ADVERTISING: Advertorial — HOLLY CARLING: How to get rid of headaches or migraines

There are many causes for headaches and migraines. Many people would probably agree that one of the biggest causes right now is the political climate and uncertainty that seems to always linger in the background of our thoughts. It can be really stressful!

Stress is a big cause of headaches and migraines. You may say “But I always have stress, so how do I get rid of stress-related headaches?”

First, you have to ask which organs or glands control the stress response. It is the adrenal glands (stimulated by the hypothalamus). The first order of business in getting stress headaches under control is to strengthen the adrenal glands and their response to stress. How do we do that? Acupuncture and herbs are the front line approach to giving them a boost. I cannot tell you how many of my patients are amazed at how calm they feel when they get acupuncture and how, as we build up their adrenal glands, normally stressful things seem to slide by without hardly a second thought.

Next we have to look at what we are consuming, starting with water. Many headaches can be avoided, or quickly controlled, just with adequate water intake. Most of the year, you need to drink 1/2 your body weight in ounces per day, maxing out at 100 ounces. So for example, if you weigh 140 pounds, you need to be drinking 70 ounces per day. Up to 20 percent more during the summer or strenuous activity where you are losing water via sweat.

Caffeine, alcohol and sugar could also be headache triggers, or preventing you from easily bringing them under control. If I personally had a choice between having a headache or not drinking coffee, I’d abandon the coffee in a heartbeat. There are so many other substitutes today — no sense consuming something that can make you sick. Some people get relief from coffee, however, it is a short term fix that causes long term exacerbations in your headache control plan.

Blood sugar instability, hormonal imbalances, posture and vertebral subluxations, lack of or too much exercise, liver overwhelm, food sensitivities, toxicity, and medication side effects are all common causes of headaches. It is important to distinguish between headache triggers and causes of headaches. They are not the same thing. We are getting to the bottom line cause when we do a complete investigation of all of your health challenges collectively. We also look for deficiencies or things that are inhibiting you from healing.

So while there are some definitive things you can start doing, like the ideas above, getting a complete evaluation is really in order if you want to get down to the root cause so you can get rid of your headaches and migraines once and for all.

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Holly Carling is a Doctor of Oriental Medicine, Licensed Acupuncturist, Doctor of Naturopathy, Clinical Nutritionist and Master Herbologist with over four decades of experience. Carling is a “Health Detective.”

She looks beyond your symptom picture and investigates WHY you are experiencing your symptoms in the first place. Carling is currently accepting new patients and offers natural health care services and whole food nutritional supplements in her Coeur d’Alene clinic.

Visit Carling’s website at www.vitalhealthcda.com to learn more about Carling, view a list of upcoming health classes and read other informative articles. Carling can be reached at 208-765-1994 and would be happy to answer any questions regarding this topic.