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Benefits of Meditation on Migraines
This
Article originally appeared in
The Journal of the Complementary Medical Association UK CMA paragraph reprinted with permission of CMA UK CMA MEMBER PROFILE
In each issue of "With Our Complements" we profile one of our members. Part of the CMA ethos is that networking is crucial to us all - so it is really useful for our members to be able to take the time to share information about their work and aims.
In this issue, Cris Amodei, has been kind enough to take time out of her busy schedule to tell us about her amazing return to health through the use of meditation. This article also begins a new series for the Complementary Medical Association: "Complementary Medical Success Stories". If you would like to be featured in one of our "Member Profiles" or if you -have a success story to share please contact Jayney Goddard at info@the-cma.org.uk
The Article I was about 5 years old when I first experienced very painful headaches. At the time (30 years ago) doctors had less information about migraines (especially in children) than they have now. However, by the age of seven they disappeared completely to come back with a vengeance fifteen years later. One day, I woke up in the middle of the night with an excruciating, stabbing pain in my left temple. This, along with a burning sensation, blocked nostril and watery eye left me confused and frightened. Several more attacks followed, and I spent the next years going from doctor to doctor and visiting hospitals, trying to find out what was wrong. During that time doctors prescribed various painkiller and prophylactic therapies. While some of these medications offered minimal relief, most offered no comfort at all. All of these drugs had very unpleasant side effects. As a migraine sufferer I have felt like a human guinea pig being offered controversial, ineffective drugs. Sometimes, I have left the doctor's practice in tears, frustrated by their lack of understanding. I lived in fear of my next migraine, wondering how painful it would be and how long it would last. It was many agonizing and frustrating years before I was diagnosed as suffering from cluster migraines. Cluster migraines, sometimes referred to as cluster headaches, are similar to migraines in their debilitating nature. Both are vascular in origin. Cluster headaches are however the most painful headache possible. It's no exaggeration to say that the pain and desperation of cluster headaches have actually led to suicides. Cluster migraines attack usually while one is asleep (as happened to me many times). Sometimes I experienced up to three/four attacks per night, for many nights/days and suddenly they disappeared for another few months to come back again unexpectedly. However, one night during Christmas 2002/2003 while I was on holiday with my husband and son in a beautiful small island in the south of Thailand, at about 3am I was awakened from my sleep with a burning sensation in my ear and back of my neck, I tried to shift positions several times and return to my peaceful sleep, but it wasn’t happening. Something in my mind told me instantaneously that I was dealing AGAIN with the "beast" (one of the nicknames for cluster migraine) although I tried to convince myself that it wasn't, I KNEW it was another of these horrible attack that could last from hours to days to months. My left eye felt like an ice pick stuck in it, and my left nostril was starting to leak. I got out of bed, and went on the terrace of the bungalow, meanwhile, this pressure in the left side of my brain kept building and building. My left eyelid was beginning to swell, I was squinting and it was tearing. I dropped to the floor and pressed my hands so hard against my temples that I thought I was going to crush my skull, it wasn't helping. I got up and well, I started to cry, cry and again cry, in total desperation. I was frantically walking from room to room crying (by then my husband and son were awake watching my torment in despair), flinging myself to the floor, getting backup again... holding my head, compressing my temples, I looked up to God and literally begged him, that I would do anything, WHATEVER THING, to end this madness. I suffered for the following twenty-five days continuously 24 hours NON STOP. I wanted to die, just simply that, I thought of suicide as I just could not deal with this excruciating, atrocious pain. I can honestly say that I wouldn't wish my worst enemy the ordeal I going through. I'd reached the point were I was terrified to go to sleep, afraid to leave the house and in constant fear of the next attack. Scientists from around the world have established that headaches are often worsened by heightened stress, anxiety and mental fatigue. This is due also to hormonal changes and other biochemical responses to stress that can aggravate the nervous system, create pain and depress resistance, so, back in England I decided to look for an Alternative and complementary approach to my cluster migraine: Meditation. Guided by a teacher I started to meditate on a regular basis twice a day for 30 minutes, meditation has a wealth of scientific research verifying its affect on reducing many of the mental and stress factors influencing headaches. Research also shows it creates virtually the opposite physiological response that stress does and helps the body recover more quickly from stressful stimulus. In fact, since my meditation began (fourteen months ago) I suffer fewer and fewer cluster migraines on my migraines, I can't say for sure they'll disappear for ever, but definitively Meditation has made an impressive impact on my migraines and my daily life by liberating from unbearable, agonizing pain and most of all medications! Moreover, months ago I enrolled on a Meditation course and just recently became a qualified Meditation Teacher; this, hopefully, will give me the opportunity to help sufferers to fight this debilitating, even disabling, horrific condition. I suggest any headache, classical migraine and cluster migraine sufferers to try Meditation - it works!
All Rights Reserved Copyright is held by Ms. Cristiana Amodei No reprint or any other usage allowed without the express, written, permission of Author. 17th February 2005 |
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