Migraines are a headache of varying intensity that cancause severe throbbing pain or a pulsing sensation, usually on one side of the head. It's often accompanied by nausea, vomiting, and extreme sensitivity to light and sound. They can affect one’s quality of life making it difficult for the patient to carry out regular daily activities. Clinically, the frequency of attack can range between once or twice a month to even daily and each episode lasting from hours to days.
Migraines are known asSooryavartha in Ayurveda. The wordSurya means “sun” andAvartha means “discomfort”, indicating the infliction of pain due to heat and light. Some references say that the pain aggravates in accordance to the movement of the sun. The pain reaches its peak mid day and slowly reduces by evening. Or sometimes the pain starts mid day and increases towards the evening.
The involvement oftridoshas Vata, Pitta and Kapha plays an important role in migraine attacks. However, it is usually dominated byVata.
Observing the pattern and occurrence of pain,Sooryavartha can be correlated to migraine headaches.
Case Description:
- Age: 29 year old Male
- Occupation: Business Owner
- Weight: 75 kgs
- Height:5.11 height
Complaints:
Severe migraine headaches.
- The headaches had been occurring for 7 years. They used to appear almost daily with no relief through OTC painkillers.
- Migraines left him incapacitated. He was unable to open his eyes and talk during the episodes.
- While napping provided some relief, treatment of any kind [Ayurvedic, allopathic, homeopathic] had failed to help him.
- Stress was often a trigger for the episodes. .
Further Description of Complaints:
When asked about his pain score, he mentioned that they were frequently between 8 and 10. A lot of his headaches remained at a 10 on the pain scale for more than a day.
His examination concluded that his appetite, urine, and bowels were normal. However, his sleep was disturbed. While he did manage to sleep for 5 to 6 hours a night, he would consistently wake up at least once a night.
His lifestyle included junk food in his diet and alcohol once or twice a night.
Diagnosis
The patient was diagnosed to be suffering from Migraine/Sooryavartha after investigation.
Treatment Plan
The following treatment protocol was followed for treating the migraine attack by balancing aggravatedvata dosha using Vijaya extract. Also a diet and lifestyle plan to balance thetridoshaswere advised:
- Adopt healthy dietary habits. Include fresh fruits, boiled vegetables in your diet. Avoid junk food, soda and alcohol
- Drink 3-4 L of water daily
- Practisepranayama - breathing exercises
- CannaBliss Pain relief 5% - 1ml twice a day, sublingual for 1 month.
Observation
The patient did not get a migraine attack while taking the medicine. Then he stopped the medication for 3 weeks and got mild headache with pain score 3-5, twice on a stressful day. He is asked to continue the CannaBliss Pain relief Oil for 2 more months.
Discussion
Although migraines are of idiopathic origin, they have lot of triggers like hunger, dehydration, strong scents, noise and stress. Here in this case, the patient knew that his stress was triggering the migraine attacks. To add to this, his disturbed sleep was also adding to his condition.
Migrainse are not fatal, however they decrease one’s quality of life to a great extent. Complete treatment takes time usually 3- 6 months and the patient has to strictly adhere to the diet and lifestyle as advised by the doctor while identifying and avoiding triggers.
Conclusion
Migraines are caused by excessive stimulation of brain and blood vessels. Hence learning to manage stress effectively prevents the attacks. Avoid suppressing natural urges of urination, farting and defecation. Intake of oily and spicy food and alcohol should be avoided.
Pitta Dosha gets aggravated and blocks the movement ofvata to cause a migraine hence taking soaked raisins or dates in the morning in an empty stomach also helps prevent the attack. Pranayama that cools the body like the sheetaliandsitkari pranayama are beneficial.
Read more about CBD for migraines in ourprevious article!
