Extreme Headaches!

[nritv]

Hello All

I would like to seek your advise and help for a perennial problem my sister has. She is having extreme headaches for the last couple of years and we have gone to every specialist and undergone all kinds of treatments but the headaches never stop. They go on for days and now it has become unbearable. Finally she is on medication that corrects the chemical imbalances in the brain. The good part is that the severity of the headaches reduced but she should be on constant medication.

I read a great deal about Dhamma(I am very new) and in one of the articles, I read that some chronic diseases can be cured by Vipassana/meditation.

I would appreciate if you can help me direct for any kind of solution. I am thinking of recommending Dhamma Meditation for 10 day's(Goenka's). Please guide us.

Thanks

[bodom]

I would not go so far as to say vipassana will cure the headaches, but it might definitely make them more tolerable. Wishing you and your sister all the best.

[Ben]

Hi nritv

Welcome to Dhamma Wheel!
Lately I've been suffering from some pretty intense headaches myself. In my situation, tests and ct scans have come up clear. I've narrowed down the possible cause of my headaches to:
- super-sensitivity to caffeine and tannic acid (tea),
- my reading glasses requiring correction (possibly), and
- slightly elevated blood pressure

With regards to your sister's intention to do a ten-day course of vipassana meditation - I think its a great idea. However, I don't think your sister should go expecting a cure from headaches. The expectation or desire for a cure from headaches, like the expectation or desire for this or that meditative attainment, actually becomes a barrier to its attainment. By all means attend a ten-day course as the benefits will be above and beyond relief from headaches, even if your sister doesn;t get relief from headaches. But in the meantime, perhaps you and your sister can rule out some lifestyle issues that maybe triggering headaches.
kind regards

Ben

[jcsuperstar]

there are like a bazillion reasons you can get headaches, for stress caused headaches meditation is a great cure . you really just need to figure out why the headaches are being caused.
meditation never really helped mine however, qigong did , also a zen monk i knew used yoga for the same purpose.

[m0rl0ck]

Johns Hopkins actually did a study on releiving migraines with meditation.

Check out all the google stuff related: http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&safe ... on&spell=1

[Monkey Mind]

I think meditation can be a paradox sometimes. Meditation does not cure the headache, but helps one to better tolerate or accept the situation. And from a place of tolerance and acceptance, many medical conditions suddenly improve. So curing headaches might not be the result of meditation, but can be an accidental consequence.

[Goofaholix]

Goenka himself started practicing meditation because of his chronic headaches. Yes in time it helped him find freedom from them but he also found something far more valuable.

If she has come to the point where she feels she has nothing to lose then yes she should give it a go, as long as she takes care not to do anything to aggravate her condition and as long as she doesn't do it with the expectation that it will be a magic bullet.

[Annapurna]

Hello All

I would like to seek your advise and help for a perennial problem my sister has. She is having extreme headaches for the last couple of years and we have gone to every specialist and undergone all kinds of treatments but the headaches never stop. They go on for days and now it has become unbearable. Finally she is on medication that corrects the chemical imbalances in the brain. The good part is that the severity of the headaches reduced but she should be on constant medication.

I read a great deal about Dhamma(I am very new) and in one of the articles, I read that some chronic diseases can be cured by Vipassana/meditation.

I would appreciate if you can help me direct for any kind of solution. I am thinking of recommending Dhamma Meditation for 10 day's(Goenka's). Please guide us.

Thanks

Meditation could be considered, if you will, an "alternative" or "traditional" treatment for physical and mental 'unwellness'.

If you're already open to such methods, I would highly recommend considering other traditional and alternative remedies as well.

I used to have lots of headaches, like 5 days out of 7, but am nearly free of them now, like...it depends on how much meat I am eating.

The less the better.

Drinking enough is also extremely important.

I forgot who said it, but he said: "You're not ill, you're thirsty".

Thinking about WHAT we are eating is also very important:

An Alkaline-acid balanced diet can cure a lot of diseases simply by eating the right things.

Please scroll down to the explanation, it's a longer article.

Last but not least, I have had great success with my own headaches with homeopathy. I've 20 years of experience with homeopathy and can only recommend it.

I think I would be a physical wreck now,if I hadn't found this.

All the best to your sister and you!

With metta,

Annapurna

[smokey]

You can try to heal your sister with Zdenko Domancic. He is a famous bioenergy healer and he works for free. You can request a free remote healing therapy. Here is the website: http://www.domanciczdenko.eu/en


The method’s name is “Biotherapy According to the Method of Zdenko Domančić”. The method is one of the so called energy healing methods (the methods of influencing with biofield and effecting one’s biofield).

The goal of our therapies is to lessen or entirely eliminate health problems, as well as to enrich one’s personality and make it more resistible. The bioenergy always tries to solve the primary problem, or the cause, which would otherwise make it impossible for the person to recover.

The body is an energetic system in constant energetic interaction with its environment. We all are sensitive to forces and energies surrounding and changing us. Our entire physical and mental bodies constantly supply themselves with this life energy, which makes the existence possible in the first place. This energetic filling comes from the Earth and from the Universe. The flow of this invisible energy makes life on this planet possible. The channels of this universal energy are called meridians, which are present in plants, animals and in the humans. The energy channels are located near the nerves. The following shows that the information and energy are transmitted outside the nerve just like in case of the SKIN effect. This explanation makes the processes of reviving damaged informative paths during our therapy more understandable.

A human consists of energy and substance. In between there is blood, which is a substance and energy at the same time. Because of the oxygen’s paramagnetic attributes, the blood functions as a transmitter of earthly and cosmic energy in the body. Inside the powerful magnetic field, the oxygen gets its characteristics. As a transmitter of higher level energies and parameters of earthly magnetic field, the oxygen inside the cell actively collaborates at transforming energy. All forces of the universe, including the force of human consciousness, in the range from the highest consciousness to the depths of subconsciousness, are the transformations of cosmic energy. On the basis of realising these natural truths, master Zdenko Domančić developed a method with which he and his followers have helped more than a million of ill people. During the years, he has been offered to participate in many researches in the field of sciences, especially medicine, and he responded to them all. Hereby he proved the efficiency of his method, especially on the most serious illnesses of today’s population.

The therapy is performed in a group, but on each patient individually, according to his condition or disease, and only on the basis of diagnosis set by the Official Medicine (the therapeutist does not set the diagnosis). The therapy is performed for four days running. If necessary, the cycle of four days can be repeated.

[Zom]

I read a great deal about Dhamma(I am very new) and in one of the articles, I read that some chronic diseases can be cured by Vipassana/meditation.

If these headaches is the result of her past bad deeds (kamma), this can be cured by regular metta-meditation (thoughts of kindness directed to numerous different beings - large, small, good, bad, humans, non-humans and so on..). Buddha said that a person imbued with metta-developed mind will strongly reduce the results of bad kamma.

Short and good manual on metta-meditation:

http://www.dhammasukha.org/Study/Books/ ... ooklet.htm

[nritv]

My apologies for the late response and thank you all(I was on the road).

Thanks again for sparing time and advising/suggesting various alternatives. I am in the process of researching all the possibilities and will let you know the progress.

Regards

[Potato]

Here are some headache remedies which are not necessarily physician-approved, but which give some people relief:

A drop of peppermint oil rubbed on each temple

Pour boiling water on basil and inhale the steam

Put your feet in ice water

I wish your sister luck. Chronic headaches are miserable.

[Maitri]

A drop of peppermint oil rubbed on each temple

I have terrible migraines with photophobia and phonophobia and I can attest that if, caught early on, peppermint oil does wonders for me! I actually put it inside my nose to smell it even more strongly; sometimes just on the temples won't do! Any mix of peppermint, lavender, and rose geranium works great. I will have to try the basil with steam, I've not heard of that one before.

There are medicines that can help, but it is important to find out what type of headaches she is having. Tension? Vascular? Like others said, it can be diet, heredity, lack of sleep or even allergies. For many women it is also hormonal and typically manifest within certain times of the monthly cycle as well.

Best of luck & health to her.

[Northernbuck]

I also suffer from migraines just like Maitri. Mine are once every month or two and severe enough where the only solution is sleep. My are bad enough that if I don't sleep, I get violently ill. I have had them since I was young, so I figure at least 35 years. I have been using meditation to help with the initial pain. This will at least allow me to get home and to bed. I have tried everything, Tiger Balm, peppermint oil, Imitrex, and any other concoction. I hope your sister finds relief.

[shadowmib]

I used to suffer headaches and have discovered two causes..

One is high blood pressure which Is now under control by taking a medication called Norvasc.
The other was diet soft drinks with aspartame (Nutrasweet) in them. They would create intense headaches that lasted for days. I stopped drinking the diet drinks and the headaches stopped.

Hope this helps.

[Alex123]

One of the solutions to try is to drink lots of clear water (aim at 2.5+ liters per day), tea and juices do not count. It may help.

[Thaibebop]

Hello All

I would like to seek your advise and help for a perennial problem my sister has. She is having extreme headaches for the last couple of years and we have gone to every specialist and undergone all kinds of treatments but the headaches never stop. They go on for days and now it has become unbearable. Finally she is on medication that corrects the chemical imbalances in the brain. The good part is that the severity of the headaches reduced but she should be on constant medication.

I read a great deal about Dhamma(I am very new) and in one of the articles, I read that some chronic diseases can be cured by Vipassana/meditation.

I would appreciate if you can help me direct for any kind of solution. I am thinking of recommending Dhamma Meditation for 10 day's(Goenka's). Please guide us.

Thanks

I suffer from massive headaches and have all my life. They tend to get better and less frequent when I reduce stress and relax. I also will lay down with ice under my head, at the base of the skull where there are two major blood vessels for 15 minutes. This cools the blood to the brain and reduces inflammation. Helps me all the time.

[pilgrim]

Headaches very often have a psychological component. I am a chronic migraine sufferer and lately the pattern has settled into a weekly rhythm, with the coming of every Monday Blues. I use Cafergot and consume about 4-5 pills a month. Far from excessive if one goes by the recommended dosage.

[retrofuturist]

Is it?

How do you know that to be so?



Metta,
Retro.

[Annapurna]

Is it?

How do you know that to be so?

Perhaps here is an answer, sort of? May not be Theravada, but then we are in the general Forum....

Dharmakaya

from D. T. Suzuki

Dharmakaya is working in every sentient being, for sentient beings are nothing but a self-manifestation of the Dharmakaya. Individuals are not isolated existences, as imagined by most people. If isolated, they are nothing, they are so many soap-bubbles which vanish one after another in the vacuity of space. All particular existences acquire their meaning only when they are thought of in their oneness in the Dharmakaya. The veil of Maya, i.e., subjective ignorance may temporally throw an obstacle to our perceiving the universal light of Dharmakaya, in which we are all one. But when our Bodhi or intellect, which is by the way a reflection of the Dharmakaya in the human mind, is so fully enlightened, we no more build the artificial barrier of egoism before our spiritual eye; the distinction between the meum and the teum is obliterated, no dualism throws the nets of entanglement over us; I recognize myself in you and you recognize yourself in me; tat tvam asi. Or, ‘What is here, that is there; what is there, that is here: Who sees duality here, from death to death goes he” (Kathopanishad 4:10).
This state of enlightenment may be called the spiritual expansion of the ego, or, negatively, the ideal annihilation of the ego. A never-drying stream of sympathy and love which is the life of religion will now spontaneously flow out of the fountainhead of Dharmakaya.” ~D. T. Suzuk