If you suffer from headaches or migraines, then you will know how awful and frustrating these can be. More than 10 million people in the UK suffer from headaches and 1 in every 5 women and 1 in every 15 men suffer from migraines. But do you know the difference between the two?
How is a headache different from a migraine, headaches are not usually accompanied by other symptoms associated with migraines such as nausea, vomiting, sensitivity to light and sound.
Headaches
Tension headaches are one of the most common of all headaches, it feels like a constant ache on both sides of the head, a feeling of pressure behind the eyes and tension in the neck muscles that makes them feel tight. These types of headaches can be triggered by stress/anxiety, dehydration, tiredness, missing meals and noise.
Another type of headache are hormonal headaches, women often notice a relationship between headaches and hormonal changes due to pregnancy, the contraceptive pill, peri-menopause and menstruation.
Cluster headaches are a rare type of headache that occur in clusters for a month or two at a time, usually the attacks can last 15 mins to 3 hours around 1-8 times a day. The pain comes on quickly and is very serve often felt around one eye as a sharp burning or piercing sensation.
Migraines
These are usually a moderate to severe headache with a throbbing pain on one side of the head and often are associated with other symptoms such as vomiting and insensitivity to light and sound. There is no such thing as a typical migraine, the experience of the condition will be unique for everyone. The exact cause is unknown but some causes maybe due to hormonal changes, stress, tiredness, missing meals and certain foods such as chocolate, cheese, caffeine, gluten, cold foods/drinks, alcohol and bread.
Prevention
Try keeping a headache diary noting down how often they occur, for how long, how severe, any patterns to them and where is the pain. Maintain a healthy lifestyle by reducing caffeine/alcohol, eating regular meals, regular exercise, regular sleep and staying hydrated.
Always seek medical advice if you are concerned about any kind of head pain that doesn’t go away.
How Can Reflexology Help?
Reflexology is a wonderful treatment to help start the healing process, the reflexologist will work on key reflexes on the feet such as the head reflex to aid relaxation, the pituitary gland for hormonal balance, the neck reflex to relieve tension, the sinus reflex to ease congestion, the adrenal reflex to calm stress and many more. If you want to find out more on how reflexology can help give me a call or email your concerns to sueburford.therapy@gmail.com.