Neurologist at SM-Clinic spoke about how to get rid of headaches without pills

Table of contents

Relieve tension Change contraceptive method Check your vision Primary or secondary headache? Sources

Headache can be caused by stress, fatigue, taking oral contraceptives, overstrain of the eye muscles with incorrectly selected glasses or lenses, a jump in blood pressure, dysfunction of the temporomandibular joint, which in turn leads to secondary tension in the cervical-occipital muscles, causing tension in the aponeurosis, and many other reasons.

One of the common triggers of headaches can be anemia, leading to chronic pain syndrome.

It happens that there is no painkiller at hand or it is impossible to use: the pain is caused by a side effect of another drug, the patient fundamentally avoids taking pills, the medicine cannot be taken due to pregnancy or lactation. How to relieve a headache in this case?

Aspirin

The active ingredient in Aspirin is acetylsalicylic acid. We are sure that this drug is in every home medicine cabinet. “Aspirin” can be taken for inflammatory diseases, problems with cerebral circulation, hangover syndrome, to thin the blood (as a prevention of thrombosis). Aspirin is often prescribed in the complex treatment of vascular diseases. Contraindications include bleeding disorders, stomach and intestinal ulcers, etc.

Aspirin
Bayer Schering Pharma (Bayer), Germany

The drug Aspirin is a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug with analgesic, antipyretic and anti-inflammatory properties.
from 5

5.0 1 review

957

  • Like
  • Write a review

Relieve tension

Tension headaches are a common problem for people whose jobs involve high levels of concentration, responsibility, and stress.
The prevalence of this type of pain in the world ranges from 46 to 78%. Statistically, tension headaches lead to more missed work days than migraines. There are three categories of tension headaches: infrequent episodic, frequent episodic and chronic. Doctors usually advise treating headaches with over-the-counter analgesics. However, with frequent and chronic pain, medications soon stop helping.

Massage helps treat headaches. Scientists conducted an experiment: over the course of 4 weeks, they conducted four treatment sessions for participants in two groups. For the first group, therapy included massage and manipulation of the cervical spine, for the second group - only massage. 8 weeks after the experiment, participants in both groups showed significant improvement in performance.

A course of relaxing massage, gentle manual practices, and osteopathic techniques can be an effective method of reducing the frequency and intensity of headaches. But if this is not possible, then an independent head massage will help relieve the spasm that is causing the problem.

Cervical exercises can also help situationally: bending and turning the neck will improve blood circulation and reduce the intensity of pain.

But you should be careful with circular movements, they can provoke spinal tension.

If the pain is caused by mild stress or fatigue, you can use breathing practices, meditation and other methods that reduce arousal.

Paracetamol

This remedy is suitable for eliminating headaches of various etiologies and is well tolerated by the body. Paracetamol is an affordable and at the same time very effective antipyretic. An antipyretic drug for children, Panadol, is produced based on paracetamol. Paracetamol for headaches can be taken once, or up to four times a day. The duration of treatment should not exceed five days to prevent overdose.

Paracetamol MS
Medisorb, Russia

Paracetamol is used for: relieving moderate or mild pain (headache, toothache, migraine, sore throat, neuralgia, myalgia);
reducing elevated body temperature during colds and other infectious and inflammatory diseases. Paracetamol is intended for symptomatic therapy, reducing pain and inflammation at the time of use, does not affect the progression of the disease. from 4

5.0 1 review

284

  • Like
  • Write a review

Change your contraceptive method

In some cases, if you have a headache, it should be treated not by prescribing medications, but, on the contrary, by stopping taking them.
For example, patients suffering from migraine with aura should avoid taking combined oral contraceptives due to the high risk of ischemic stroke due to their ability to provoke thrombogenesis. For women suffering from severe headaches and migraines without aura, the risks are lower, but for them exogenous hormones and estrogen withdrawal may also be triggers.

Therefore, if you notice that after starting to take oral contraception, headaches have become more frequent and intense, this is a reason to think about changing your method of preventing pregnancy.

Is it possible to prevent headaches?

To prevent pain caused by muscle tone, neck exercises help. Alexey Malkov recommends the Shishonin method
- these are simple exercises that can be found on the Internet. They take about 20 minutes to complete. According to the doctor, they cannot cause harm.

Also from the recommendations: sleeping on an orthopedic pillow ,

regular
massage of the cervical-collar area
.
For those who work at a computer, two more tips: get distracted every two hours and do short exercises for your neck ,
and once a week try to change the position of the screen (move from the left to the right side of the table and back). The latter will prevent you from developing a “chronically forced posture.”

Additionally, the neurologist advises avoiding excessive consumption of caffeine and alcohol, and quitting smoking to reduce the risk of vascular pathology. If headaches are chronic, you can take magnesium

(courses twice a year, according to the instructions), vegetative correctors and venotonics for prevention (also according to the instructions).
You can make an appointment with Alexey Malkov or another neurologist by calling the center: +375 29 311-88-44 ; +375 33 311-01-44 ; +375 17 299-99-92 .
Or through the online registration form
on the website.

Primary or secondary headache?

Headaches are divided into primary and secondary.
Primary headaches have no structural or metabolic cause. It is mild pain of this type that can be relieved with relaxation, massage, walking in the fresh air, and so on. These also include tension headaches, migraines, cluster headaches, and analgesic rebound headaches. Secondary headaches are caused by conditions such as increased intracranial pressure, pseudotumor cerebri, subdural or intracerebral hematomas, hypertension, meningitis, temporal arteritis, Lyme disease, and brain tumors.

An accurate diagnosis and identification of the causes of headache largely determine the success of its treatment.

Therefore, if you experience frequent, intense or chronic headaches, you need to be examined by a specialist. In this case, it is better to start with a visit to a neurologist and ophthalmologist.

Top 9 drugs for headaches depending on its cause.

June 1, 2021
19456

3.3

1

Content
  • Why does my head hurt?
  • Groups of drugs for headaches
  • Analgesics
  • Antispasmodics
  • Vasoconstrictor drugs
  • Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs
  • The most effective pills for headaches
  • Aspirin
  • Paracetamol
  • Citramon
  • Tempalgin
  • Pentalgin
  • Spazgan
  • Nurofen
  • No-Shpa

There is probably not a single person who has not experienced a headache at least once in his life. Moreover, this also applies to absolutely healthy people. Headache varies in severity, often impairing quality of life and reducing performance. Therefore, there are head pills in every home medicine cabinet.

But you need to understand that there is no universal remedy for headaches, because there are about 40 causes that cause them. And only a doctor can determine exactly why you have a headache. If you need to quickly relieve pain, we suggest you at least figure out which headache medication you need to take in a particular case.

Read also How to treat migraine: the best drugs Top 5 best drugs against migraine

Sources:

  • Scripter C. Headache: Tension-Type Headache. FP Essent. 2018 Oct;473:17-20. PMID: 30346680.
  • Espí-López GV, Zurriaga-Llorens R, Monzani L, Falla D. The effect of manipulation plus massage therapy versus massage therapy alone in people with tension-type headache. A randomized controlled clinical trial. Eur J Phys Rehabil Med. 2021 Oct;52(5):606-617. Epub 2021 Mar 18. PMID: 26989818.
  • Marks DR, Rapoport AM. Practical evaluation and diagnosis of headache. Semin Neurol. 1997;17(4):307-12. doi: 10.1055/s-2008-1040943. PMID: 9474710.
  • MacGregor E.A. Contraception and headache. Headache. 2013 Feb;53(2):247-76. doi: 10.1111/head.12035. PMID: 23432442.
  • Allais G, Gabellari IC, De Lorenzo C, Mana O, Benedetto C. Oral contraceptives in migraine. Expert Rev Neurother. 2009 Mar;9(3):381-93. doi: 10.1586/14737175.9.3.381. PMID: 19271947.
  • Friedman DI. Headache and the eye. Curr Pain Headache Rep. 2008 Aug;12(4):296-304. doi:10.1007/s11916-008-0050-1. PMID: 18625108.

Published on the portal health.mail.ru

Spazgan

These head tablets relieve vasospasm, relieve inflammation and relieve pain. The effect of taking the drug occurs quickly and usually lasts 4-8 hours. And although Spazgan can be bought without a prescription and is indicated for many types of pain, it is still advisable to consult a doctor before taking it. This headache medication is usually taken as a one-time dose. If you need a different application regimen, be sure to read the instructions to avoid side effects.

Spazgan
Wockhardt, India

Mild or moderate pain syndrome due to spasms of the smooth muscles of internal organs - renal and hepatic colic, spastic pain along the intestines, algodismenorrhea.
Can be used for short-term symptomatic treatment of joint pain, neuralgia, sciatica, myalgia. As an adjuvant it can be used to reduce pain after surgical and diagnostic interventions. If necessary, the drug can be used to reduce elevated body temperature during colds and infectious and inflammatory diseases. from 97

5.0 1 review

1034

  • Like
  • Write a review

Nurofen

A combined drug with anti-inflammatory, antipyretic and analgesic effects. Nurofen is a good pain reliever. If you have a migraine, and you don’t have the usual medications prescribed by a neurologist at hand, you can take Nurofen once. You can take no more than four tablets per day, with breaks between each dose of at least four hours. It is not advisable to take Nurofen for more than three days.

Nurofen Forte
Reckitt Benckiser Healthcare International Ltd, UK

NSAIDs to eliminate: Headache;
migraine; toothache; algodismenorrhea; neuralgia; backache; myalgia; rheumatic pains; fever with influenza and ARVI. from 9

5.0 1 review

550

  • Like
  • Write a review
Rating
( 2 ratings, average 5 out of 5 )
Did you like the article? Share with friends:
For any suggestions regarding the site: [email protected]
Для любых предложений по сайту: [email protected]