MIGRAINES: PART l
The Swearington Perspective: Transcending the Accepted Consensus of Migraines
In this, the first of three articles on migraines, I discuss my many years of understanding and treating the migraine dilemma and will attempt to share with you my understanding of the importance of cause-and-effect relationships to the condition. This may very well be the key that triggers your memory of the genesis of your own condition.
MY PERSPECTIVE ON MIGRAINES AND HEADACHES
For over twenty years, I have witnessed the many ineffective approaches to migraine headaches attempted by the medical community. During this time, I heard no one in the popular medical culture clearly articulate the cause of migraines. Even more concerning, I listened to experts suggest there is no cure for migraines—only management of symptoms.
I strongly disagree with this premise. I see headaches, migraines, and concussions as conditions with mutating symptoms reflective of their underlying cause. It is my belief that a comprehensive consultation, along with a detailed understanding of the physical and emotional history of the patient, is the initial key to its resolution.
And so, I ignored those mainstream medical assumptions and have been quietly investigating the genesis of my patients’ migraines and treating those migraines with great success. For many years, my patients have been leaving my clinic with their migraines resolved, and those migraines have remained resolved to this day.
Until now, I have stayed silent regarding my methods and success, while the patients who have needed me have come to me, sometimes traveling from around the world for my treatment. However, it has become difficult to remain silent when I see more and more migraine and headache patients suffering from misdiagnosis and inaccurate, unsuccessful treatment.
This series of papers will examine the cause of migraines and clearly articulate hypertonic muscle deactivation (HMD), a ground-breaking physical approach to resolving the mystery of migraine headaches—an approach I have used over the past two decades.
HISTORY OF MIGRAINES
As early as 1200 BCE, Ancient Egyptian medical documents recorded instances of headache accompanied by the severe nerve pain known as neuralgia. This means migraines are among the oldest human conditions chronicled in writing. Yet, despite our millennia of experiencing migraines, it seems we have not moved any closer to understanding their true genesis.
MIGRAINES VS. HEADACHES
I believe there are many types of headaches, but only one migraine. Some headaches may be caused by the contraction of muscles between the head and neck and/or by concussion-related conditions. Heavy pollen or mold counts may trigger cluster headaches, as may barometric pressure changes. There are neurologically related headaches that are obvious conditions when diagnosed. These can be caused by encephalitis, brain tumors, viral and bacterial conditions, meningitis, etc. There are also sinusitis related headaches initially caused by allergies and environmental conditions, such as air polluted states and cities.
In comparison, migraines, in my opinion, are related to the compromising of a group of hypertonic muscles—caused by physical trauma—which creates a referred dormant and active action/reaction to the posterior triangular region of the neck and cranium. This triangular region controls the elongation and shortening distance of the neck and head’s coup-contrecoup reaction. This coup-contrecoup, or whiplash, action causes the brain to strike the cranial walls. It also results in the head, neck, and rhomboideus regions of the posterior triangular region of the upper body remaining in a prolonged hypertonic state.
When this region is compromised, the body stimulates a protective reaction in an attempt to protect the neuromuscular spindle fiber from tearing. This reaction places the traumatized muscle groups in a constant state of hypersensitivity, contraction, and circulatory dysfunctional alert. This hyper-alter status runs 24/7 until the correct treatment is provided.
But we must not forget that migraines can be associated with significant loss and grief, as well.
THE MIGRAINE AURA SYMPTOMS
The resulting migraine pain ranges from moderate to severe throbbing at the front or side of the head. This pain can be unrelenting and carry on for days and is accompanied by other symptoms sometimes described as the “aura.” These symptoms may include
- nausea or vomiting
- sensitivity to light, sound, or smell
- flashes of light and blind spots
- tingling one side of the face or one arm or leg
RESOLVING MIGRAINES
For as long as I can remember, the consensus in medicine has promoted migraine headaches as being incurable—which would be true to the experience of those medical professionals who have never found a resolution for the condition. And, certainly, responding to migraines—seemingly a mystery of the brain gone wild—can seem daunting. But what if migraines are not necessarily brain related?
BUT AREN’T MIGRAINES NEUROLOGICAL?
Many medical providers would argue that migraines are neurological in origin—and they use research to support this view. However, as an expert in migraine, I think that we are so immersed in the theory that migraine is predominately a neurological condition that it is blasphemy to speak otherwise. In fact, in my opinion, the medical consensus that migraines are by and large neurological and are genetically passed down actually speaks to only a small percentage of migraine conditions—which means that migraines are poorly understood and, thus, poorly addressed.
OR IS TRAUMA AT THE ROOT OF MOST MIGRAINES?
In treating migraine successfully over the last twenty years, I have found that migraines are most often physiological conditions caused by physical traumas that are then exacerbated by negative life style choices. A result of trauma to the head and the posterior triangular region of the neck—specifically, concussion, brain injury, and whiplash—I also see that the severity of migraine symptoms is exacerbated by unhealthy habitual lifestyle behaviors that sufferers use to alleviate that initial trauma.
I postulate this argument based on my history of treating migraine successfully. In my treatment, I differentiate between the three most common causes of migraines, finding that they are only going to present themselves in a few different ways.
1. Stress-related emotional migraine (SREM)
2. Trauma-related physical migraine (TRPM), connected to concussion and/or whiplash, which can impact the body in three different directions: anteriorly, laterally, and posteriorly
3. Neurologic-related migraine (NRM), connected to allergic reactions; neurological bacteria and viruses, including encephalitis and meningitis; and brain tumors
Therefore, when assessing migraines, I consider these three etiologies (causalities), recognizing that, in my experience, physiological migraines (TRPM)—initially caused by some form of physical trauma impacting the head and neck—are most common.
WHIPLASH, BRAIN INJURY, AND HYPERTONICITY
Whiplash and brain injury conditions create deep and often long-term spasmic muscle contractions, called “hypertonicity,” that engage all the surrounding origin and insertion muscle groups that control the head and neck regions Stimulating a deep and progressive circulatory dysfunction that merges into the posterior, lateral, and anterior regions of the cranium, hypertonicity creates external pressure to the muscle groups surrounding the skull.
This condition poses a challenge to medical providers because it mimics many different conditions—even some that are neurological. Thus, the hypertonic state may persist for months and even years before being diagnosed as a migraine.
In the next segment: “MIGRAINES: PART ll: Who Suffers: Understanding the Genesis of Migraines,” I will discuss men, women, and children and their contrasting migraine symptoms