A WOMAN'S HEADACHES.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XII, Issue VII, 17 February 1894, Page 164

A WOMAN'S HEADACHES.

THE FOUR KINDS AND THEIR CAUSES—SPECIAL EXERCISES FOR THEIR CURE. A wearied brain is the seat of an overcrowded convention of blood-cells. What has called the crowd together? Perhaps the brain is too overfull of ideas. Perhaps it is too empty. Possibly some state of the eyes is to blame. Or, it may be the ears. There is many a chance that catarrh has caused the mischief. And, as for the heart, the stomach, the intestines, etc., any one of these excites the brain to aching when its own cells fail to do their whole duty. A woman who has headache long has probably asked her family physician the cause. He may have given her bromides or opiates, or phenacetin, or pills of caffeine, and she may have been blistered, cupped and leeched, and even then she may have suffered for days with torturing headache. I have not found that remedies *to be taken ’ cure headaches without fail. I group headaches into four chief classes -. Neuralgic, congestive, reflex, headaches from eye strain. congestive or neuralgic. The neuralgic is often rheumatic, comes from a sudden cold, perhaps is the result of a draught on the side of the head. Sometimes it rises from an irritation of the filaments of that great carmrian ganglion which sends nerves and branches to all parts of the face, and which sometimes becomes so irritated that it screws the facial muscles into knots with spasmodic seizures. On the other hand, a congestive headache is the effect of lack of tone of the muscular coat of the arteries. These muscles become stretched, lose their elasticity, then dilate more and more to accommodate the blood pumped into them. Unless something is done at once to relieve the overpressure, to turn some of this blood into larger vessels, there will result a stoppage of the circulation and apoplexy or paralysis. The question very seriously should be asked, * Can a dose of medicine be taken inwardly which shall act only upon the arteries and veins of the brain ?’ In my own practice I have found it a thousand times better to prescribe exercises which shall so tone the whole muscular system that every artery shall be made to contract with precision. reflex headache. What is a reflex headache ? It is any headache which is caused by an irritation in some other part of the body. The pain in the head may be the one and only sensation ; but somewhere there is a pressure, an irritation of nerves, whose only way of showing their discomfort is through the central office in the brain. Stars of all colours fall in showers before the eyes ; things around reel and spin. Or perhaps one side of the head resounds to the blows of imaginary hammers, while the other side is free from ache. Or splitting pains dart from side to side. Or dull heavy pains come and stay persistently. WHEN IT IS FROM AN EYE STRAIN. Eye strain is the cause of most of the headaches of children—some are directly due to indigestion. Astigmatism and bypera-tbesia of the internal structures of the eyes cause intense pain in the brow, but if the sufferer is a child, and reads without difficulty, the mother or teachr may not suspect the true cause. Children who study by artificial light in a badly ventilated room, and women who sit and sew all the evening may well suspect eye-strain to be the cause of their headache. If pain is constant they should consult an ophthalmologist. Of course there are headaches not directly resulting from any of these causes, bnt from reasons as obscure as if the headache Sphinx had sent them as riddles. There are a few general instructions that fit nearly all cases of women’s headaches. If the deprivation of tea or coffee for a meal causes headache, she has a proof that her system has come to depend upon the stimulus. Milk, water or cocoa should be used instead. If her headache comes from bodily fatigue she must go to sleep, though household cares be never so pressing. If eye strain or mind-fatigue is the cause of the pain she must go for a long walk in a quiet place. Usually a hot foot bath, a mild cathartic and a liquid diet are needed in treatment; these are better than many of the new remedies for headache. * Let things go,’ is a very good motto for a housekeeper with a headacne. Sleep in pnre air, eat snd work in pure air. Have good inlets for pure air in all rooms and as good outlets for tne air which has been used. A woman may resort to special exercises to relieve headache.

EXERCISE FOR HEAD NEURALGIA. She should have massages. If she does not know anybody who can give her massage, she can manipulate her own head ; stroke it gently from the centre down the sides ; press it hard between her palms with a rotary motion ; pinch the little superficial nerves of the eyebrows. After that she is ready to take a few medical gymnastics with head and arms. (а) Position, hands at the side, heels together. Slowly bend the head backward and forward until the neck feels as limber as a rag doll’s. (б) Arms outward extended parallel with shoulders. Rotate the arms slowly, rising on the toes and taking a long breath during the upward part of the rotation.