Migraine- Is it curable- how about Homoeopathy - BY N.S.Saini

Headache has become more common in the stresses and strains of the modern life but MIGRAINE HEADACHE demands special attention because it can start in childhood, adolescence or early adult life and goes for many years in diminishing number and severity.It is a periodic headache which affects commonly half of the head and is more common in women spatially before menses but disappears during pregnancy. It is mainly of 2 types: Nuerologic Migraine and Common Migraine.

In the nuerologic migraine (Classical Migraine) there may be premonition of feeling of elation, excessive energy, thirst and craving for sweet things. There may be visual scintillations like bright spots, dazzling lights and half vision. This merges into pain in the half of the head specially the temples though it may spread to the whole of the head and is associated with nausea and vomiting.

In the common variety, generally it has unheralded onset. Patient may feel nausea, vomiting and photophobia followed by headache on the half side especially on the temples.

There are some less common varieties of migraines as follows:

1. Hemiplegic Migraine in which prolonged headache is followed by hemiparesis (one sided mild paralysis) which recovers slowly in few days.

2. Basillar Migraine: There may be an attack of confusion, occipital (back of the head) headache preceded by vertigo, double vision and some sensory symptoms like numbness and tingling of lips, face etc.

3. Cluster headache: This is more common in men and is characterized by constant intense pain around one eye which may start during the first 2 to 3 hours after the sleep. This is accompanied with blocked nose, watery discharge from the nose, tears in the eyes. It tends to occur at night for several weeks to a few months which may be followed by long interval of remission.

In children, abdominal pain and vomiting may accompany the headache or it may be the sole expression of the migraine.Patient likes to remain in the dark and the pain is severe and throbbing in character resulting in prostration.The exact cause is not known but there are some factors which can trigger an episode of migraine like exposure to sunlight, exercise, stress and anxiety, alcohol, contraceptives, premenstrual and on relaxing. However, it can occur in the sleep without any cause.

We can deal with some of the above factors like alcohol, contraceptives, exposure to Sunlight by avoiding them. But anxiety and other causes which are more complex are better treated with Homoeopathic medicines because we can find out the body’s predisposition to the illness if we know the individualistic response of a particular patient in migraine. We can treat the disease very well because we use those medicines to cure a patient which have been proved to cause such illness and have been tested to cure the same disease symptom complex which is the basic principal of Homoeopathy. However it needs proper training and lots of experience to tackle professionally such complex illnesses. While working in the Nehru Homoeopathic hospital in Delhi and also in my clinic I have treated large number of patients and found it to be very effective.

Let us hear from some of the patients about their experiences of the homoeopathic treatment of their migraine.

Case no 1: I had a very severe migraine. I went to osteopaths, chiropractors, naturopaths and tried Homoeopathic medicines despite the conventional treatment but had no relief and my headache progressively become so worse that it made my life a wreck. My GP tried all sorts of medicines for the pain but there was no relief except the more and more side effects. Then my GP started giving me pathedine for the pain. I was given pathedine injections for the last 10 years at the time of the acute pain. Gradually its frequency had to be increased and was given more frequently to the point where I was given morphine approximately after 2 to 3 weeks because the pain was not getting under control by any other medicine. I also tried nasal sprays and imigran injection which is a new drug and is being tried at medical school. It worked for a while and then it also didn’t worked. I was desperately suffering. One day I read an article about the cases of tumour remission with Homoeopathic treatment in the healthy options magazine by N.S.Saini. I also read about him and was convinced that he is experienced and qualified Homoeopathic physician. I went to my GP with his article and my G.P wrote a letter to him and he started homoeopathic treatment. For the first time I had such a great relief and now I don’t require any pathedine at all. Rather I hardly get any headache now... N.S.Saini sends a letter to my GP for the feedback that I am fine now. I don’t wake up with migraine now and it has changed my life. In the end I will advise the migraine sufferers to get homoeopathic treatment for migraine.”

This patient’s headache was diagnosed as an ophthalmic migraine by her GP. Despite all possible conventional treatments, she was not getting cured. Hence, the patient was referred to a specialist ultimately the patient was also being treated in a research project to test new drug for migraine. But on careful analysis certain deep rooted factor of the past were operating in the background causing this headache. This is the advantage of the homoeopathic treatment that we can treat such past experiences very effectively which are difficult to handle otherwise with other modes of treatment. That is why this patient did not have any relief though she tried different sorts of treatments.

Case no 2: Miss Xxx is aged about 12 years. She was suffering from migraine for the last 4 years. She used to get very angry during the migraine attack and was unable to do anything. She used to vomit and was prescribed stemetil for this without any relief. She was given number of medicines for the pain with no relief. So the Parents were worried about the side effects of the drugs in this growing child. She was referred to me by one of my other patient. She had dramatic effect and this is what her mother has to say: “My daughter was suffering very badly from the migraine and her studies also suffered a lot because of this illness. She was prescribed Sandomigran and I was worried about the side effects and the dose had to be increased gradually. I didn’t like it .at the same time I didn’t liked her suffering. I looked around and one of my friends advised to go to Dr Saini and I am really happy because my daughter has not had any migraine for a long time though she had occasionally mild headache. I am really impressed by the treatment. Saini has changed my opinion about homoeopathy. I will advise people to get homoeopathic treatment if anyone is having migraine.”

This patient was going through puberty changes. These changes cause stress which some people find difficult to handle and this patient reacted to such changes with migraine. In my experience this sort of migraine does not respond to pain killers and other medicines because there is a component of hormone changes and psychological adjustments. Such type of migraine needs a lot of skill and experience to treat. Moreover the conventional medicines are not free from side effects which may not be good during the growing age of the patient. So in the skilled hands, homoeopathy can cure such cases.

CASE NO 3: This was a young women and she says: “I was prescribed migril and it made me sick. Then I was advised to take paramax, it took the sharp pain away but the headache was still there. It made feel like my mind was not there and felt strange. It continued like this, so I thought of taking homoeopathic treatment and came to  N.S.Saini. I feel much better now though I may occasionally get headache but I don’t need any medication because it is not severe.”In my opinion, this is a classical case of migraine which did respond to the conventional treatment as she says that the conventional medicine was able to take away the sharp pain but the headache was still there. But you see how with homoeopathic treatment such cases respond? Though different cases may have different causes which required to be analyzed professionally while treating with homoeopathic medicines.

Conventionally, preparations of the ergot are used to treat migraine because it constricts the blood vessels as it has been found that in migraine headache there is dilatation of the blood vessels accompanying with some swelling which causes the headache. But it has its own side effects especially because it has to be used for a long time as the migraine keeps on occurring for years. Some of the important side effects are pain in the calf muscles, coldness and numbness of the extremities, joint pains, blueness of the fingers and toes, weakness of the eye sight, nausea and clotting of the blood in the blood vessels.

Case 4: This Patient had severe headache which was not getting cured by any medicine though he had all the investigations and was admitted in the hospital several times. He was given steroids, antiepileptic drugs etc but of no use. Ultimately, Homoeopathy helped this patient.

Auckland Hospital

Service:Neurology Clinic NEUROSERVICES

February 1999

DrXXXXX AUCKLAND

Dear Dr XXX

Re: Mr xy

Xxxxxx Auckland

Mr xy has successfully weaned off Prednisone, which he discontinued three weeks ago. Over the next week he did have an increase in frequency and severity of the right retro-orbital pain, but since then things have settled back to a reasonably steady state. If he misses his Indon~ethacm, then the pain does tend to recur. Waves of pare are triggered by exposure to cool air and water. At present he is taking Indomethacin 50mg tds and Carbamazepine 200rag tds. I have suggested that he change the Carbamazepine dosing so that he takes 400mg nocte and 200mg mane as he does complain of fatigue. I have suggested that he does not reduce the dose of either medication for one month, but then to reduce the Carbamazepine to 200rag bd. If there is no problem he can then cut the Indomethacin to 50mg bd. I have advised him that it is likely he will need treatment for several months and possibly that he will need long-term treatment with one or both of these agents. I will see him again in two months.

Yours sincerely

Xxx Neurologist Auckland Hospital

Case 5:

l 0 May 1999

Dr ……….. Mt Eden AUCKLAND

Dear Dr

Re ……, St Heliers, Auckland

xxxx has continued to have intermittent right temporal and retro-orbital pain. When I saw him in February he was taking Tegretol and lndon~cthacin. ttc discontinued the Indomethacin after two weeks, but shortly after this had a recurrence of pain and he went back on Prednisone 40rag per day. The pain resolved after about a week and he then tailed the Prednisone off over the next three weeks. He has been off Prednisone for the past month. Almost two weeks ago he thought the pain was about to recur, but it did not amount to very much. He remains on Tcgrctol, feels a bit sluggish and has reduced sexual drive. He is hoping to return to work in about three weeks.

There is no sensory loss over the right side of the face. It is interesting that when he touches the tip of the nose he will often experience sharp pain up in the right temple. The exact diagnosis here is a little unclear, though it has features of a cluster/tic syndrome. 1 have advised him to continue taking Tegretol for at least two months. It would be reasonable to have a further course of Prednisone if the symptoms do recur severely. 1 will see again in three months.

Yours sincerely

NEUROLOGIST

This patient Improved progressively with homeopathic medicines and was back to work after 2 months of treatment and till now he is doing fine.

I think with some of these cases I have tried to convey to you that in skilled hands, how safe and effective homoeopathic treatment can be!

For further information please contact  N.S.Saini, 0061 451 554 123. 

N.S.Saini is an eminent Homoeopathic clinician with over 40 years of clinical experience. He was trained full time for 6 years at the Government Nehru Homoeopathic Medical College and the prestigious National Institute of Homoeopathy, both in India. For 10 years, he lectured in the Nehru Homoeopathic Medical College and Hospital and worked for 12 years as a Homeopathic Clinician in the attached Homoeopathic Hospital. N.S.Saini has been awarded with excellence in community health services by the Government of India. He is now practicing at his clinic in Brisbane.

N.S.Saini lectured for 10 years at Nehru Homoeopathic Medical College & Hospital, Delhi University and worked as a Homeopathic Clincian in the attached Homoeopathic Hospital. He has got 40 years clinical experience. His Post Graduate Diploma from the University of Auckland specializing in alcohol/ drugs and mental health has broadened the horizon of his clinical acumen. He is detoxifying the drug/ alcohol dependents and patients having mental problems using homeopathic medicines.
For further information contact:  N.S.Saini, 0061 451554123.