“A Hidden Cause of Headache Pain”
Snipped from NYTimes.com.
Want to stop your chronic headaches or migraines? Then you may want to stop medicating them. New research is showing that the very medications that are designed to treat pain, can actually cause it. It is called a rebound episode and is similar to a hangover. Unfortunately, people too often grab that same medication that caused it to treat it, furthering its cycle.
Here is a small portion of the article:
Four percent of Americans suffer headaches daily, and scientists have suspected culprits as diverse as undiagnosed jaw disorders, genetic susceptibility and stress. But according to recent research, a sizeable and growing number of headaches are being caused by the very medications taken to alleviate them — and the problem is far more common than scientists had realized. Half of chronic migraines, and as many as 25 percent of all headaches, are actually “rebound” episodes triggered by the overuse of common pain medications. Both prescription and over-the-counter drugs may be to blame.
Patients begin by popping too many pills to deal with a migraine or a simple tension-type headache. When the medications stop, another headache follows, similar to a hangover. Sufferers race again to the medicine cabinet, and before long they are locked in a cycle of headaches and overmedication.
At any given time, more than three million Americans are suffering from headaches they are inflicting on themselves, according to Dr. Stephen D. Silberstein, a professor of neurology and director of the Jefferson Headache Center at Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia. “If a patient’s headaches have grown markedly worse or more frequent, the problem is almost always medication overuse,” Dr. Silberstein said.
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Interesting, and Ironic. Personally I almost never get headaches, except sinus related ones. And I almost never use medication of any type. I’m not a Tom Cruise nut-job who thinks all medication is evil but I do think we use too much and I try to keep all medications at an absolute minimum. Drugs should be used for emergencies and major problems, oh and recreationally of course.
It seems we have come a long way in dealing with headaches. A very early cure was to drill holes in the patient’s skull to let the evil spirits out. In the full article was mentioned that it took two months to see it one has a medication-dependent headache. “The only way to know whether medication is contributing to your headaches is to stop taking them. Unfortunately, it can take as long as two months for medication-dependent patients to see an improvement.” Two months is a long time to go without taking something, anything for a headache.
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It’s kind of a catch 22 isn’t it? I personally, rarely use pain killers or anything that comes from a pharmaceutical company. The human body is too delicate. It is always trying to balance itself, and when you start adding things, it will counter just like a balance scale.
At the same time I’m just as skeptical of the natural remedies, or holistic medicine. If you’re going to be skeptical be skeptical of every claim. People will claim but this remedy has been used for thousands of years, yeah and what was the life expectancy? There are huge problems with modern medicine, but on the whole its still much better than the alternative. sorry.
Here, I will disagree to a point. I am not skeptical of drugs per se, as I know they can work. What I do is contemplate the consequences of using such drugs since every drug has a side effect. When I know that there are other healthier, less drastic measures one can utilize, I will use them first.
As far a modern drugs being better than the alternative, again, I would have to disagree to a point sense it depends on ones definition of better. First of all, the synthetic drugs that everyone takes are usually derived from some natural organism (plant, fungus, animal). All the pharmaceutical companies do is figure out a way to synthetically manufacture the compound for cheaper distribution and usually up the potency.
Alternative medicine, since unregulated by the FDA, is like the wild wild west, so consumer knowledge and education is a must, but that does not mean ALL do not work. It just means that it is up to you to filter out the BS from the real deal. People are just too used to relying on their government to tell them what to do and what not to do. So, laziness is a factor in the alternative choices.
Many times these synthetic drugs are like using a sledgehammer for a wall tack. Why not start with things that are less severe and work your way up the ladder?
Want to boost your immune system, supplement your diet with probiotics. Want to improve overall health and mental function, take fish and flax oil. Want to lower your chances of arteriosclerosis, consume higher levels of soluble fiber. Want to prolong your life, lower your insulin levels with Alpha Lipoic Acid along with removing energy dense carbs from your diet. Have sore, aching joints, utilize glucosamine and chondroitin sulfate, along with high repetition exercise.
There are many things that can work for the human body, but the problem is they take time and patients along with a healthy lifestyle. Most people don’t want to bother with taking care of themselves, so they would rather treat than prevent. They take a synthetic drug because they waited to long to utilize a healthier less drastic choice.
The true alternative is eating right, exercising and supplementing your diet with things that may be missing in your nutrition or environment, and that will always trump any drug, any day. Sorry.
No argument here. Other than I can’t understand how we would need supplements unless you’re not eating right? If you’re eating “right” then shouldn’t your nutritional need be taken care of? Or are the supplements just insurance?
I’m all for preventative maintenance, it works with cars, it works for people.
And finally you said that modern drugs are like sledgehammers, using your analogy there are times when you’ve got a wall to take down and no tack hammer is going to do it, this is where modern medicine shines, cause if the sledgehammer doesn’t do it theres always that surgeon with the wrecking ball waiting for his chance.
What I am saying, and you agreed with, was that we need to be skeptical of anyone trying to sell you a cure. The alternative medicines don’t have oversight and big pharma owns the FDA so be skeptical or your cure might kill you. Or to be less dramatic, your cure might not do shit.
As for a healthy lifestyle, well I’m not one to judge there. I’ve dropped about 25lbs but I’m still about 50 above where I’d like to be. I need to exercise more and drink less but hey I do have pretty damn low stress, and there is something to be said about that. Actually I think you posted about that recently.
Have a good weekend
Here is a hard argument to win. In my educated opinion, I would say that the average person does not eat a healthful enough diet to warrant not taking vit/min and EFA’s. You would need to eat a solid variety of vegetables and fruits everyday along with seafood a couple days a week. Do you do that? If you do, then you shouldn’t need them. If you don’t, you wouldn’t have to take them, but you would be better off with them.
Then there is the argument that the amount of processing dilutes the saturation of vit/mins and EFA’s in the food we eat. If we ate everything raw and unprocessed, we would be better off. In the end, not needing supplementation.
Think of it this way. Evolution designed us over hundreds of thousands of years. 95% of that time was spent as a hunter-gatherer type human. This type of diet was primarily fruits, vegetables and meats. So, in essence, we have been programmed to optimally operate off of the amount of vit/mins and EFA’s that would come from that kind of diet. Now we have a diet that is quite far from what we were programmed to function with, so supplements act as a “buffer” if you will.
I hope that made sense. Now this, of course is not fact, but that is how I strongly feel. Take it or leave it.
Actually, there is a lot to be said about that. Take care bro, and thanks for the interaction.
Yeah I figured you’d say something like that about the supplements. Of course I’ve also heard that there has been concern about too much of certain vitamins and that also problems with digesting vitamins in the form of pills. They aren’t absorbed the same so it is difficult to know how much to take. I’d just be curious to see more research on the effectiveness of supplements.