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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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