HEALTH NOTES

Hutt News, Volume 20, Issue 11, 6 March 1946, Page 11

HEALTH NOTES

.. TREATMENT OF HEADACHES (By 1-1. K. unci D. W. Adamson) (Osteopaths) it iy estimated that about one person in every lour is subject to headaches, and of those not subject to them at least ( J 5 per cent have experienced them at some time or other in their lives. If you are so fortunate that you have never had one then you can thank your lucky stars, for no words can adequately express the nerve-racking agony experienced by the sufferer, of a severe headache. Now, a headache is not a disease in itself, but is a symptom of some other disorder, or disturbance, affecting either the nervous system or the circulation in which the normal pressures within and in the surrounding, tissues of the brain are increased or reduced. Sometimes it may be possible to relieve the pain .symptoms temporarily by taking a cup of tea, an aspirin or two, or other opiate under various names, but you may rest assured that these means will never get you anywhere but further pains in the head. Yes, and in the neck. Many headaches are of digestive origin, some obscure, some most apparent, as many have good cause to remember the after effects of a "night out." Generally speaking, however, the origin of most digestive headaches is of the obscure type and requires experts to discover their cause. Associated with the digestive headache is the bilious kind, which may be caused by anything from an overload of fatty rich foods to an abscess or other obstruction of the gall bladder. Worry and Anxiety Worry and anxiety are responsible for a lot of the nervous type and so is over-work and fatigue. Then there is another kind in which the sinuses or cavities at the back of the nose are involved and from which various kinds of head pains result from their congested state, generally due to catarrh. Anaemia produces still another dis tressing ■ type of headache which refuses to be suppressed by such a futile remedy as a drug. Then there is blood pressure. Both high blood pressure and excessively low blood pressure are productive of their peculiar variety. And again is the type known as migraine, a deeply-seated pain which is usually confined to the top or one side of the head.

Now, however badly you may feel the need of a cup of tea or a pill or two to tide you through a headlache, don't allow yourself to be fooled into the belief that this procedure is going to "cure" your disorder. As stated earlier, headaches are "symptoms" of some functional or structural disorder and although you may sometimes suppress these symptoms teznporarily with a drug, it is utterly futile to imagine that recurrences may be prevented by such means. Each case must be treated on its merits. If the trouble is digestive or nutritional, then the course to be taken is obvious. If blood pressure, nervous or of any other origin, your course is equally obvious. You must remove the cause by building up a better digestion, better circulation, a better nervous system and better health.