Have you ever had one of those blinders that send you to bed for the day, ruin your life for the next 3 and you’re wondering if they will ever stop? You may never have had a history of headaches before but when you’re heading towards menopause it can be one of the most common and crippling health conditions. In fact, I can feel one coming on now…
However, for some women, headaches have been an accepted part of life, that seem to come on as a result of stress, muscle tension, fatigue, dehydration, lack of sleep, missing meals with resulting low blood sugar, and hormonal fluctuations. They can often occur in the week before your period or just as your period is starting and maybe part of the bigger picture of PMS and hormonal imbalance in perimenopause.
Hormone Hell
As estrogen levels drop just before your period, chemicals released in the brain can change drastically impacting on blood flow and circulation to the brain. From an energetic perspective, it is a common symptom experienced by PITTA Ayurvedic body types or those with an increase in the fire element in the body. Along with headaches, PITTA’s can often experience irritability, increased appetite, sugar cravings, skin rashes and diarrhoea in the week leading up to menstruation. Sounds like you? You probably don’t need reminding how hellish and disruptive theses symptoms can be and they are not NORMAL.
Is medication normal for you when a headache hits? Sometimes it might be the only solution to shift a headache. But taking pain relieving medication is an acute response to a chronic issue that could be improved naturally and with long term relief.
5 Ways to Heal Headaches Naturally
1. Diet
Many of the triggers for headaches are food related. Some of the triggers include gluten, sugar, chocolate, red wine, MSG and other additives like sulphites. Tyramine is a migraine triggering amino acid found in aged and fermented cheeses and preserved meats like bacon and sausages. If these are a big part of your life, fill out a diet diary and see where you can replace them with fresh products instead. Giving it at least two to three months along with other lifestyle changes gives you the best opportunity to get results
Eating regularly throughout the day, sometimes up to 4-5 smaller meals helps to keep your blood sugar stable and a drip feed of glucose to your brain. It’s critical in the week leading up to your period when hormone levels can be influenced by blood sugar imbalance.
2. Gut dysfunction
Your second brain is located in the gut and when there is any kind of dysfunction your brain will be the first to register imbalance. Constipation, with a build up of toxic waste products in the bowel can overload your liver and other organs of elimination with painful consequences for the most vulnerable organ, your brain. Cleansing diets with higher levels of natural fibres from hemp, chia, flax and fruits and vegetables some of them raw can help sweep the gut clean like an internal broom. You feel lighter, cleaner and clearer when you are having a regular bowel movement first thing in the morning.
3. Supplements
Many vitamins and minerals can be helpful adjuncts including Magnesium, CoQ10 and 5-HTP. The tissue salts Mag Phos and Kali Phos used in alternation can reduce stress induced tension headaches. Sometimes detailed blood tests can point to underlying deficiencies that can be addressed with diet and supplements.
5. Hydration
Water is “brain juice” and when you are chronically dehydrated your brain responds in pain. Drink more warm water in winter and increase the volume in summer or after heavy exercise or sweating. Aim to drink about two – three liters of water every day to prevent dehydration and cut down on hormonal headaches.
4. Essential Oils
The potent distilled, pure and most powerful part of the plant, the essential oil has incredible properties to heal headaches. Some of the best results can be obtained from the essential oil of basil, rosemary, peppermint, lavender, frankincense, and the Young Living blends PanAway, Aroma Siez, and M-Grain. Applying to the temples, forehead and back of the neck once to three times a day can shift headaches in seconds as the volatile compounds cross the blood brain barrier in seconds.
5. Stress
Stress is one of the biggest triggers for headaches and migraines. Alternate nostril breathing, daily Ayurveidc self massage infused with essential oils can be part of a self care routine along with yoga, mediation, beach walking and time away from computers and mobile phones in nature is essential to reconnect your spirit.
photo credit: Deborah Leigh (Migraine Chick) via photopin cc