phoenix-headache-treatment
Headache Treatment Success Story #3
A 26 year old comes into the office with migraine headaches. She began experience migraine headaches since she was 15. Over time, the headaches began happening more often, were lasting for longer, and with increased intensity of pounding. Over the last year, she began having more mild headaches, that she described as tolerable but very annoying. She often felt like a zombie walking through the day.
Her headaches usually begin as a mild dull ache in the back of her head. She would then begin to feel pain on the right side of her temple that would start to pound. As the pounding increases, she would begin to have sensitivity to light. When her headaches get bad, she had to lay in a quiet dark room and sleep.
She reports the headaches were affecting her social life. She would be forced to skip many social events and outings with her friends because of her headaches. She feels the headaches cause her to be more irritable and tired.
She had been prescribed medication for her migraines, which helped her manage the headaches. It would prevent a few, but it did not stop her multiple weekly headaches.
Currently she has three mild and one severe headache a week. She would be happy if she could get down to one or two headaches a week.
During the exam, she mentioned she had neck stiffness and tightness in her muscles. Her headaches would often occur when she was working on the computer or on paper work.
We started a trial treatment for her headaches consisting of chiropractic, physical therapy, and massage therapy. She started stretching and icing at home. She worked on her ergonomics at the computer. Graston Technique was used on her neck muscles and was making a difference on the muscle adhesions in the trapezius, which was contributing to her migraine headaches.
Within two weeks, she noticed a decrease in neck stiffness at work. She experienced three mild headaches but not a severe headache. The headaches were starting later in the day. She continued taking her medication when she had the first signs of a migraine headache. She felt the medications were working better at stopping the headaches from progressing.
Within a month, she was having two mild headaches a week. She felt better and was going out with her friends more often. She didn't realize how much the headaches were really affecting her social life.
She was soon having one or two very mild headaches, and would go three weeks between severe headaches.
By the end of treatment, she was having 1 or 2 mild headaches a months, and had not experienced a severe headache in months.
She was very happy with her treatment and experience. She could not believe that improvement in her headache symptoms, it was better than she thought possible.