DEEP BREATHING EXERCISE

HYDROTHERAPY

HEADACHE PREVENTION
Keep extremities warm at all times. Weather changers, cold air, and cold drafts can cause headaches in susceptible people. Keep on a regular schedule of meals; avoid eating between meals. Avoid heavy or rich foods or too much protein. Avoid constipation, another source of headaches, by keeping to a diet rich in whole grains and raw fruits and vegetables.

VASCULAR HEADACHE TREATMENT
At the very beginning of a headache, take a 20 minute immersion bath for feet (and hands and forearms, if possible). Using one basin for your feet and another for your hands and arms up to the elbow, fill with 1-2 gallons of HOT water to which 1 tsp. dry mustard has been added. At the same time you’re soaking your feet and hands in hot water, keep a COLD compress on your head.

If the headache continues to develop further, apply a hot water bottle to the base of the skull where it meets the cervical spine. At the same time, apply an ice-water compress to the face, temples, ears, and forehead. After three minutes, exchange these, putting a hot compress on the face and an ice-pack to the base of the skull. Do three sets of these alternating hot/cold packs. At the same time, soak your feet in a moderately hot foot bath.

If the headache persists or recurs, try applying one ice pack to the base of the head, a second ice pack to the forehead, and ice packs or ice-water compresses over both carotid arteries in the neck. Simultaneously, apply hot compresses to the face, covering both ears and forehead. Maintain these for 5-45 minutes, depending on how the headache reacts. If it lets up quickly, stop the treatment. If it persists, continue treatment. Always use these hot/cold compresses with a moderately hot footbath (103-106 degrees Fahrenheit).

Note: The idea behind hydrotherapy treatment is to draw blood away from the head and into the limbs, thereby relieving the congestion, throbbing, and pain. If these treatments seem too complicated, try a hot foot bath with chilled towels or compresses around the neck. Remember that hydrotherapy works best when there is maximum contrast between hot and cold, so keep the hot compresses and foot baths as HOT as you can stand them, and the ice packs or ice-water compresses as COLD as possible. Both have to be refreshed frequently, so it is best to have some help.

VASCULAR HEADACHE WITH NERVOUSNESS
Take a tepid or lukewarm bath for 20-45 minutes. Blot the skin dry rather than rubbing it. Drink a cup of red clover tea (Trifolium pratense) at the headache’s onset. Very soothing, red clover can usually be bought as a tea in health food stores.

TENSION HEADACHE TREATMENT
Use moist heat on the shoulders and back of neck for 20 minutes, followed by a massage of the neck and shoulders and gentle strokes of the fingers over the forehead and through the hair to relax the scalp. You can also massage the scalp with an electric massager.

Alternatively, you can use a steam pack made from a 30" x 36" piece of heavy cotton flannel, or wool-cotton fabric, or heavy Turkish towel, folded in thirds. The pack cover should be a soft piece of wool or acrylic large enough to overlap the pack. Head the pack material in a steamer. Cover the area of the body to be treated with a dry towel; place the pack over the towel and cover it with the pack cover. As the pack cools, reheat it in the steamer. (It’s a good idea to have two packs, so you can have one in use and one being reheated at the same time.)

[Adapted from: Drs. Agatha and Calvin Thrush, MD, Home Remedies: Hydrotherapy, Massage, Charcoal and Other Simple Treatments (1981), pp. 112-4, 63-4.]

Homeopathy is an old system of medicine that uses minute doses of different substances (animal, vegetable, or mineral) to stimulate the body’s own healing processes. Even though some of the substances used are toxic if taken in large amounts, homeopathic doses are infinitesimal and NOT TOXIC. Homeopathy is often worth trying first because it can be very quick acting when you choose the right remedy, and it won’t harm you.

Homeopathic remedies are usually in the form of small sugar-based pellets that are placed under the tongue and allowed to dissolve. Do not take then within 15-30 minute of eating, or drinking, or brushing your teeth. They taken dry, not with water, in contrast to pharmaceuticals. While you are taking homeopathic remedies, avoid coffee, anything containing menthol, eucalyptus, camphor, or mint – that includes most toothpastes, so use pure baking soda or purchase a homeopathic toothpaste from a health food store.

Homeopathic remedies are prescribed on the basis of VERY keen observation of symptoms. The following shows which remedies are appropriate for which symptoms, but it is far from a complete list. If the remedy you select is not working, consult a homeopath.

Take 3 pellets of the best-indicated remedy every half hour, until symptoms are relieved. As soon as the headache starts to feel better, STOP taking the remedy: it’s done its job, and more is definitely not better in homeopathy. If you experience no relief after two or three doses, STOP: you don’t have the right remedy or perhaps the right potency, and you need to consult a homeopath. (Consider consulting a homeopath or naturopath if your headaches are a chronic problem. Proper homeopathic treatment can eliminate the predisposition to develop headaches.)

Most, but by no means all, of the following remedies are available from health stores in potencies ranging from 6c or 6x to 30c or 30x. The higher number indicates a higher potency. Lower potencies may be repeated MORE often (3-4 times a day), whereas higher potencies are repeated LESS often.

If the headache is located at:

— the top of the head – try Cimicifuga racemosa

— in the back of the skull – try Gelsemium

— the temples – try Belladonna

— in the right half of the head – try Belladonna

— above the right eye – try Sanguinaria Canadensis

— above the left eye – try Spigelia

— in the left half of the head – try Spigelia

— alternating pain from one side of the head to the other – try Lac caninum

— too much exposure to heat – try Antimonium crudum

— swimming in cold water or a cold bath – try Antimonium crudum or Rhus toxicodendron

— catching cold, especially from having the head uncovered – try Belladonna

— constipation – try Bryonia

— intellectual overwork – try Calcarea phosphorica

— cold and wet weather – try Dulcamara

— sunburn or exposure to the sun – try Glonoine

— strong odors – try Ignatia or Colchicum

— menopause – try Lachesis

— missing a meal – try Lycopodium

— anger, vexation, or annoyance – try Natrum muriaticum or Staphysagria

— a blow to the head, concussion, head injury – try Natrum sulphuricum (see your doctor)

— overeating – try Nux vomica

— eyestrain – try Onosmodium

— getting wet – try Rhus toxicodendron

— muscle fatigue – try Rhus toxicodendron

— a cool compress to the head – try Aloe socotrina

— moving around – try Rhus toxicodendron

— a nosebleed – try Melilotus officinalis (see your doctor)

— wrapping the head (for warmth) – try Silicea

— wrapping the head tightly (for pressure) – try Argentum Nitricum or Silicea or Pulsatilla

— walking outdoors – try Pulsatilla

— a warm compress – try Silicea

— urinating – try Gelsemium

— menstrual periods – try Cimicifuga racemosa

— noise & light – try Belladonna

— coughing or moving – try Bryonia

— riding in a car – try Cocculus indicus

— drinking coffee – try Nux vomica

— the weather just before a storm – try Phosphorus

— eating meals or overeating – try Pulsatilla

— drinking tea – try Thuja

— drinking wine – try Zincum

— drafts of air – try Silicea

— stooping – try Belladonna, Bryonia, Pulsatilla or Spigelia

— a sensation the head is about to burst – try Cimicifuga racemosa

— throbbing and a hot head – try Belladonna

— throbbing in the carotid arteries of face and neck – try Glonoine

— a sensation a nail has been driven into the head – try Coffea cruda

— heavy eyelids – try Gelsemium

— a sensation of hammers beating inside the head – try Natrum muriaticum

— a sensation of the eyes being pulled back into the head – try Paris quadrifolia

— great thirst – try Bryonia

— the need to urinate – try Gelsemium

— visual disturbances or vomiting that burns – try Iris versicolor

— a ruddy, congested face, with a nosebleed – try Melilotus officinalis (see your doctor)

— watering or tearing of the eyes – try Pulsatilla

– shivering, shaking, or sensitivity to the cold – try Silicea

– diarrhea or cold sweats – try Veratrum album