Although headaches are natural, they are not necessary, argues David Buchholz, a professor at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. In his Heal Your Headache: The 1-2-3 Program for Taking Charge of Your Headaches, Buchholz counsels severe headache sufferers to avoid quick fix painkillers, which can cause rebound headaches. For a more holistic approach, minimize triggers like caffeine, perfumes, certain foods and stress and, for hardcore cases, use preventative medications such as tricyclic antidepressants, calcium channel blockers and others. Buchholz also discusses common misdiagnoses of migraine symptoms and challenges the myth of tension and sinus headaches (these are usually migraines, he argues).
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Owner Reviews, Ratings, Comments and Criticism
Add my name to the long list of reviewers for whom this book offered welcome relief. I have suffered migraines for over 50 years and am now virtually free [see note below]. The method was not easy. First, you have to stop taking all pain medications that cause rebound headaches. That includes just about everything that you would have ever found useful. Once free of those, you then start working on your personal dietary triggers. For me, it turned out to be a lot of stuff I love. Finally, you find a medicine that raises your headache threshold. For me, it was a moderate dose of nortripaline. The process took four months and included a lot of pain, particularly as I went thru headaches without pain relievers. But it was worth it.
Added July 6, 2004 -- Unfortunately, the relief offered by the book did not last long. Within six months of starting the program I had a major relapse with a migraine that gripped for more than two weeks and left me with tinnitus. I have followed the book's prescription to the letter, but to no avail.
Added October 22, 2004 -- Turns out I missed something. I discovered that a topical hair treatment I was using was a vasodialator and, hence, a headache inducer. I stopped using the product, and my headaches stopped the next day. I haven't had a problem since.
