these pages, you will find a variety of ways to help and support your family member or friend with migraine, and hopefully you will be inspired to add healthy living practices to your own life. Most people don’t want to be treated differently because they are sick — especially children and teens. If the whole family has a healthy diet, your child, teenager, or spouse will feel that it’s the norm. The same goes for postural awareness and stress reduction practices like breathing and meditation. By following the program, friends and family members can help while improving their own health.
It’s true: some people have never experienced a migraine. If you have never had one and are trying to support someone who does, the first step is understanding how disabling it is. Try to recall the worst hangover you have ever had. If you are underage or have never had a hangover, do you remember having a fever, cold, virus, flu, infection, or other illness that left you feeling as sick as a dog, with your head about to explode?
In migraine, as with hangovers and illnesses, the symptoms are not just in your head, which would be bad enough. They take over your entire body. You feel overpowered, weak, and nauseated. Your skin turns pallid. The slightest movement makes you feel worse, and lights, sounds, and scents become magnified. You’re disoriented and can’t think straight, let alone sit or stand. You feel lucky to make it to the bathroom to throw up a few times, have the dry heaves with what’s left, and make it back into bed.
You get the picture. Although everyone’s experience is slightly different, if you have ever suffered like that, you have a glimpse into the world of migraine sufferers — except that their condition returns, often unpredictably, again and again. Can you see why someone would be sensitive to remarks like “How bad can it be — it’s only a headache”? Your empathy and gentle suggestions can be more helpful than you realize.
Make Sure You’re Okay, Then Proceed
The program and methods in these pages are not a substitute for medical advice. Before you proceed, make sure you have gotten a headache diagnosis from your doctor to rule out any other serious causes. All my headache clients are, or have been, under the care of neurologists and were initially examined by their primary care providers.
If you experience a negative change, especially a sudden worsening, in your regular headaches or headache patterns, whether or not you have had a diagnosis, contact your doctor right away!
Most headaches are primary and inorganic, which means that (1) the headache is the actual cause of the pain and (2) you can’t locate it in a fixed, physical spot in your head, like a tumor, for example.
Secondary headache means that the headache is secondary to an underlying organic, often more serious condition, such as a concussion, brain tumor, cancer, meningitis, or an aneurysm.5 If an underlying condition related to injury, illness, or disease is causing your headache, get treatment for it immediately.
If you are taking medication for your headaches, continue to work in conjunction with your doctor. After you have a strong grounding in mind-body practices for relief and prevention and your headaches have become less frequent and intense, you can ask the prescribing doctor for a regimen to help you stair-step down slowly from the medication you are taking.
How to Read This Book
Although you might be tempted to skip directly to the acute treatment parts of the book that show how to relieve your headache or migraine on the spot, don’t do it! Transforming long-standing chronic headache patterns is a process that requires you to integrate new practices one by one, over time.
For example, I typically work with clients in fifteen to twenty one-hour weekly sessions, and more if we do bodywork or headache relief, or if a client has a history of trauma. A class series typically runs eight weeks, two hours per week. Both have homework and practices in between. The weekly spacing allows participants to integrate a new practice before learning the next, and I encourage you to take your time in working through the chapters.
The pacing depends on the individual because each person’s headache puzzle is different. Find what feels balanced for you. Some areas might take more of your attention than others. You have the book, and you always have your body, so you don’t necessarily have to wait a whole week for each new lesson. The idea is to take action without getting overwhelmed. If you read through but don’t engage, you will stand still. If you go too quickly (e.g., quitting caffeine cold turkey), you might get rebound headache. If you go too slowly, the continuity of balancing multiple life factors could get lost.
Here’s what I recommend: To achieve the promised results, follow the program steps in order. Each practice teaches the skills needed to advance to the next level. That way, you will develop as you go, build on what you learn, and be prepared for each new step.
On the other hand, if you do have a headache or migraine episode (from a nonserious or previously diagnosed condition), you might try skipping to the hands-on therapies in part 4. Then, when you are feeling better, you can return to the prevention chapters about diet and stress reduction, which are vital components of the Mundo Program.
Like Rome, your headaches weren’t built in a day, and they need to be carefully deconstructed brick by brick. As you build your new foundation, you will have all the tools you need to reassemble yourself into a healthier person. By embodying each new skill in turn, you will give yourself the best chance for success.
Your Support Team
Making lifestyle changes is no small feat, and it’s helpful to have support. If you have a friend who has headaches, why not enlist each other as headache healing buddies? How about forming a group with several people, so you can read the book and implement the lessons, exercises, and practices together?
Whether you’re reading this on your own or with a buddy or group, the goal is to go beyond reading and move into action, which is the only thing that will change your situation. A support group, whether in-person or online, can provide a forum for sharing information — new books, therapies, and approaches — with people just like you who understand. But to make change, you must move beyond information and research. The headache healer’s philosophy is proactive. It’s not enough to read, plan, or hope; we have to act and institute new ways of being. To that end, a support group whose members encourage each other to make changes, stay on track, and leave their headaches behind can be very valuable.
Surround yourself with people who focus on positive change, committed listening, and taking action. Notice the mood and tone of the group you join. Do you leave feeling positive and energized? Is it rigorous and compassionate, or does it keep people stuck and complaining? Shaming or sentimentality can spiral downward into self-blame and victimhood — and a know-it-all who takes over and inserts opinions aggressively can stifle progress and make you doubt your own inner voice.
Look for avenues where you can give and receive strength and helpful encouragement to keep your momentum going. Put yourself out there instead of retreating and feeling misunderstood or ashamed. I encourage you to admit your truth and engage with others in a community of healing. It’s a giant step forward.
What’s your type? No, not your blood type or the type of man or woman you are attracted to! I mean your headache type.
In this chapter, we examine the characteristics and symptoms of four basic headache types — tension, migraine, cluster,
