Don’t fear the pain. Migraines – Holistic Treatment

Letter to Ed about my Granddad’s way of treating a chronic migraine, herbs for rehabilitation from migraine, and an exercise to realign the spine for pain relief. 

Ed, a headache or, in its extreme form, called a Migraine, can be caused by so many different reasons – from hormonal extremes, to nervous tension, to dehydration, to liver congestion and even plain stress.

Essentially however, it is a call for immediate help from the energy field. It means that the brain which manages the functions of the body, is stressed, overworked and under-functioning and NO MORE WORK can be done at this time.

It means that we are already doing as much as we can.

Ed, in July 1902, a man my Granddad knew, told him he was beyond tolerating any more of a chronic migraine he’d had for years. He simply couldn’t take it anymore. He wanted Granddad’s help for a herb to kill him as quietly and painlessly as possible.

At the time Granddad was traveling on a train and didn’t have access to his own herbs. He told the man he’d write to him from wherever next he could.

When Granddad wrote a few weeks later with his new location, the man met up with him and asked him again for help. Granddad took him to the race course with him to talk things over as they watched the races which were a big event that year.

At the races, the man began to take very bad. The excitement causing his migraine to flare up. He wanted to leave but Granddad refused to. So he stayed too, and his migraine got so bad he was leaning over the chair in front of him and groaning.

At the race course people took no notice of that, perhaps thinking he’d lost a lot of money or something.

He began to tell Granddad he was going to die with the pain. Granddad told him very kindly, that if that were so, wasn’t it what he wanted? Why not just experience the pain and let whatever happened, happen? The man nodded at him – he was so fed up himself of constantly trying to keep the pain down.

He yelled and screamed and almost had a convulsion but he faced his pain that day. Granddad cried for him several times. But he told me, he always thanks God when someone reaches a point where they face their pain. That pain which goes beyond a dull ache that can be relieved or suppressed by herbs or medicines, is actually a deliverer. It awakens the brain to the subconscious and that’s always a powerful thing.

Ed, Granddad used to tell me to never be afraid of pain. That if pain isn’t relieved or stopped by herbs, it means there’s a subconscious issue that needs to come out, and the pain won’t stop until it does.

That man faced his pain that day. He went all the way. And he didn’t die. He went back to Granddad’s hotel with him and fell into a sleep for a few hours out of exhaustion. The pain came back and he faced it again. He lost a lot of weight in two or three days but then the pain began to lessen.

He was able to eat a meal without throwing up a few days later and had a cup of Meadowsweet tea (Filipendula Ulmaria – which I have used too, along with New Jersey Tea or Ceanothus in many such situations) which almost fully relaxed him.

I had to tell you all this first Ed, because I have found in my life that until we release whatever our pain is screaming about, into our awareness, we might actually be doing ourselves a disservice by suppressing the pain.

I believe we can avoid end-of-the-line situations by facing the pain early on, before it begins to cause damage to the nerve endings on the organs, and begin to disrupt our hormonal levels and our very lives, sucking all the joy out.

When I was in labor giving birth to Gabriel, Granddad’s words came back to me, “Don’t be afraid of the pain. It’s just sensation. Don’t be afraid of the pain.” I think it was his words, more than anything else I took (and I took a lot) that helped me in labor.

Now that I’ve said that, and when the attitude is established that the herbs you’re taking are not to escape the pain, but to strengthen you in facing the pain, here are:

Herbs for Migraine Relief

1) White Willow Bark

This is natural source of Aspirin and a few drops of the tincture will work in 2-20 minutes.

2) Salix Nigra or the Black Willow
Nearly all headaches or migraines are accompanied by knots, block and tensions in the area of the lower abdomen or our sexual organs. The Black Willow specifically helps with those.

3) Sanguinaria Canadensis or Bloodroot
Known mostly for its anti-cancer, anti-tumor action, this beautiful herb actually helps release tension from the lungs and blood vessels. In this way it helps relieve chronic migraine pain.

4) Passionflower
On the sedative side, passionflower is an amazing aid to changing the HABITS of the nervous system. This is an extremely important need if you’re facing long term regular migraine. The body’s HABITS have to change from maintaining the pain body and tension to releasing it.

5) Pulsatilla
Nearly all migraines are accompanied by nervous tension around the stomach and abdomen. Pulsatilla helps the Black Willow in releasing tension in these areas, and helps hormonal levels come back to normal.

6) Scullcap
Also on the sedative side, Scullcap directly relieves nervous tension.

7) St. John’s Wort or Hypericum
Whatever the cause of the pain, St. John’s Wort will help.

8) Devil’s Claw
Don’t overdo this one.

9) Datura Stramonium
Use externally as an oil, and internally only a drop every few hours.

10) Cannabis
This herb is famous for its pain relief but you need to remember to get a natural extract of it, preferably in oil because its pain relieving components are oil soluble and best accepted into the body as such. If you smoke cannabis, the effects don’t last as long as taking it internally.

And finally,

Align your spine.

A good chiropractor could check for alignment issues that could be causing the migraine.

There’s a simple powerful exercise to help align the spinal bones. You lie down on your front with your arms outstretched in front of you. Then lift your left arm and your right leg (opposites) at the same time as high as you can and stretch them out as far as you can. You then do so with the other arm and leg. This helps dislocated bones fall into position.

AND
Naturally you have to treat things like liver congestion, heart weakness, circulation insufficiency, hormonal imbalance and so on so that the physical causes of the migraine are dealt with.