Stress Headaches are Difficult to Understand and They Often Bear More Investigation

Have you had headaches lately or for a long while?  Have you been told they’re from stress?  If so, you have reason to be doubtful. Dr. David Posen (The Little Book of Stress Relief, 2003), diagnoses chronic stress with a checklist.  Items queried include clenching of the jaw, teeth grinding, sore, tight muscles, and dizziness and, of course, headaches. It’s no mystery that long-term exposure to stress can really be problematic for you.

When stress is acute, however, your body will gear up its stress response system to help you meet the danger or trouble.  Your heart may speed up and beat harder, your muscles may tighten up, you may feel dryness in your mouth, you might begin to sweat profusely and you may develop a knot-like feeling in the pit of your stomach.  Headaches, however, are rarely associated with acute stress.  With acute stress, the body needs to be alert, not suffering from headaches.  In fact, if you didn’t have this excited type of response to sudden danger or stress, you would probably need to be checked to see if you’re alive.

When it seems, however, that your best efforts to control stress have had no effect on getting rid of the headaches, the reason is likely that stress is not the problem. Headaches, like other symptoms, are often misdiagnosed and stress seems to be a good place to dump whole host of symptoms that are challenging to understand. Many people, for example, are not aware that food allergies can cause headaches.  Lactose intolerance (problems digesting milk) and wheat gluten allergy (problems digesting wheat) are two examples of food allergies that may cause headaches? It is worth your while to have a check up with a Naturopathic Doctor (ND) because a large group of people in North America don't suffer from stress headaches at all. Everyone, of course, needs to effectively manage stress, but it’s not probable you will ever solve your headaches if they have nothing to do with stress.

I read a report, not too long ago, from an organic grain-growing cooperative (kootenaygraincsa.ca), which would make you shiver. The processes that manufacturers and growers do to the wheat we consume as bread and bagels and buns will shock you. No wonder, we all have headaches and other symptoms. It's incredible that’s all we have.  I can’t imagine how many of us probably have Celiac Disease and if that doesn't worry you, I don't know what will. It's downright disturbing. So, go to a Naturopathic Doctor and find out if your headaches are caused by something else besides stress.

Paul Zane Pilzer, economist and author of the Wellness Revolution, discovered an interesting statistic.  It seems less than 6% of doctors take courses in nutritional medicine while in school and once they begin their practices, almost all training is offered by drug companies. It is unlikely; you will be able to get an accurate diagnosis about headaches from your doctor unless he or she also knows about nutritional medicine. It's time you got a break from stress headaches. The best stress management program in the world isn't going to help you if you're treating the wrong condition. So find out for sure and start feeling better soon because stress really isn’t as hard to understand as you might think.