Dealing With Headaches

It’s amazing what you discover when you’re a freelance writer with a headache and migraine blog. Somedays, I find out more about headache treatments reasearching other sudjects than I do when pursuing items specifically for headaches and migraines.

Case In Point

I recently had a client who asked me to do a series of articles on Native Americans. I jumped at the chance, because I’m part Native American (only 1/16th or so, but there you go). Since no one in my family knows anything about the tribe we’re from (long story), the only way I get to find out anything about the most vital part of my heritage is to take assignments on Native American tribal customs and spirituality.

Anyway, in my library’s copy of the Time Life series The American Indian, I found some interesting information on how the Seminole Indian healers used to treat headaches. (Seminoles used to live in the Southern woodlands of America and then were shoved to Florida.)

How Did They Cure a Headache?

First off, just like today, you were better off finding a headache specialist than going to just any old medicine man or woman. Seminole headache specialists usually wear the feathers of the yellow flicker. This specialist then diagnoses what animal spirit you have offended to give you such a bad headache. (Hey — whatever works!)

Then, you may have to lay back and cut small incisions made on your head. The bad blood is then expelled from your body. (Oddly enough, this is still practiced, in a way.)

Or, if you’re lucky, healers may give you a tea made from a shrub such as prarie willow (Salix humilis, var. tristis. This tea also was said to help bring down a fever, too. The magic didn’t lay entirely in the plant, but in the loving way it was prepared by the healer for you, kind of like when you feel better after someone makes you homemade soup.

Another plant used for Seminole Indian headache treatment was white sage (also called western mugwort, cudweed or Artemisia ludoviciana). Instead of making a tea out of it, you used it like an incense or like aromatherapy. You crushed the leaves and breathed in the scent. We still do something like this today with sniff lavender oil or peppermint essential oils to help ease a headache.

The more things change, the more things stay the same.

Yesterday, Mom and I went to one of my favorite museums in the world, the Brandywine River Museum at Chadds-Ford, on the Philadelphia Main Line. It’s the main museum of the Wyeth family (including Andrew and Jamie). Today, they had a special exhibition of work by English equine and canine artist Sir Alfred Munnings. Although I do not condone horse racing, I do still admire the horse racing and foxhunting paintings of Sir Alfred, which only make up a small part of his overall work.

But, as anyone prone to chronic headaches knows, museums can be a potential trigger for massive pain. You have to prepare in advance to thwart a headache to not end your day hunched in the road by the side of the car moaning in pain and nausea. I don’t know about you, but that always spoils my museum trips a bit.

Be Ruthless

My best advice to avoid headaches at museums is to not try to see everything in the museum. Don’t even try to scrutinize every single detail on one floor. This leads to severe eye-strain that can and usually does trigger severe headaches, if not a migraine. Plan in advance which exhibit or floor you want to concentrate on and then take all the time you want there. If you’re not sure which floor to concentrate on, just let your instinct take you to the floor.

One of the reasons the Brandywine River Museum is so close to my heart is that it is small enough not to trigger a migraine. The Philadelphia area is thick with museums, including the world famous Art Museum in center city (most famous for the steps Slyvester Stallone ran up in Rocky.) However, the Art Museum is a definate migraine or headache trigger just for the visual overload. Pick one type of art or a specific exhibit and leave the rest alone.

Eat Breakfast

Going to a museum is exciting and mind-expanding (or, at least, it is for me). You will use up a surprising amount of energy going through the museum, even though you are going at a snail’s pace. It could be the senosry overload that wears you out. You need to eat a good breakfast (or lunch, depending on the time you visit) in order for your body to have the calories to get you through.

Otherwise, you will get a bad headache from being so darn tired.

Pack Painkillers With You

Keep them in your pocket, your purse or wherever, but be sure to take them. I also take a dose right before I leave the house. I use an over the counter painkiller to take the worst of the pain off, but you might need to take a nasal spray or other kind of medication, depending on your headache history.

Get Somebody Else To Drive

You might not be able to avoid this one, but if you can, it takes so much stress off of you. You don’t have to tense up worrying if you have the strength to drive safely home — thus, triggering a headache. Take public transportation if you can and trains over buses, since trains tend to swifter and smoother.

If you have to drive yourself, then pack a light lunch in the car and leave it in a thermal lunch box in the car. That way you can relax and recharge in the car. A car is your own little territory, which is easier to realx in than a public space like a cafe. And take all the time you need driving home.

Hope this helps.

Headaches and migraines can make people do desperate things to try and relieve the pain, like drilling holes into their heads. This was a treatment for severe headaches in the time of the Incas and was again performed in 1970 by lay person Amanda Fielding.

Before we proceed, let me make a couple of points EXTREMELY clear:

• Do not use this article — or any of the articles this links to — as a substitute for a proper medical diagnosis.
• Do NOT drill a hole in your own skull.
• If you have a sensitive stomach, you might want to skip the rest of this post. Se ya next week!
• Do NOT drill a hole in anyone else’s skull, even if they are really begging for it.

Right. Onwards.

What Were The Incas Thinking?

Unfortuntely, not many accurate and detailed medical records exist from when Inca doctors were drilling holes in people’s skulls. It has been theorised that their patients could have been suffering fram an anuerism or a massive head injury. Even today, part of the treatment requires (you guessed it) drilling a hole in the skull.

Incas were quite technologically advanced and, best of all, they were the original breeders of the domestic guinea pig. Their musical instruments, hydraulic technology and food preservation skills indicate they thought things out thoroughly before they did them. In other words, the Incas were smart cookies. They did things for a reason, not just on a hunch, or the desire to use human beings as…well, as guinea pigs.

For some people, it probably did work. There aren’t any records as to how much longer the patients lived after the procedure, but any time without migraine pain is quality time.

Amanda Fielding

Brace yourself before you check out this link to Amanda’s story, reprinted from the September 16, 2000 issue of New Scientist.

Unfortunately, the story does not mention exactly why Amanda needed to drill a hole into her own skull, although it did mention “mind-expanding expereinces”. It does go into quite a lot of detail about how she did it (with a dentist’s foot-pedal operated drill — yet another reason to be scared of dentists!) Techinically, this operation is called trepanning.

Yes — it’s done often enough to warrant it’s own name.

With further research I have discovered that Amanda filmed her own operation in 1970 and apparantly was now qualified to run for Parliment in 1978.

I am so glad that my strange migraine pain in my left eye seems to have been from clogged sinuses. I’d have to go to the dentist to get cured. I’d rather live with the pain.

Although the origins of why people get migraines is unknown, at least the history of the word migraine can be agreed upon. Today, we will shift our focus from the wacky world of medical science to the even wackier world of etymology (word stuff studies). The source for this article is the brilliant and entertaining etymology for the masses web site Take Our Word For It.

Now, the word “headache” is pretty easy to trace. There’s a head. There’s an ache. There’s a headache. No big whoop. But what about migraine? What part of your body is a “graine”, to make you moan “MY graine!”

The Source of Migraine

The root of “migraine” is from where a lot of head pains have come to us over the millenia — the Latin language. Latin is the Big Daddy language of the Romantic breed of lingos, which include French, Italian, Portugese and Spanish. The Latin term “hemicrania” (not meaning “fear of hems” but “half of the skull”) is in itself taken from Greek hemikrania. The Romans just had to spell it differently, for some reason. (In case you’re wondering, English is grouped in the Germantic breed of languages).

The Latin term “hermicrania” apparantly became too hard to pronounce by those in France suffering from migraines, which apprantly a lot of French did (insert your favorite French joke here). The pronunciation shifted to megrainia and then megraine (which is thought to have been pronounced “me-grin”).

The English version of the French word (which is intself a corruption of the Latin, which was spelled different if not pronuonced the same as the Greek hemikrania) was first recorded as megrim (which makes a much more senisble name thatn migraine, in my opinion) in the late 14th century (1300’s, for those of you slow on math — like me!) At that time, the French was still all over the place in England’s upper classes and had a profound effect on the lingo.

For some reason unknown — perhaps it fell into the bottom of the Marianas Trench, who knows — the word megrim disappeared from the mouths of English speakers in the17th century (1600’s) and was instead replaced with the French word, which we all know and love, migraine. The official word for those suffering from migraines is “migraineurs”, which I rarely use in this blog for two reasons. One, I don’t know how to pronounce it and two, I can’t be bothered to look up how to pronounce it since the word is used so little. I don’t get paid THAT much for writing this blog.

As a note about pronunciation, in America, it is pronounced “MY grain”. In England, Australia and often in Canada, it is pronounced “ME grain”. But getting into the reasons for that might trigger a migraine (or me-graine) in us all, so I’ll stop.

Hope this helps. Have a pain-free weekend.

No, you’re not the only one in the world who gets migraines. And migraine headaches are not a recent phenomenon. Although migraines are still very much of a mystery, there is solid evidence that many historical figures suffered with migraines. Here are just some of them who somehow got on with life despite migraines. Hopefully, their stories may be an inspiration to you.

Claude Monet

This amazing painter, who lived from 1840-1926 created works of startling brilliance and light, even when he was nearly blind at the end of his life. It is thought that some of his bright colors were inspired by auras. In Monet’s lifetime, migraines were thought to be a sign of insanity. His works are so admired, they are targeted for theft. In August of 2007, Cliffs Near Dieppe (1897) were stolen with two other painitngs in a brazen daylight robbery in France.

Elvis Presley

You might have heard of this guy. He had a lot of health related problems, and migraines were one of them. Perhaps that’s why he wore dark sunglasses a lot. One 1975 hospital stay was for examining his eyes becuase of pains and auras identical to that of migraines. By taking so much medication, he probably also suffered from rebound headaches. Sometimes he slurred his speech in a way that often happens to migraine sufferers.

Joan of Arc

If Monet kept quiet about his migraines in the 1800’s, then perhaps poor Joan (1412-1431) should have as well. Although now a cannonized Saint and considered a great hero, she was excecuted for witchcraft because she saw visions and heard voices. Visual and audio hallucinations are common with migraine sufferers. Tradition states that she also suffered severe pains in her head, which is another clue that she had migraines.

Terrell Davis

Terrell Davis of the Denver Broncos got a migraine…during the Super Bowl! However, he was able to return to the game, help- Denver win and become MVP. He was able to manage this migraine with Imitrex and through keeping a headache journal. More details of Terrel’s story is here.

Zeus

This was the Big God of the Greek Olympic panthenon, later known as Jupiter to the Romans. Greek Gods are especially known for mimicing human foilbles and illnesses. Zeus got one of His lovers, Metis, pregnant, which is a headache in and of itself. But Zeus received a prophecy that the baby would one day kill him. So he swallowed the fetus.

Some time afterwards, he got the Mother of All Migraines. His head had to be split open and out jumped a fully grown (and fully armored) Athena.

Headaches are not a modern phenomenon. Quite possibly, the first human being to straighten up immediately regretted it because he or she suddenly clonked into a tree branch. Or perhaps it was the smell of the Mastadons and Wooly Mammoths that brought the headache on. Anyway, here are a few folk remedies for headaches through the ages, collected from various internet sites on modern magick and traditional medicine. And in case you think I may be poking fun at any spirituality or culture, I’m a Pagan, which relies a lot on tradition and mythology for well-being. No matter what you faith, here’s the list. Enjoy.

• Press a cool, smooth amethyst crystal to the throbbing point of your head and pray. Amethyst is credited for helping to calm a person down and to reduce stress overall.
• Put five drops of ammonia in a glass of water or in a cleaning bucket and inhale the fumes. I’m not sure how this is supposed to help the headache, but it will sure temporarily distract you from it!
• Eating raw cabbage is said to help ease a headache. Also, you could use a warm boiled cabbage leaf as a compress for your head. Be careful that the leaf has cooled off sufficeintly! Too much cabbage can reek havoc on your digestive system, though. Cabbage is not recommended for nursing mothers. Immediately stop if you break out into a rash. No specific type of cabbage has been preferred over others.
• When the headache starts, get yourself a cup of hot peppermint tea, sweetened with honey or sugar. Sip it. Take the tea bag out and let it cool. When it’s cool and NOT dripping, rub over your forehead and let it air dry. (That last part I did once and it helped while waiting for the Excedrin to kick in. It also helped ease my nausea.) This is the only folk remedy I’ve tried on this list that I would recommend.
• If your headaches or migraines center around you eyes, get an eye stone (such as tiger’s eye, cat’s eye, hawk’s eye or dragon’s eye) and make yourself a crystal elixier. You ask the stone (or your god) for help, pop it in your water (make sure it’s big enough so you don’t swallow it!) and drink. Theoretically, this could work for amethyst, too. And then you can take the cold wet amethyst and place it on your head.
• Folk remedies often use “transference”. In this case, a raw egg or potato slices are places over the head of the sufferer. You then imagine the headache leaving you and going into the poor egg or potato. When you feel better, get rid of the egg or potato. For Pete’s sake, do not eat it.
• Take cannibis or opium to relieve a headache. This cure was first written down in Persia during Medeival times. The only thing is the illegality of it may give you an even bigger legal headache than you have now. Oh, and these ancient texts also talk about drinking a tea made from willow bark. Willow bark has a chemical in it called salicin, from which our modern aspirin is derived.

Heck, you can pray to these Saints even if you’re not Catholic. You need all the help you can get. At least you’ll have the satisfaction of being listened to by someone who knows exactly what you are going through, well before Excedrin was ever invented. Images of these saints can be found in religious supply stores, online and sometimes in dollar stores or flea markets. You don’t need to make a shrine in your home to them. Just talk to them, whether out loud or in your head. Even if you don’t believe in prayer or saints, it’s good to:

a) complain
b) get your thoughts sorted out to better explain to your doctor just what you are going through

Canon Fodder

These are the major canonized Catholic Saints who can be petitioned to ease any kind of head pain:

• St Teresa of Avila:This famous Spanish nun had a lot going on in her head, which may explain why she suffered from debilitating migraines most of her life. She is considered one of the most original of mystics, detailing in The Interior Castle her visions of the soul, the search for God and a bit about her headaches.
• Acacius of Byzantium:A centurion in the Roman Army who was tortured and beheaded in the second century CE for being a Christian. In the early Catholic church, loosing your head gave you an automatic right to cure headaches.
• Bibiana: Also known as Viviana, she had a particularly grim life where death was a relief. Click on the link for the gory details. However, over her grave grew an herb (Lemon geodorum) that was reputedly good for bad headaches and epliepsy.
• Gerard of Lunel: Born into a noble Frech family in the 1200’s, he and his brother decided to really annoy their parents by living in caves as hermits as a career. They did pretty good for themselves, though — this is a saint who reprtedly cured bad headaches when still alive, let alone when petitioned to after death. The reason for his death? Not a beheading, but to escape the crush of patients, decided to make a pilgrimage to Jersulaem and died on the way, most likely from exhaustion. Which goes to show, when you are a good healer, you should never run out of patience. Technically, he’s not a fully canonized Saint yet, but when you have a migraine, are you gonna quibble about titles?

And, When All Else Fails…

You can pray to St Jude, the patron saint of lost causes. Believe me, he’s heard it all. He’s a hard-working saint, so give him a laugh by petitioning to him.

Whatever your spirituality, it is good to talk with someone or something that understands your chronic pain. This can give you comfort, help you relax, which can help ease your current headache.

Hope this helps.