HOW CAN WE HELP?
Headaches and migraines are one of the most mismanaged, misdiagnosed and poorly treated conditions. We understand the frustrations of patients who have been trying endless treatments and yet are still left suffering. So how can we help you, even if you have been suffering for decades?
Research tells us that the underlying disorder of a headache and a migraine is brainstem sensitization. When you are a headache and/or a migraine sufferer, your brainstem is sensitized 24/7, meaning that you are a potential headache/migraine waiting to happen all the time. When we are in this state, our bodies are susceptible to all sorts of triggers which can set off an attack, such as foods, stress, lack of sleep, hormones, alcohol etc. If you were able to identify your triggers and avoid them to prevent your attacks, life would be easy but for most sufferers, reproducible triggers are harder to identify and things like stress or hormones are impossible to avoid. Therefore, in order to make significant and long term changes to your headaches and migraines, the underlying disorder must be treated.
The lower brainstem is housed in the top 3 joints of the neck. When these 3 joints become chronically stuck in a dysfunctional position, they constantly send pain signals up to the brainstem, telling it that something is wrong. When this happens for long enough, the brainstem becomes sensitized. The nerves of the face and the head feed into the brainstem so when it is sensitized, this accounts for the pain of a headache and a migraine. The cranial nerves originate from the brainstem and so when it becomes sensitized, this accounts for the associated symptoms of a migraine, such as dizziness, nausea, vomiting, light/sound/smell sensitivity and aura. The brainstem is also a processing centre and so when it is sensitized, other associated features can include brain fog, slight memory lapses, lack of concentration, reaching for words etc. Therefore in order to make significant and long term changes to any and all of these symptoms, the brainstem must be desensitized. So how do we do this?
We work to desensitize the brainstem by retraining the neck so that it is no longer sitting in its dysfunctional position, so that it will no longer send pain signals up to the brainstem constantly keeping it in it’s hyperexcitable/sensitized state. When this occurs, it will take a rather massive event to set off a headache/migraine.
At Melbourne Headache Solutions, we understand, however, that headaches and migraines are a complex condition and that other factors can be involved in maintaining your headache/migraine state. These factors can include:
- Stress/anxiety
- Diet
- Gut issues
- Chronic inflammation
- Hormones
- Supplements
Therefore we are always screening and assessing patients to establish whether these factors need to be concurrently treated/addressed to get the best and quickest results possible.
