Migraine headaches can be one of the most severe and debilitating neurological conditions. Although they are not fatal, the impact on a person’s quality life can be devastating. Imagine being blinded by light for days. Imagine feeling terrible nausea and a constant pounding in the head. Imagine the pain lasting for hours, or even days.
Migraine Attack
You’re probably familiar with the feeling and have likely been in the same room as someone suffering from a migraine attack. Most people only experience migraines on rare occasions. There are some people who experience migraines on a daily basis. This is how a chronic migraine patient lives in my office. These patients have often seen multiple headache specialists.
They have seen all the available neurologists at the Mayo Clinic and Cleveland Clinic, and have had every MRI and brain scan. They have tried many different medications, changed their diets, and live in fear of triggers such as caffeine, wine, and meat. Many have tried conventional chiropractic and acupuncture with no success. They’d been suffering for years and were almost blind to the fact that their head is constantly in pain.
Let’s See…
Some people look pale, while others need the lights turned off at work. Some even wear sun glasses. They are all skeptical and skeptical that they can cure their condition. Most people seek a cure when they visit a doctor with a medical condition. Although migraines are very common and have been around for centuries it is still a common condition. Millions of people suffer from them every day.
Prescription medications such as Treximet and Imitrex are often the first line of treatment. The treatment focuses on eliminating triggers such as chocolate, caffeine, and certain scents/perfumes. It is not possible to treat headaches (especially migraines), as a single disease that is universally understood. Headaches can be a dynamic entity that has multiple causes.
Instead of treating migraines as a disease entity, you should view them as symptoms of a neurophysiological process that has gone haywire. The name is not necessary for casual readers, so don’t get too attached to the terminology. It is important that you understand the location of your spinal cord’s top.
Nerve Cells
A very important group of nerve cells is located in the area surrounding your top 3 neck vertebra. These nerve cells filter out signals from the brain’s outer covering known as the meninges. The brain doesn’t have any pain receptors. Although it seems crazy, it is true. The blood vessels and the outer protective layer of the brain are extremely sensitive to pain. The brain’s receptors can set off a series of events that can lead to blood vessels opening up and becoming inflamed.
To ensure that pain signals do not reach the brain, it is important to have ‘filters’ such as the trigeminocervical. It acts as a gatekeeper. It would allow all pain signals through, and you would never feel any pain. What went wrong with the built in gatekeeper that prevents pain signals from reaching the brain? The normal alignment and movement in the neck and head serve as a buffer against pain signals that are sent to the gate keeper.
Conclusion
There are many things that can happen when you lose your normal alignment. This can lead to an environment in which the trigeminocervical nuclear nucleus becomes overloaded with pain signals. There is no buffer from normal head and neck movement. A seemingly minor trigger can suddenly send someone with a migraine-prone condition into a spiral of a severe headache. Our office focuses on the correcting the structural positioning of the neck and head, rather than treating migraine headaches. Structural Correction offers benefits that go well beyond the treatment or cure of a specific disease or illness.