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        New Message Board Archives >> Medications, Treatments, Therapies 2004 >> 50% less headaches
        
(Message started by: boothill on Jan 20^th, 2004, 1:59pm)

Title: 50% less headaches
Post by boothill on Jan 20^th, 2004, 1:59pm

I have suffered also with horrible headaches for many years. I dont know if they are cluster, but migraines with aura, are my diagnosis.
I am a certified herbalist, in Johnson City, Tx, and heard about an herb feverfew that is supposed to help with frequent headaches, but it didnt touch them. I found out about adding 150mg of CoQ10, a antioxidant, normally used for heart and circulation. It lessened my headaches by over half. Also using the feverfew daily.

I find that MSG is the number one cause of most of my headaches. Its in everything these days, read the ingredients. Chocolate, and not the cheap stuff, good chocolate causes them also. Hersheys, M&Ms, etc. Get these out of your diets, go cold turkey. Read everything. Do not assume MSG isnt in something. I used to get the headaches 3 days later, now I get them immediately.
Regards,
Leila North, C.H.

Title: Re: 50% less headaches
Post by floridian on Jan 20^th, 2004, 2:18pm

Leila,

thanks for the post. Migraines and clusters share some similiarities, but they are very different in other ways. Feverfew has been discussed here before, with no concensus. Some people tried it and found zero effect, others believe it helps. An important active ingredient in feverfew (parthenolide) is very susceptible to heat damage, and may be decreased or lost in the processing - this could theoretically account for some of the non-response, but we don't know at this point.

Coincidentally, I have been reading about CoQ10 earlier today - not for headaches, but for another condition. In some diseases, CoQ10 can have dramatic results. I am not aware of any research that shows CoQ10 helps with clusters, but along with essential fatty acids (flax and fish oil), it can improve autonomic nervous system balance, which is out of whack in clusters. CoQ deficiency is not well understood, but some researchers believe that migraines are one result of a shortage.

Title: Re: 50% less headaches
Post by ave on Jan 21^st, 2004, 3:35am

Leila,

I don't know if you will be back to read this, but this needs to be said again for the benefit of others reading this,

Triggers vary enormously for cluster headaches. MSG, which is indeed a killer trigger for some, does nothing when ingested by others.

Chocolate, a famous migraine trigger, isn't usually a trigger for clusters. Also, one of the best migraine/cluster researchers in my country foundthat it is not the chocolate causing the migraine, but the oncoming migraine causing one to crave chocolate...)

Alcohol which is a sure trigger for some, does not trigger my clusters. For ome it's smelling perfume, for some it isn't. I could go on.

As to yourself, if feverfew (which has a better track record for migraines than for clusters) takes out 50% of the headaches, you may want to think of a none too rare condition: migraines riding in on a cluster attack, or vice versa.

Take the cluster quiz, buttons on the left, and see if maybe your headaches don't fall into two categories.

good luck

Title: Re: 50% less headaches
Post by jmorgan52 on Jan 22^nd, 2004, 3:20am

an old theory abounds here and that is that relaxation triggers a CH attack. Maybe the alcohol or "comfort food" such as chocolate relaxes us just enough to trigger the attack.

When in cycle booze gets me going every time, and so does a midday nap, but I never experienced anything else yet that directly triggers me.

As for long term bad choice of diet as a cause of CH, anyone here who knows me will know that I am a strong believer in bad diet choices (which may quite different for every individual) being a major contributor. For me it seems to be either yeast or wheat or dairy or a combination of all.

John

Title: Re: 50% less headaches
Post by jflynn on Jan 23^rd, 2004, 12:54pm

Relaxation as a trigger is noted by my HA specialist doctor. I used to get CH on late Friday nights which was my traditional time to recline on the sofa and watch DVDs. Melatonin fixed that for me.