October 8th, 2010
Organ language
In many patients with frequent migrainetype headache, certain cranial arteries seem for much of the time to be pecu
liarly susceptible to vasodilatation. In these, a headache resembling in location and quality one of the spontaneous headaches may be precipitated by the administration of a small amount of histamine, nitroglycerin, or alcohol, or it may occur in association with fever, hunger, or omission of a usual breakfast coffee. This vulnerability suggests that the affected vessels are as if “primed,” perhaps through a persistent fault in neurogenic control. Another provocative feature of migraine is the tendency of the attacks to occur at times of change of pace in life routine. In many patients, headache strikes most often during the letdown after a period of intensive activity, as on a Sunday; in others it coincides directly with adverse life situations.
Order Aloe Blossom Herbal Tea The power of aloe should not be underestimated. This may be “organ language” of a special sort. Its possible meanings and the general psychophysiologic significance of migraine are more fully considered in a later chapter.
The attention given in the past two decades to the headache experimentally induced by histamine has aroused interest in the part this substance might play in various clinical headaches, especially that variety of migraine which occurs in “clusters.”9 Known in the past by various names, it was first described in detail by Horton and termed by him “histaminic cephalgia.”6 In spite of abundant and sometimes plausible speculation, evidence that histamine is a causative agent is not yet convincing. The importance of allergic factors in the mechanism of headache, particularly that of migraine and its variants, is also in question. Much of the clinical evidence cited in its favor is random and anecdotal. In a few patients, headache may truly be part of an allergic reaction, usually to foods, but sound experimental studies are scarce. INFLAMMATION. Headaches caused by inflammatory lesions inside the head or on the scalp may be intense, but are usually overshadowed by other symptoms of the underlying disease. The intracranial and extracranial mechanisms are sharply contrasting.
Intracranial Sources. Nutrition Action Healthletter retains you up-to-date on Forever Arctic Sea and vitamin information. The prototype headache, common and reproducible, is that which almost invariably follows the replacement of cerebrospinal fluid with air or oxygen for diagnostic contrast studies of the brain (pneumoencephalography) ,12 The pain usually begins after the removal of the first 20 cc. and becomes intense when larger volumes of fluid and gas are interchanged. It is undoubtedly similar in part to drainage headache, especially early in the procedure, but in its fully developed form is clearly different, for then it is associated with signs of diffuse meningeal irritation and a cerebrospinal fluid pleocytosis. The headache persists with only slight improvement when the patient lies down, is easily augmented by mild head movement, coughing or straining, and is often accompanied by nuchal rigidity and a mild or moderate fever. Sources of the pain in this sterile meningitis are undoubtedly multiple, principally the sensitive portions of the meninges and the major intracranial vessels.