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Friday, May 23, 2008

Conquering Migraines: Advanced Biofeedback Boasts Permanent Success Rates of 90%

A corporate promotion meant more money and more stress for John R. Unfortunately, his migraines went from occasional to every Saturday morning for 4 months in row. Then they just stopped due to neurofeedback.

Neurofeedback is a form of biofeedback that works with brain function. I havent had a migraine since my 3rd session. Im continuing the training for a while longer because I dont want to have a migraine ever again.

Migraines normally run in families and Johns siblings get these headaches too. The migraine statistics are dismal. Headaches are the most common complaint physicians hear. About 20 Americans suffer from migraine headaches, but only half of these people call their headaches migraines. Of the 12% of people who get migraines, women are victims 3 to 1 over men.

Symptoms typically include horrible throbbing pain in part of the head. Nausea is common as is a sensitivity to light or sound. The pain can last for hours or days. Migraines may begin in childhood and can last throughout the life span.

An episode often begins after an accumulation of stress and then a release from stress. The ebb and flow of the autonomic nervous system is disrupted and the relaxation wheels grind. The brain stem and trigeminal nerve conspire to constrict blood flow out of the brain. An engorged blood vessel in the brain pounds against a meandering cranial nerve causing the throbbing pain. A visual aura only occurs 30% of the time but for some people that is the primary symptom.

Migraines are usually triggered by an accumulation of idiosyncratic factors. These can range from weather to wine.

Migraineurs are often highly responsible people and somewhat tightly wound. There is little point in telling them to relax. They must first learn how.

Biofeedback has been recognized for decades as an effective technique to aid migraine headache sufferers. The basic method is to teach relaxation with hand warming. Greater blood flow to the hands brings the warmth.

During the fright r flight response, blood moves away from the periphery. The opposite autonomic nervous system mode is rest n digest. Here our skin tone goes from pale to florid.

The biofeedback remedy is trial and error practice in raising your finger temperature by watching a thermometer. The goal is the facility to achieve 94.5 within 5 minutes. This does take diligent practice. Few people keep it up without lots of skillful encouragement. It works for 50% of the people or 50% of the pain depending on what the study measured.

With advances in technology have come efficiency of time. And efficacy in degree and proportion of successful results.

Now there are two kinds of neurofeedback training that have made stopping migraine headaches quite possible for over 90% of those with this debilitating disorder. The combination of methods has not been tested.

Biofeedback begins with monitoring. The first method uses an infrared sensor to detect heat radiation emanating from the forehead.

Why are human foreheads bare of hair? To cool the large cerebral cortex in the front of our skull! Learning to increase blood perfusion to the frontal cortex is acquiring biofeedback control over regional cerebral blood flow. When viewed with infrared photography each session appears to brighten the entire forehead.

Think of infrared training as brain strengthening. Sessions spent raising the infrared temperature seems to stimulate neurocellular activity. The activation becomes greater self-regulation over the cortical migraine generator.

The effect looks like enabling the brain to turn off the migraine switch. More practice at brain brightening gradually builds the ability to turn away a migraine before it gets started without conscious effort. This can interrupt a current raging migraine within 20 minutes. Clients often say It just kinda pooped out.

In the main study of 100 migraine patients, 94% got at least 50% reduction in pain after 6 half-hour sessions. During these sessions, the client looks at either the biofeedback numbers or their favorite movie. Above a moving threshold the movie plays.

The second form of neurofeedback uses an EEG or electroencephalograph to read brain waves. This micro-volt meter detects tiny brain emanations on the scalp and displays the information for biofeedback of brain activity. Every time a neuron fires it is a chemical and an electrical event.

As in all biofeedback, displaying a biological process leads to control of that function. With self-awareness comes self-regulation. All healing is self-healing where self-information is the remedy. The practitioner merely holds up a high-tech mirror and does some coaching. Home training units are now available.

The most advanced forms of brainwave biofeedback requires no special effort. You simply listen to your favorite music. If you want, you can look at a dynamic graphic. The information comes from brief pauses in the music and graphics corresponding to moments of higher brainwave turbulence.

Interrupting a brainwaves surge promotes peace of mind. So does continuous playing of the music during relative lulls in the constant mental storm as read by the EEG. The pauses are set to come often enough to be informative and transformative while still being a pleasant experience. It is like learning to drive a car steadily within the lane when there are rumble strips on both sides. Then narrow the lane. The software has 18 lanes at once spanning the brainwave spectrum.

Neurofeedback makes the central nervous system more internally efficient. Rather than closing down at lower speeds, the mind becomes better coordinated and more complex.

The real problem are the ruts and patterns we develop to over control ourselves. Any fixed brainwave pattern is a loss of freedom, a reduction in flexibility and less resilience for the entire system.

Turning down the idle speed allows a brainwave reorganization and self-repair where extraneous habits are discarded. To drop needless surging is a permanent release. To cease wasting energy is a welcome unwinding that is recognized and retained naturally.

These remedies work to create significant and often total relief for a very high proportion of clients. And when it works, it seems to work for good. Both forms of neurofeedback typically produce permanent freedom from future migraines.

When done gently, both forms of neurofeedback are safe and harmless, even for sensitive people. The other effects of neurofeedback are all benefits such as lower stress, better sleep and reduced mental chatter. Adverse effects are rare, minor and self-limiting, generally caused by pushing the system, such as blindly doing too much too soon.

Neurofeedback is highly effective in empowering the migraineur to stop getting horrible headaches. John R. found the experience of neurofeedback to be utterly calming. I feel sharper and definitely less anxious. And I havent had any more headaches, not even a hint of one. Its nice having all my Saturdays back.

Gary Ames is a licensed psychologist specializing in neurofeedback. He has a private practice near Philadelphia, PA. He also provides home training options.

Gary Ames, 28 Rock Hill Road, Bala Cynwyd, PA 19004 610-668-3223 or toll-free 866-562-4868.