What is a Medication Overuse Headache?

Headache pain medication ads are everywhere, from glossy magazine spreads to flashy television commercials. It has been reported that 45 million Americans suffer from headaches, many on a daily basis. Though some just put up with the pain, others become totally disabled during the headache. Most people initially turn to an over the counter drug such as a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID).  The ad’s you see on a constant basis relay the message …your headache deserves a strong painkiller, which will instantly cure the problem. Pain should not slow you down, since there’s an easy, swift solution.But is there really?

 What is a medication overuse headache?

This is a relatively new term for a long-standing, “unnamed” and largely unrecognized condition caused by the daily or regular basis use of painkillers for migraines or other headaches. Sadly, this condition is common. About 1 in 50 people develops this problem at some point during the course of their medication regiment. It also affects five times more women than men.

How does a medication overuse headache happen?

Headaches flare up in response to physical, chemical or emotional stress. As a “solution,” many people take painkillers frequently. Initially, the first doses may provide relief, which reinforces the idea that painkiller consumption is helpful. On a psychological level, what’s known as “positive conditioning” spurs the sufferer to continue reaching for painkillers for relief. What’s going on may have more to do with chemical changes in the brain than psychological conditioning. Painkillers with caffeine, barbiturates, codeine and other opioids are the most likely to have this effect. For example, caffeine increases alertness, relieves fatigue and improves performance and mood. Caffeine-withdrawal symptoms, such as irritability, nervousness, restlessness and headaches all encourage patients to continue their use and abuse.

Addictive Pathway:

Abused drugs, from painkillers to alcohol, activate a “pleasure pathway” in the brain and reinforce the behavior. The pleasure pathway, which is called the “dopamine reward circuit,” is connected to areas of the brain controlling memory, emotion and motivation.

The pleasure pathway undergoes actual chemical and anatomical changes that create and prolong addiction, affecting a physiological hold on a person’s ability to function. This is why addiction is often referred to as a brain disorder and isn’t as easy to kick as simply mind over matter. Like drugs such as cocaine or heroin some painkillers trigger the release of the brain’s natural “feel-good” pain fighting chemicals called endogenous opioids or endorphins. As with any addictive drug, the more often they are used, the less sensitive the brain becomes to them. These drugs literally alter the brain.

Withdrawal Woes:

            After a period of regular painkiller doses the body becomes used to the pain medication. When the sufferer doesn’t take a painkiller within a day or so of the last dose, then “rebound” or “withdrawal” headaches develop. What the sufferer thinks is just an especially persistent headache is actually a symptom of medication withdrawal. Not recognizing that the medication is the culprit, the patient may take another dose. When the effect of each dose wears off, a further withdrawal headache develops. In time, sufferers will develop regular headaches that may appear on a daily basis. Some people resort to taking painkillers “routinely” to try to prevent headaches, which only makes the situation worse.

Which painkillers cause medication overuse headaches?

If you think that only prescription medication can cause medication overuse headaches, you’re wrong! Almost any pain medication that provides “rapid” headache relief can cause a medication overuse headache. Culprits include simple pain relievers like aspirin, acetaminophen (Tylenol) and ibuprofen (such as Advil, Motrin, Aleve, and Midol). Mixed analgesics, which include over-the-counter and prescription drugs containing caffeine, aspirin and acetaminophen, are especially known as medication overuse headache instigators. Other offenders included migraine-specific medications, such as Ergomar, Migranal, Imitrex, Zomig, and opiates, such as Tylenol 3, Vicodin and Percocet. According to the researchers, “Medication overuse headaches patients have a greater risk of suffering from anxiety and depression, and these disorders may be a risk factor for the evolution of migraine into a medication overuse headache.”

Medication overuse headaches may be a precursor to other disorders:

Although research into this area is still preliminary, scientists speculate that medication overuse headaches may be a precursor for more serious conditions. Researchers hypothesize that the same brain changes and chain of events that lead to medication overuse headaches may trigger other disorders, if medication overuse continues. Besides emotional problems, these disorders may include other forms of chronic pain, fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue syndrome.

Wellness Lifestyle Solution:

As a wellness doctor I teach all my patients that the solution to headaches isn’t found in a pill.  The solution should include an in-depth consultation that begins with evaluating the entire body and lifestyle choices. A convincing study reported that chiropractic was 57% more effective than drug therapy in reducing headache and migraine pain!  They concluded – chiropractic first, drugs second and surgery last. Treatment for headaches is often a multidisciplinary approach which involves stress reduction techniques such as regular chiropractic adjustments, biofeedback, acupuncture, prescribing a healthy diet, and regular exercise. All the components of a full wellness lifestyle are proven to eliminate headache pain and free you, the patient, from the side effects of medications.

Call our office today (916) 973-1661 to start your true wellness journey to health and vitality!

How does Interval Training influence Brain and Heart Health?

Science has shown for centuries that our brain controls all systems in the body, additionally it requires more oxygen than any other working organ. Making sure our heart is healthy can ensure better brain function. A properly functioning nervous system is the primary goal for our patients care in our office. Regular chiropractic care supports all exercise activities; the converse is true as well that regular exercise helps support chiropractic care.

The simple explanation of interval training states that during a workout the athlete picks up the pace to push their heart rate for 30 seconds- 2 minutes, and then cooling off to return to the athlete’s ideal target heart range. Interval training is an important part of aerobic exercise. If you're a walker or a runner, run intervals once a week. Walking and running build endurance by strengthening your cardiovascular system. Completing interval training once a week can enhance your endurance by increasing the amount of blood your heart pumps with every beat (This is known as your cardiac stroke volume.) Interval training also increases the amount of oxygen your body can take in on each breath. (This is known as your respiratory vital capacity.) The result is you can have noticeably increased speed, as well as increased reserves when you need a prolonged burst of energy.

The same principle(s) apply for any type of aerobic activity. The interval system is easy to apply. For example, if you're a swimmer, you can do interval training with laps. If you ride a bike, you can do intervals with timed sprints. There many books and magazine articles available to help you add interval training to your aerobics program. If you're doing aerobics exercise three times per week, insert interval training into one of those session for better results. Interval training is very powerful; remember the most important aspect is to build up gradually.

To begin, you need to start with a good base by completing aerobic activity for at least 30 minutes. Using running as an example, you might be running 10-minute miles in at a fast "race pace". Ten minutes per mile is 2.5 minutes per quarter-mile. On your interval day, warm up by lightly jogging 1 mile. Then run four quarter-miles at a pace a slightly faster than your “race pace.” In this example, you could run four quarter-miles at 2:25 or 2:20 per quarter. Then finish by lightly jogging for another mile.

Over time your interval pace will get faster. You could do intervals with half-miles, three-quarters of a mile, or even a mile, but only if your weekly mileage supports such an interval distance. Most of us will see remarkable benefits by doing quarter-mile or occasional half-mile intervals.

One obvious result is that your resting heart pulse may drop like a stone; this is because your heart is being trained to pump more blood each time it contracts. Your heart will also beat less during the course of the day to provide the amount of blood you need flowing to your tissues. This saves wear and tear on your heart and it will last longer because you're doing intense vigorous exercise. That's a pretty remarkable result!

The bottom line is that interval training makes your heart and brain healthier. Your heart and lungs get a terrific workout with each interval training session. There's a big payoff for this once-a-week activity. Start your interval training TODAY!

What's your state of mind?

I learned a long time ago that the only thing I can truly control in my LIFE  is my own state of mind. Learning to take control of my emotional state of mind created a sense of power and peace. This is a princple I continue to practice as a daily discipline.

       

One of my favorite items to research is the organizing principles of complex neurological processes, and how the brain works to create the best and healthiest response. This action seems to pay off more often than not. My ultimate goal for myself and my patients is to create a healthier brain and nervous system. Many times the stresses we put on ourselves are self inflicted by our own actions and responses to different LIFE situations.

   

How do I do it?  Personally I believe it comes down to ASK-ing a better question of myself when under STRESS. Looking for the possible lesson to learn is always the highest and best decision .

If a stressful situation arises ASK a pattern interrupting question(s) -How can I be more calm at this specific moment? Would it change my outcome?

Just by stopping to ASK these questions of myself gives my mind the ability and time to pause for a moment. I decrease the intensity of my "react".

My list of "C" states or emotions:

C states: Calm, Creative, Curious, Collective, Caring, Centered. This process helps me stop and evaluate the emotional state I am striving to create before I might over react. My body is healthier in the long run by not creating an unnecessary fight or flight stress response.

    

Avoid my "F" states list to decrease stress:

These states are often also self inflicted energy draining responses that can be avoided

F states stands for Fearful, Frantic, Fragile, Forgetful, Furious, Frustrated.

    

The intent of this information...WE have the ability to consciously use our higher brain to  create our own internal states. Unconscious feelings can be turned into much healthier emotions. Stopping for even just a moment before we react kicks us out of the lower brain fight or flight response. This is a much healthier choice... be more proactive and less reactive!

Better Brain Tip:

Try ASKing yourself a BETTER question next time you're starting to feel out of control or stressed.

Taking the Pain Out of Depression

Many of us think of depression as a psychological condition. The causes of depression are sought in the person's childhood or in their personal circumstances as an adult. But within the last 10 or 20 years depression is increasingly being evaluated within a physiological context. Various disease states and physical disorders are being recognized as important contributors to depression. This viewpoint is empowering to persons with depression and often provides a way forward when progress has been minimal or absent.

Those with depression experience both physical and psychological pain. It is well-documented that chronic physical pain can lead to depression. Also, it is well-known that depressive states can cause physical pain. A feedback loop (vicious circle) is often created in which physical pain makes a person's depression worse and the person's depression makes the physical pain worse.

In addition, changes in brain physiology may cause a person to be depressed. In other words, abnormal electrical activity in the brain - which, of course, is not under the person's conscious control - may result in depression. The brain's electrical activity is evaluated by a method known as quantitative EEG (QEEG). For those with clinical depression, the QEEG often demonstrates too much slow-wave activity in the left front brain (prefrontal cortex) and too much fast-wave activity in the right prefrontal cortex.

For those with clinical depression, the light of the world is considerably dimmed. The mood of a depressed person is low and he loses interest in normally pleasurable activities. Depressive disorders interfere with a person's work and/or school activities, family life and social life, and overall health. Lack of energy, lack of appetite, and decreased physical activity are all associated with clinical depression.

An access to relieving chronic depression may be found in encouraging the person to begin to engage in physical activity. Such activity may be difficult for those who are severely depressed, and yet all persons with depression should be presented with a form of movement therapy.

Additionally, chiropractic care, homeopathy, acupuncture, massage therapy, and meditation may be of great benefit for those with clinical depression. The pain relief and improved musculoskeletal function afforded by alternative treatment may help reduce the physical component of ongoing depression. Physical movement has also been shown to affect brain transmitter production leading to a remission in the depression.

Better Brain TIP OF THE WEEK:

Put 30 minutes of continuous movement in your morning for a healthier day. For added benefit do your movement outside enjoying the benefit of the relaxing sounds of the world around you!

Healthy Kids Are Smart Kids

American kids are under tremendous pressure to perform well in school. Every year they're required to take more and more standardized tests, and every year they fall further behind children around the world, particularly in science and mathematics. More is required to do well in school beyond sitting in the classroom and managing to stay awake throughout the day.

Kids by nature want to learn, but somehow this love of new knowledge and new experiences is sucked out of them early on. Many teachers no longer teach to broaden the skills and abilities of their students. Instead they teach to the standardized tests. There's no longer much room for exploring new territory, and kids get bored easily and stay bored if they're not challenged.

How can we help our children when the educational system does not provide the formula to engage many kids? Making sure our kids are healthy and well is a very good start. One of the most interesting developments in cognitive science (how people learn) in the last ten years is the importance of physical activity in relation to human performance. The results are in - research proves that physical activity is highly correlated to learning and academic achievement. Active kids are explorers. Active kids are alert and interested in what's going on around them. Active kids have an instinctive desire to grow and develop.

What kinds of exercise should our kids be doing? The great news is that the specific type of exercise doesn't matter. It's all good, whether a kid is playing soccer, running track, or riding around the neighborhood on her bike. It's the amount of exercise that counts, not the format of the exercise. Federal agencies recommend that every child get an hour of physical activity each day. This hour can be broken up into small segments or done all at once. What matters is the amount and consistency of the exercise.

To raise Healthy and Smart kids it is critical to use better brain strategies for the entire family .A great start is to join in rather than just be a spectator and just watch the kids .It is also very important to continue to make activities fun, enjoyable, and rewarding. Regular physical movements have consistently been proven to improve academic performance. The result is a much more well-rounded young person, one whose interests may extend from the ball field to the science lab to the music room.

Resources:

Hillman CH, et al: The effect of acute treadmill walking on cognitive control and academic achievement in preadolescent children. Neuroscience 159(3):1044-1054, 2009

Ploughman M: Exercise is brain food. The effects of physical activity on cognitive function. Dev Neurorehabil 11(3):236-240, 2008

Davis CL, et al: Effects of aerobic exercise on overweight children's cognitive functioning. Res Q Exerc Sport 78(5):510-519, 2007

Can Squeezing Your Right Hand Lead to Increased Memory?

Back in the 1960s there was a tremendous amount of enthusiasm in research to discover the difference between functions of the left and right brain. A plethora of new research is bringing the “Left Brain vs. Right Brain” debate back to life. The left part of the brain (cerebral hemisphere) controls logic, word formation, academic, and analytical processes; the right part of the brain (cerebral hemisphere) deals more with emotions, and the artistic or imaginative activities. However the hemispheres are always working together!

After becoming a regular debate in popular psychology and self-help books, the oversimplified split-brain model that put creativity only in the right brain and logic only in the left brain was challenged by many neuroscientists and fell out of favor in research.

With the use of functional MRIs this trend seems to be shifting back to the popular side again. A study released on April 24, 2013 by Ruth Propper and colleagues from Montclair State University found that hand clenching increases neuronal activity in the frontal lobe of the opposite hemisphere.

Creativity requires divergent thinking to connect seemingly unrelated memories and ideas in new and useful ways. It is fascinating to think that the simple act of squeezing a ball with your right hand while learning could improve long tern memory and intelligence in the left hemisphere; and later you could stimulate creativity by squeezing the ball with your left hand to engage the right hemisphere. 

The right hemisphere controls and receives sensory information from the left side of the body and the left hemisphere controls and receives sensory input from the right side. The researchers found that clenching your right hand may help form a stronger memory of an experience or action by activating the left hemisphere, and that clenching your left hand may help you recollect the memory later by activating your right hemisphere.

According to Ruth Propper, "The findings suggest that specific simple one sided muscular movements (by temporarily changing the way the brain fires) can improve forming or accessing a memory.

Future research will examine whether hand clenching can also improve other forms of cognition, for example verbal or muscular coordination." The authors clarify that further work is needed to test whether their results with word lists also extend to memories of visual stimuli like remembering a face, or spatial tasks, such as remembering where keys were placed.

Better Brain Tip of the Week

Use your opposite hand for 7 days straight to perform daily functions

(for example: brushing teeth, combing hair, buttoning shirts ,opening doors, eating, etc)

References:

Ruth Propper and colleagues from Montclair State University

Clenching your right or left hand activates different brain hemispheres.

Published on April 26, 2013 by Christopher Bergland in The Athlete's Way

Can Sleep Studies Give Clues for Alzheimer's Research?

One of the most important ways to create a better memory is to get the proper amount and type of sleep. Many lifestyle choices have the potential to affect your health and cognitive abilities. The rhythms of the day and sleep cycles have a tremendous value in creating a better memory and overall wellness.

In recent years, various researchers have found that a habit that most of us take for granted… sleep may affect our memory in noticeable ways! There is a part of the brain that is important in creating long term memory called the entorhinal cortex

In a recent study from the journal Nature Neuroscience, UCLA neurophysics professor Mayank R. Mehta found that a brain area called the entorhinal cortex plays a key role in memory consolidation during sleep. Memory consolidation is the process that stores and reinforces long-term memories so you can draw on them later.

Sleep studies may also provide direction for Alzheimer’s research. Not only can Mehta’s research help us understand how we strengthen memories during sleep, but it may also provide clues for investigating Alzheimer's disease, which begins in the entorhinal cortex and often involves impaired sleep.

Of course, the habit patterns of humans differ greatly and further research will be needed to truly understand the entorhinal cortex's role in memory consolidation. Functional MRIs are now providing information as to how the brain fires when asked memory questions.

This study reminds us of the complex ties between lifestyle habits and cognition, it also reaffirms the importance of getting enough sleep each night. With many new studies continuing to find evidence that our brains are hard at work during the night, most scientists agree that getting a decent night’s rest is a good idea.

Better Brain Tip of the Week:

Go to bed at the same time and rise at the same time for 7 days straight to create a healthy habit pattern. Lights out and in a state of relaxation at or before 10 o’clock p.m. is ideal for the process of syncing your sleep with the rhythms of the day.