It’s estimated that over 4 million adults suffer from chronic headaches every single day. While most people can either avoid headaches in their everyday lives or treat them easily, those with chronic migraines tend to have a tougher time.
If you or someone you know deals with chronic headaches or migraines, it’s important to know what could be causing them – and what the differences are. Once you understand some of the potential factors, you can have a better plan of attack when it comes to treating and managing them effectively.
So, how can you reduce chronic headaches and migraines and find some relief?
What Causes Chronic Headaches and Migraines?
Some several factors and triggers can contribute to frequent headaches. Some of the most common are environmental factors, including:
- Weather changes
- Light
- Sound
- Temperature
- Intense smells
Understanding your environment and how it impacts your health is crucial. If you start to experience other health issues in addition to headaches, look into the safety of where you regularly spend your time. Ensuring your home or workplace doesn’t have mold issues or other allergens/health risks is important.
Migraines and chronic headaches are different. While the exact cause of migraines is unknown, it’s thought to be some sort of sudden abnormality in the brain that causes problems with your nerve signals. Anything you do that might have an impact on your brain could trigger a migraine,
including overexerting yourself, putting yourself in stressful situations, or even eating certain foods. Yes, sometimes you really “are what you eat.” Foods like chocolate, alcohol, and cheese are all common triggers for many migraine sufferers.
What Can You Do?
Understanding your triggers is a good start when it comes to managing your migraines. However, additional treatment and management techniques may be needed, even if you’re largely able to avoid those factors.
In many cases, medication is needed to treat the pain. Typical offerings include:
- Antidepressants
- Beta-blockers
- Anti-seizure medications
- NSAIDs
Alternatively, some people use more natural methods like acupuncture, massage, and even certain vitamins and minerals to find daily relief. In some cases, plastic surgery treatments like Botox are even used to provide temporary relief from headaches, dizziness, and other common symptoms often associated with migraines.
When it comes to chronic headaches, some of the treatment options listed above will also be effective. But, you should consider your environment, too, and make changes as necessary.
The first step in reducing chronic headaches and migraines is to get to the bottom of what’s causing them. When you do that, you can make the best possible choices to reduce how often you have them. You can also be comforted in knowing that help is out there, both through medication and natural remedies, so you don’t have to suffer in silence or on your own. One of the best things you can do is to talk to your doctor about your options, or research natural methods that you feel comfortable with.
