, with or without visual aura.
Cluster headaches are less common (<2%) and involve relatively short recurrent episodes of severe “burning” or “piercing” pain. Much more common in men. Typically non-responsive to NSAIDS. Often involves hyperactivation of the trigeminal nerve and disordered tryptophan., serotonin and metabolism.

Conventional Headache Treatment

Pop a pill
Usually an NSAID or acetaminophen
NSAID use increases risk of gastritis/ulcers, blood pressure and risk of cardiovascular disease (primarily through negative impact in kidneys.
Even short-term, ongoing use of NSAIDs can overtly contribute to enhanced intestinal permeability and systemic inflammatory disease dynamics as a result.
Rebound headaches are caused by overuse (15+ days a month)
There’s substantial evidence that all drugs used for the treatment of headache may cause medication-overuse
People assume their headache is just “typical”
Questions I like to ask-
- How often does your headache occur
- Does it seem to follow a pattern?
- Does it happen only for certain periods of the month? (menstrual cycle)
- Do you wake up with it? (dehydration, teeth clenching/grinding, TMJ)
- How long does it last?
- What’s the one thing you do that you know will definitely bring on the headache? (foods)
- Once it begins, is there anything you typically do that consistently stops the headache?
- Do your headaches tend to come on while you are in a certain place? (mold)
- What’s the one thing you know you can do that will prevent it from coming on?
- Do you still have headaches while on vacation? (stress)
- Do your headaches occur year-round? (seasonal allergies)

Common, potent choices for Rapid Relief:
- Improve sleep
- Improve digestion
Fix Dehydration
Add magnesium:
- Magnesium glycinate 300 mg twice daily with food. If high stress also at play, consider magnesium threonate
Organic green tea few times daily or 1-theanine, 200mg 1-2x/day
If Histamine (from excessive exposure/production or poor metabolism)
- Quercetin 500mg, 1-2x/day
- Stop consuming all fermented/cultured foods, including beer/wine
- If notable gut/IBS-type issues, DAO enzyme supplement with meals
Menstrual hormone imbalance
- Consider chastetree berry (aka Vitex), 500mg 1-2x/day, to boost progesterone in last 10 days of the menstrual cycle (up to/thru mid-luteal peak). Also evening primrose oil (500mg, 2x/day) which counters prostaglandins (also often helpful for menstrual cramps).
Food sensitivity/intolerance
- Explore issues with histamine, tyramine, sulfites, aspartame, caffeine
- CoQ10 300 mg a day

Behavioral Contributors

Functional Disease Dynamics

Sympathetic dominance
Systemic inflammation (e.g. allergic exposure, food sensitivity, infection)
Enhanced intestinal permeability
GABA-Glutamate imbalances
Low serotonin action (e.g. inadequate B6, long SSRI use high viral load, low estrogen, combination oral contraceptives)
Histamine intolerance (excessive intake/synthesis and/or poor metabolism)
Hypo/hyperthyroid state (e.g. suboptimal Free T3, poor T4 to T3 conversion)
Insulin resistance
Dental Issues (e.g. poor bite alignment, bruxism, or clenching the jaw)

Migraines

Alcohol, dehydration, histamine, MSG, aspartame, dietary nitrates, noise, weather, air pollutants, hypoglycemia, infection, estrogen, circadian rhythm, sleep deprivation, psychosocial stress, trigeminal nerve inflammation…
Levels of intracellular glutathione are also lower in migraine clients

Summary of Recommendations

Keep Moving Forward 😊 Sarah

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