No More HeadachesEliminate headaches without medication

If you think you can or you think you cannot, you are right. If you believe that you will have migraines for the rest of your life, you will. However, if you decide that focused attention and guided effort can help you progress towards the reduction or elimination of headaches without medication, you will. It really is that simple.

I am not suggesting that this will be easy for anyone. The path to eliminating headaches may take years of small steps before making significant progress. There may be a moment of enlightenment that moves you forward, or progress may occur due to an accumulation of skills developed over time. This is your personal journey and only you can determine your path.

Is migraine a physical neurological disease? Yes. According to the dictionary, disease is ‘a condition that impairs normal functioning’. I understand from years of painful headaches that I could not function normally. The effects of headache can be measured in the neurological system. Science can prove that headaches are real. However, your neurological state is not just something that happens to you; it is something that you fully participate in. It is possible to intentionally influence your neurological condition.

Can headaches be influenced by altering psychological, intellectual, behavioral and emotional patterns? Yes. Migraine headaches involve a complex reaction driven by many factors. Though the outcome is physical, many of the contributors are not. Like it or not, you play a direct role in the development and maintenance of your migraines. Though the creation of migraines usually occurs at a subconscious level, conscious decisions can alter your reaction. If you wish to eliminate migraines, address the areas that you can change and the physical outcome can be changed as well.

Scientists and doctors have been researching migraines for decades. Seeking the cure for headaches is one of the most common research projects. Yet despite the minds and money focused on this topic, doctors still do not understand what causes a headache. In my opinion this is because they continue to diagnose and treat migraines at only the physical level. The complexity of migraine is probably the most appropriate disease for a holistic approach since headaches are influenced by all elements of a person.

There is one thing to remember about migraine disease. Even though pain exists, for most migraineurs there is no measurable physical damage. Unlike other diseases and ailments where the body has been irreparably changed, headache pain is only temporary. It is an involuntary pain reaction that comes and goes. Even though headaches may happen over and over again, there are times in-between headache episodes where pain does not exist. It is this plateau that we move towards. It is possible to be free from migraines.

Sometimes it is not easy when your belief system is challenged. If migraine is a genetic incurable disease, then the logical pathway includes acceptance and medication. If migraine includes psychological elements then personal responsibility must be accepted. If someone is looking to lay blame for an affliction, it is easier to blame the disease than the victim. After all, why would anybody want to do this to themselves?

The answer is that people do not have migraines on purpose. Migraine headaches are an involuntary pain reaction that occurs at a subconscious level. The pain that I experienced over years of headaches was real and excruciating. Each episode was an attack I had to bear. I couldn’t understand why it was happening to me. The pain was intense and relentless. Migraines were something that happened to me and they were awful.

In retrospect, now that I no longer experience headaches, there were many ways that I created my migraines. I worked in a difficult job and had not yet learned how to channel stress. I did not listen to my body and pushed myself even when a headache was the likely result. I constantly carried painkillers because I knew that another migraine would come and it always did. Everything in my life defined the likelihood of continuing headaches.

Now the biggest step I have taken is to gain power over my headaches. I still experience stress and I still get the little ‘twinges’ of pain shooting up my neck. However, instead of moving into the headache cycle where the pain increases, I make personal adjustments and the pain never builds. I have learned how to stop the mind chatter that contributes to headaches and to make physical adjustments so that tension does not increase. When I feel the onset of a headache, I stop asking questions and start providing answers. Because I no longer fear or expect headaches to occur, they do not.

I realize how simplistic this seems to someone who has experienced years of migraines. Like riding a bicycle, it is easy to do when you know how but difficult to describe in words. Ultimately, there are numerous aspects of yourself that contribute to your migraines. With awareness, intention and focused effort you can address and make changes to those elements of self that point to a life of headaches. Some of the changes may be more difficult than others but if you persist the objective of headache elimination is achievable.

If you think you can or you think you can’t, you are right. If you believe that your headaches are purely physical in nature, then you will continue to find proof of that belief. If you believe that migraines are a genetic incurable disease than you will have them for the rest of your life. However, if you open your mind to new possibilities then dramatic change is possible.

The key shift is from someone who is a victim of migraines into someone who is empowered. Migraine is a disease that can be overcome through psychological effort; this does not mean you are at fault or to blame for your illness, rather it provides a direct and effective path for dealing with a complex issue. We must overcome the stigma that society judges problems involving the mind more harshly than problems of the body. A headache is not mental illness, it is an involuntary neurological reaction that can be reduced or prevented through retraining and personal change.

You make every decision about yourself and your state of being. Once you decide to eliminate migraines from your life, you begin to identify every little element that contributes to headaches and learn how to change. There are physical, emotional, intellectual and behavior changes that must be considered. Once you take responsibility for change in your life, many more choices become visible. Each choice and each change can help you move towards a life without headaches. Are you willing to accept some responsibility for your headaches? Once you do, your level of empowerment is immediately increased.

Transformational Exercises

Start writing about your headaches and your beliefs.

Understand and question your belief system.

Make a pro/con list, documenting why each theory may be true or false, and how you benefit under each condition

Copyright 2008 Glenn Stewart Coles.