A Natural Approach To Health

Living With Abdominal Migraines

I had a question the other day about abdominal migraines.

An abdominal migraine is a type of migraine headache.

It usually happens in children with a family history of migraines.

Abdominal migraines are rare in adults, but about 2% of all children may get abdominal migraines.

Females are more affected than males.

Children who have abdominal migraines usually develop migraine headaches when they get older.

Although abdominal migraines are in the migraine family, the pain is in your belly.

Usually, it’s near your navel or midline.

Abdominal migraines often happen as a reaction to a migraine trigger.

They can cause severe stomach pain, nausea, abdominal cramping, and vomiting.

The exact cause of abdominal migraines hasn’t been found, but one theory is they’re caused by changes in 2 chemicals, histamine and serotonin.

Both of these occur naturally in your body.

The chemical changes could contribute to both migraine headaches and abdominal pain.

Experts now believe daily stress and anxiety can cause fluctuations in these chemicals.

There may also be a psychological trigger.

To deal with abdominal migraines it’s beneficial to:

*Identify your triggers.  Some of the most common triggers are aged cheese, processed meats, pickles, onions, olives, certain types of beans, raisins, nuts, avocados, canned soups, and red wine.  Keeping a headache diary is a good way to identify connections between your headaches and your diet.  Map out when your headaches start and what you’ve eaten that day and the day before.

*Avoid additives.  Certain food additives are also common headache triggers.  Monosodium glutamate (MSG) is one of the most common headache-causing additive.  MSG is found in soy sauce, Chinese foods and many packaged foods.

*Beware of “brain freeze”, the brief stab of severe pain that comes with eating or drinking something too cold.  This type of headache is usually felt in the middle of your forehead, but for migraine sufferers this pain can be felt in areas affected during a migraine.  For people prone to migraines, it can be the beginning of a full-fledged attack.

*Don’t skip meals.  While many people have sensitivities to particular foods, others develop difficulties when they don’t eat.

*Have a chiropractic or osteopathic evaluation.

*Drink 6-8 cups of purified water every day.

*Ensure optimal digestion and elimination (upset and constipation are often triggers).

*Get enough sleep.

*Use stress release techniques.

*Consider emotional connections.

*Consider a liver and/or colon cleanse.

*Look into craniosacral therapy.

*Exercise regularly.

*Breath deeply to oxygenate your cells.

*Consider hydrotherapy techniques.

*Maintain level blood sugars.

*Have hormone levels checked.

*Have eyes checked.  Rest eyes regularly.

*Have jaw alignment checked.

*At the onset of an abdominal migraine try a large glass of Performance – you may simply be dehydrated or low on electrolytes.

Recommendations:

It’s essential to use:  Vita-Lea, Protein, Stress Relief Complex, Pain Relief Complex, Performance, Calcium/Magnesium, B-Complex, DTX, Herb-Lax.

It’s important to use:  Alfalfa, Vitamin D, OmegaGuard, Lecithin, VitalMag, Optiflora, Vivix.

It’s beneficial to use:  Mental Acuity, CoQHeart, Gentle Sleep Complex, Stomach Soothing Complex, 180 Energy Tea.

email:  lenay@dickandlenay.com

PS:  If you have any questions about abdominal migraines, and would like to know how supplements can help, give us a call at 715-431-0657.  We’re here to help.