LifeCare Chiropractic

The Best Chiropractic Care in Mesa, Arizona

Migraine

CAN A SIMPLE AMINO ACID STOP SEIZURES?

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CAN A SIMPLE AMINO ACID STOP SEIZURES?  I’ve always been very saddened by our approach to conditions like epilepsy and migraines in this country.  We feel that if the events are halted with medications (or, horrifyingly, by surgical removal or parts of the brain) then the treatment is a success.

However, all we have done is stop one sick brain cell from transmitting it’s message to the next.  The brain cell is still sick, and in many instances, is made sicker still by the meds. Instead, control of seizures is merely the first stage to healing the sickened brain cells.  While I do not advocate withdrawal of seizure medication (a VERY bad idea!!), the augmentation of seizure control has been shown with progesterone (allopregnonalone is the most potent anti-seizure compound o the planet) and some other natural compounds.

This study is the beginning of looking at the amino acid glutamine to increase GABA levels, which is one of the brain’s neurotransmitter “brakes.”

DRUG TREATMENT IN EPILEPSY AND MIGRAINES

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BRAIN DAMAGE OCCURS DESPITE SUCCESSFUL DRUG TREATMENT IN EPILEPSY AND MIGRAINES.  One of my continuing frustrations in our treatment of seizures (this includes true migraines) is that we view the treatement as successful if the seizures or migraines have stopped.  The reality is all we’ve done is dumbed down the brain cells’ ability to communicate with one another, but have not improved the health of the neurons.  In many cases it is quite the opposite.

This study adds weight to this idea in finding that treatment with one AED (Depakote) actually stopped the brain’s ability to recover from insult (plasticity) and promoted cognitive loss.

BETTER YOUR LIFESTLYE FOR MIGRAINE TREATMENT

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MIGRAINE TREATMENT HAS TO INCLUDE LIFESTYLE, NOT JUST PAIN MEDICATION.  I have said again and again that the treatments for a migraine have to be body-wide, that the problem is systemic but is manifesting as pain in the head.  That is why patients with migraines are at increased risk of things like heart disease and stroke; in this study over twice the risk.  If all we do is medicate a patient and stop the headaches, we have fixed nothing.  None of the available drugs for migraine lower the risk of heart disease and stroke, so they are obviously not fixing the real problem.

Bottom line is that we HAVE to make the changes and not rely on medications.  Exercise, stress reduction, evaluation and avoidance of environmental toxins, high phytonutrient diet, moving away from diabetes.

Natural Headache Cures vs Medications for Migraines

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 Headache sufferers can live their lives in frequent misery.  While there are many natural cures for headaches that can help in the long run, tools for immediate relief of headaches are a strong need.

Far too many headache sufferers turn to medications to cure their headaches, but in no situation does the medication actually fix what is causing the headache in the first place.  Many drugs use to treat headaches merely stop one brain cell from communicating with its neighbor, but do not make the original, problematic brain cell any healthier.

Read the entire article here

MORE UNDERSTANDING OF THE CAUSES OF EPILEPSY

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Many doctors that deal with epileptic patients will just shake their heads and say that we really do not know what causes seizures and epilepsy.  The best reply to this statement would be to ask this particular doctor what they are personally reading to keep up with the rapidly changing world of medical literature.  The answer is usually less than ideal.

Read the entire article here

5 SIMPLE MIGRAINE HEADACHE CURES

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“Cures” seems like a foreign word in medicine today, with the exception of cancer, where “cure” is the buzzword.  Do we ever talk about a diabetes, high cholesterol, high blood pressure or obesity cure in medicine?  So certainly a headache cure is not on the radar screen.  The best we usually hope for is control.

Read the full article here

 

 

ARE MIGRAINES GENETIC?

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Genes, migraines, stroke.  Overall, there is absolutely no doubt that migraines are NOT a problem isolate to the head.  They are a problem with the health of the overall patient.  This is why we see an increased risk of conditions like stroke and heart disease in migraine sufferers.

Without looking in depth as to the reasons WHY a migraine is occurring, we can’t . Meds do NOTHING to change the risk of other diseases. In this article, we see links between homocystein, migraine with aura and a genetic uniqueness (called a “SNP”) in the way we use folic acid. When it comes to SNPs, the MTHFR is probably the absolute most important one for you to be aware of. There ARE simple genetic test kits that can help.

Read entire article here

ARE EVERYDAY HEADACHES DANGEROUS?

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Last update December 19, 2014

Are everyday headaches dangerous?
Naeblys/Dollar Photo Club

I’ve been a strong opponent of the way we treat migraines in this healthcare system.  In general, we keep trying different medications until the doctor finds a medication that reduces or stops the headaches.  Then we all jump up and down and pat each other on the back and call the process a success.  If this is the approach your doctor has taken, then there ARE times when an everyday headache can be dangerous to your long term health.

Why?  Because a migraine headache is unquestionably a cerebral (brain) manifestation of a systemic problem.  If all we do is medicate the headache, we just signed an early death certificate for the patient because we have not fixed the problem.  All we have done is control the symptoms.  The “problem” was not a deficiency of Topimax or Depakote or Lyrica.  Giving these drugs may control the symptoms, but in now way fix the problem that caused the headache in the first place.

So what is the problem?

A great place to look is at the blood vessels.  Our vasculature that brings blood to every cell of our body.  With this blood comes important nutrients, vitamins and minerals for a brain cell to function at its best.

When there is a problem with our blood vessels, our brain cells can’t get the nutrients it needs to make ATP.  In case you don’t remember back to high school biology, ATP is the “energy currency” of our cells.  It is what every cell needs to do anything and everything.  The more ATP available, the healthier the cell.  The less ATP available, the sicker the cell becomes.

In cells that require very high levels of energy, such as our muscles, our heart and our brain, this process is absolutely critical.  If the brain does can not get the nutrients it needs to make enough ATP, a migraine or a seizure may be the result.

Ok.  “So what exactly is the problem with poor vascular health”, you ask.  With few exceptions, no one has a heart attack before they have a problem with the blood vessels leading to the heart.  No one has a stroke without first having a problem with the blood vessels in the brain.  Dementia begins with poor blood supply to the brain.

If you don’t fix the vascular problem that is contributing to the migraine, you are allowing unchecking damage to your blood vessels to occur.  With enough time, this will lead to a heart attack, a stroke or the slow process of dementia and loss of your cognitive function.

Medications will NOT fix this.  In fact, in several cases they will make the process worse.

This is strongly confirmed by this current study linking migraine with aura and cardiovascular disease.  Strangely, the risk of stroke was massive (380% increased risk) in women with NO established risk factors for heart disease.  However, in those women who DID have risk factors for heart disease and experienced migraines with aura, the risk of having a heart attack was increased 334%.

In other words, you can’t win either way.  Having migraines with aura will either lead to a heart attack or a stroke.  The ONLY way to save yourself is to make the changes needed to improve your vascular health.

Sadly,  despite all this research, I have yet to EVER have a patient come in with migraines that were given any type of lifestyle advice by any other provider (specialists included).  So yes–Everyday headaches can be dangerous.  Even deadly.