Goodbye Headaches!

Hello! HAPPY Monday :D
How are you?! How was your weekend?! I hope you had a FAB couple of days!! My weekend was purely filled with relaxation, fun, and the ocean breeze! It doesn't get better than that :D However, it's the beginning of another week and I'm ready to FUEL UP on some crazy good workouts and try my new juice maker I got this weekend! Wooo Whooo!!  

Today's post is on Headaches! Ouch and pain are no fun!! I have a client who gets headaches regularly...hopefully not while I'm training her...lol! I wonder if we may be our own worst enemy when it comes to handling headaches?! The following are some common mistakes we might make in our quest to end pain, and the doctor-approved strategies to try instead!! This post is for you girlfriend, and ANYONE else who gets headaches! Don't let them stop you from living a FITastic lifestyle!! U got this :D

OUCH MISTAKE #1:
Delaying (or doubling up on) drugs.
Many people hold off on taking over-the-counter or prescription pain drugs like ibuprofen or triptans until their headache is intolerable. Big mistake, says Susan Broner, M.D., medical director of the Manhattan Headache Center in New York City. "The longer you wait to treat pain, the harder it is to get rid of." She recommends popping your preferred pill at the first sign of symptoms.
That said, if you're reaching for the bottle twice a week or more, you're putting yourself at risk of rebound headaches, which occur when drug overuse triggers a withdrawal reaction, warns Broner. For episodes that are this frequent, ask your doctor about preventive treatments, and for help tapering off your in-the-moment meds.

OUCH MISTAKE #2:
Prematurely quitting meds.
It can take up to 3 months of regular use for medicines and lifestyle changes to begin to reduce the frequency and intensity of flare-ups, says Broner, so resist the urge to call it quits before then. If you want to try several new remedies (say, cutting out dairy and taking a supplement), Broner suggests staggering them by 1 month, so if you experience relief (or unpleasant side effects) you'll know which to credit (or blame).

OUCH MISTAKE #3:
Sleeping it off.
Spending too little time in bed can trigger migraines and tension headaches but so can snoozing too much, notes Broner.
"Sleeping in more than a hour and a half past your regular wake-up time often leads to a migraine, either that day or the following one," she says. If you plan to doze off while you're having an episode, set an alarm to wake you after 30 to 45 minutes; long daytime naps can disrupt your sleep that night, also increasing risk of a headache.

OUCH MISTAKE #4:
Self-diagnosing.
Many kinds of headache...tension, migraine, cluster, and sinusitis...have overlapping symptoms, so they're easily confused with 1 another.
Your best bet is to see a physician. But since there's no gold-standard test for diagnosis, Broner suggests recording descriptions of your episodes before your visit. Frequency, duration, location, intensity, and any triggers you've noticed to give your doctor a hand.
Taking note of accompanying symptoms can also aid with diagnosis: Sensitivity to light, for instance, is a sign of migraines and, in some cases, treating these "sidekick symptoms" can make headache meds work better. Nausea, which is also common with migraines, can indicate that your GI tract is taking longer than usual to empty. This impairs drug absorption, notes Broner, so taking prescription antiemetics or eating GI soothing foods like ginger will boost the efficacy of your headache Rx.

OUCH MISTAKE #5:
Relying on testing.
Doctors continue to order brain scans for headache patients, despite guidelines advising against them (now nearly 15% of patients get scans, compared to just 5% 2 decades ago). Hold off in the absence of red flags, says Jason Rosenberg, M.D., director of the Johns Hopkins Headache Center. "They're expensive, they expose you to a lot of radiation, and some, like MRIs, are so sensitive they may result in false positives that can lead to expensive and irrelevant testing." 

Did you learn anything new?! I'm always learning new things!! Thumbs up :D
Have a HEALTHY day!
SEE YOU right back here on Wednesday!!