MrMonkey
17-05-06, 20:01
After leaving responses in several peoples threads about dealing with headache symptoms, I decided to post the tips here and maybe expand on them, but first I want to point out something. When I first started suffering from anxiety I got a fantastic present from my mum, God bless her, which has formed the whole basis of my recovery. She gave me a book called 'The Big Book of Calm" by Paul Wilson. I'm not saying it's a miracle book but it contains many fantastic information and tips, from learning about stress and what triggers it to changing your perceptions and attitude for the better, but mainly it has many simple exercises for relieving stress in the short terms as well as tips on how to improve your lifestyle so as to reduce stress in the long term.
It helped wonderfully. I still use many of the exercises today and, from the information in this book, I then went on to study other things which helped me recover from my anxiety: Yoga, Tai Chi, Healthy cooking, etc etc. So I strongly urge everybody to pick up a copy if you can. Its great in an emergency and long term.... and no, I'm not getting commision for it, unfortunately.
What I'm now going to say about headaches, mainly comes from this book and I want to clear that up in case the author should come across her and decide to sue me, I'm just trying to help people!!
1) Most people dont know it, but headaches can come on from tension in your jaw. Think about it. You clench your jaw when your tense, which pulls on connecting face and neck muscles, which pulls on scalp and back muscles which pulls on.... you get the picture. So a smart move would be to relieve tension in the jaw.
First, slowly open your jaw as wide as you can, then slowly close it to loosen up the muscle a bit. Then, using your index fingers, apply pressure to the jaw muscle at a spot just below the cheekbone, next to the earlobe. It will be very tender so go easy! Gently increase pressure and hold it for 5 secs then slowly release it. Wait 10 secs and then repeat as often as you like.
Secondly, to prevent your jaw tensing up again, help spread the pressure until you learn to stop clenching! Put the tip of your tongue just behind your two top front teeth. If you do it right, your mouth should be slightly open. Keep it there for as long as you are able.
2) This ones on the neck. Feel down from the base of your skull about four finger widths, and then two finger widths to each side and you should find two tender ridges. Massage these in a circular or upward motion to relief tension.
3) On the scalp there is another point. From the top of each of your ears run a finger up and over your head until they meet somewhere at the crown. Roundabout there is a spot you can gently rub with a nail - not scratch or dig! - and you should feel your scalp tingle and relax.
4) The temples I think a lot of people know about already. Massage these in a circular motion 10 times clockwise, 10 times anti-clockwise. They will feel very tight if you have a headache so keep massaging til they dont and focus on relaxing those muscles.
5) Lastly for headaches, this ones all power of the mind so you have to at least feel positive for this one. Simply relax in a a comfy chair, close your eyes and breathe deep. Picture then tension in your head and its muscles as a bright pulsing light. Then "will" the tension away, imagining the light/tension slowly evaporating off you like steam on a hot day, and your muscles relaxing. This one takes concentration and time, so don't rush it.
There, hope some of that helps!
* * *
It's just my high anxiety getting to the best of me. I call him Bingbongilypoop. Then I can laugh at him cos he has a funny name. HAHA! [points]
It helped wonderfully. I still use many of the exercises today and, from the information in this book, I then went on to study other things which helped me recover from my anxiety: Yoga, Tai Chi, Healthy cooking, etc etc. So I strongly urge everybody to pick up a copy if you can. Its great in an emergency and long term.... and no, I'm not getting commision for it, unfortunately.
What I'm now going to say about headaches, mainly comes from this book and I want to clear that up in case the author should come across her and decide to sue me, I'm just trying to help people!!
1) Most people dont know it, but headaches can come on from tension in your jaw. Think about it. You clench your jaw when your tense, which pulls on connecting face and neck muscles, which pulls on scalp and back muscles which pulls on.... you get the picture. So a smart move would be to relieve tension in the jaw.
First, slowly open your jaw as wide as you can, then slowly close it to loosen up the muscle a bit. Then, using your index fingers, apply pressure to the jaw muscle at a spot just below the cheekbone, next to the earlobe. It will be very tender so go easy! Gently increase pressure and hold it for 5 secs then slowly release it. Wait 10 secs and then repeat as often as you like.
Secondly, to prevent your jaw tensing up again, help spread the pressure until you learn to stop clenching! Put the tip of your tongue just behind your two top front teeth. If you do it right, your mouth should be slightly open. Keep it there for as long as you are able.
2) This ones on the neck. Feel down from the base of your skull about four finger widths, and then two finger widths to each side and you should find two tender ridges. Massage these in a circular or upward motion to relief tension.
3) On the scalp there is another point. From the top of each of your ears run a finger up and over your head until they meet somewhere at the crown. Roundabout there is a spot you can gently rub with a nail - not scratch or dig! - and you should feel your scalp tingle and relax.
4) The temples I think a lot of people know about already. Massage these in a circular motion 10 times clockwise, 10 times anti-clockwise. They will feel very tight if you have a headache so keep massaging til they dont and focus on relaxing those muscles.
5) Lastly for headaches, this ones all power of the mind so you have to at least feel positive for this one. Simply relax in a a comfy chair, close your eyes and breathe deep. Picture then tension in your head and its muscles as a bright pulsing light. Then "will" the tension away, imagining the light/tension slowly evaporating off you like steam on a hot day, and your muscles relaxing. This one takes concentration and time, so don't rush it.
There, hope some of that helps!
* * *
It's just my high anxiety getting to the best of me. I call him Bingbongilypoop. Then I can laugh at him cos he has a funny name. HAHA! [points]