Mama's Home Remedies: Discover Time-Tested Secrets of Good Health and the Pleasures of Natural Livin, Svetlana Konnikova [classic fiction .TXT] 📗

to the headache, etc. You will begin to see a pattern that can help you identify which type of headache you experience and help you avoid triggers that might bring a headache on. Of course, if you experience severe headaches that just get worse, see a doctor as soon as possible to determine their cause.

According to the American Council for Headache Education in Mount Royal, New Jersey, emotional stress can trigger or worsen some types of headaches including tension headaches and migraines. To avoid stress-related 132 ^ Mama’s Home Remedies

headaches, work on eliminating as much stress as you can. How? Doctors suggest exercising regularly, getting enough sleep, allowing time for relaxation and hobbies, getting massages, and practicing meditation.

Headache sometimes accompanies diseases of internal organs, poisoning, infections, and nervous and mental disorders. It can also be provoked by poor blood circulation in the brain (migraine), by increase in blood pressure (hypertension), or by a surplus or blood stagnation in the vessels or an accumulation of products in the blood, which can upset the metabolism. It is important to learn to recognize the causes of frequent headaches.

“Tension-type headaches are the most common, affecting upwards of 75 percent of all headache sufferers. TensionRemember: type headaches are typically a steady ache rather

than a throbbing one and affect both sides of

The following advice

the head. Some people get tension-type (and

is garnered both from

migraine) headaches in response to stressful

the scientific field and

events or a hectic day.”23

people’s medicine, or folk

medicine. The treatments

FACTS

may be useful in the

Migraine headaches are less common

treatment of headaches

than tension-type headaches. Nevertheless,

of various origins and

migraines afflict 25 to 30 million people

character. Any headache

every year in the United States alone. As

treatment must have not

many as 6 percent of all men and up to 18

only a pain-relieving

percent of all women experience a migraine

effect, but it should also

attack at some time. This equals about 12 perhelp to eliminate the cent of the population as a whole. Roughly three

out of four migraine sufferers are female. Usually

cause of the pain.

migraine attacks are occasional, or sometimes as

If you decide to use these

often as once or twice a week, but not daily.24 By

remedies, do so after

age 15, 15 percent of all teens have experienced

consulting your doctor

a migraine attack. Fifty-eight percent of migraine

or other qualified healthattacks require some bed rest for a total of 112 milcare practitioner. Let your lion migraine-related bedridden days per year for

doctor/specialist guide

the U.S. population. Migraine costs to employers

you in the systematic use

from missed days and impaired work function are

of these remedies.

estimated at $13 bil ion annual y.25 By age 15, 15

Clever Remedies to Outsmart Headaches @ 133

percent of all teens have experienced a migraine attack. Fifty-eight percent of migraine attacks require some bed rest for a total of 112 million migrainerelated bedridden days per year for the U.S. population. Migraine costs to employers from missed days and impaired work function are estimated at $13

billion annually.26

Migraine sufferers say they did not see a doctor about their headache because of misdiagnosis and a belief that their physicians weren’t helping them.27

Migraine

One of the most common headaches, a migraine, is characterized by sudden pain, often accompanied by blurred vision, dizziness, drowsiness, and loss of energy. Headaches might intensify and may be accompanied by nausea and vomiting, as well as sensitivity to sound and light. A migraine can last from several hours to several days. Some scientists believe migraines are the result of poor blood circulation in the brain. Often they are caused by a short-term spasm of the vessels, which increases pressure and pain. “Migraines are felt on one side of the head by about 60 percent of migraine sufferers, and the pain is typically throbbing in nature.”28

People who suffer frequent migraines should seek a doctor’s advice because severe headaches can be a symptom of serious disease. Chamomile, the motherly herb

Look at the night sky full of stars. It looks like a miraculous island of lights. An ancient legend tells us

that one night tiny stars dropped from the sky and fell

to the earth as chamomile flowers.

Chamomile, because of its rich medicinal properties, is used extensively in many natural remedies throughout this book. The Latin name for chamomile

is Matricaria Chamomilla. The name is derived from the Latin word mater, which means mother. A kind herbal healer for the people, chamomile is like a good

nurturing mother and is a favorite, valued folk remedy

in Europe, especially in Russia.

134 ^ Mama’s Home Remedies

I n the mid-nineteenth century chamomile

was displayed in a famous St. Petersburg

botanical garden as a rare flower—30 years later

it grew everywhere in Russia. Chamomile made her

way from America to Russia quite easily. As American farmers harvested their fields of grain, small chamomile seeds were collected as well and inadvertently placed into burlap sacks with the grain into the holding compartments of ships. They