Even if people who never considered them self a migraine patients, are indeed one if they have frequent headaches. Because ALL headaches and migraine are caused by the same underlying triggers!
Even infrequent, mild headaches are caused by the same triggers as the worst migraine attacks and can be avoided using the same methods. And they’re all generated from a small part of the brain called the hypothalamus.
Don’t worry, I’m not going to get to technical here, but it’s good for you to get the general idea of how headaches and migraine happen in order for you to permanently avoid yours.
Actually, it begins with a trigger on the Hypothalamus.
The hypothalamus is like an automatic control center for the body, so you don’t have to think about all the bodily functions like to regulate body temperature, certain metabolic processes, and other autonomic activities. It’s also closely connected to the physical senses (sight, hearing, touch, taste and smell) and your emotions.
Now, the important part for you is that if the hypothalamus experiences some threat (we call them triggers) in the system, it will send out messages to the blood vessels around your head, face and neck to swell up and inflame
…causing you the horrible headaches and migraine symptoms.
Now, this is a necessary survival function. Your body actually thinks that it’s protecting you from harm by giving you a headache.
Let me give you an example:
You know how strong perfume can trigger a headache or a heavy head. What happens is that the perfume triggers the hypothalamus and it actually senses the perfume as a dangerous poison.
Now think if it was actually a dangerous poison you were inhaling, your headache would then warn you that something dangerous was actually going on and tell you that you needed to get away.
This could very well save your life!
And your headaches may very well save your life if you use it well. Because your daily habits, which trigger the hypothalamus to cause you headaches, are actually harming you and you need to change them. Not just to avoid your headache, but for your overall health.
Your headache is just a warning sign!
In the same way, you must learn to listen to your headache. You must look out for what you did before you got a headache. If you notice a pattern, something special you always do before you get a headache, then that’s one of your triggers.
The problem is when your hypothalamus is too sensitive if it can’t functionally process regular, harmless things and always sends you straight over the limit when triggered with a smallest trigger.
This is the case for most migraine patients.
But being hypersensitive to headache triggers is not the only reason you’re suffering on a daily basis. There may be several triggers in your life, triggers you are not aware of. Daily habits you’re so used to that you never thought of them as headache triggers.
Those triggers use up all your tolerance for headaches and make you more sensitive than you otherwise would have to be.
Let me explain this a little bit better…
The hypothalamus acts on hundreds or even thousands of triggers every day. It’s usually not only one or two triggers that put you over the limit (causing your headache), it’s the combination of many small and big triggers.
Lets say for example that coffee, chocolate, stress and strong sunlight could all work as a trigger to your migraine. This is only an example and these may not be YOUR triggers.
Now, if you drink five cups of coffee and eat three chocolate bars, while working out in a strong sunlight, on a project you should have finished two weeks ago, with your boss calling you every two minutes. Then I can pretty much guarantee that you’ll lay in bed suffering a migraine attack the next day or week.
You simply overdid it!
On the other hand, if you enjoyed a couple of hours on the beach while on a relaxed vacation without any coffee or chocolate and with your phone turned off, you most likely won’t feel anything except happiness.
Because the triggers ad up to a breaking point!
Somewhere in your hypothalamus, there is an imaginary line you simply can’t cross. If you do, you’ll suffer.
I call this line the breaking point.
Below, there is another imaginary line called the base line. This is the point from where triggers begin building up in your brain.
If the triggers building up from your base line do NOT cross the breaking point, you’re fine.
You won’t feel any pain!
But as soon as they do cross the line (the breaking point), your hypothalamus will send out a message to the veins in your head to swell up and you’ll suffer a horrible migraine or headache attack.
For some migraine and headache patients, the breaking point is very low. For others, there are simply too many triggers in their life. For most, it’s the combination of both.
It’s very tough to lift the breaking point (although the approaches in my migraine and headache program will actually do that to some degree), so your main goal is to get rid of as many migraine triggers as you can.
This will keep your trigger level below the breaking point and you won’t have to suffer again.
The good news is you don’t have to get rid of everything in your life. There are five major universal migraine triggers I’ve found in almost every migraine patient I’ve helped.
Getting rid of or decreasing some of these five major triggers is usually enough to get the migraine under control.
In my migraine and headache program, I give detailed step by step guidance on how to lower or get rid of each of these major triggers.
I also teach about 24 minor triggers you may want to look out for in addition to these five major triggers.
Warm regards,
Christian Goodman
PS: You can find a link to my migraine and headache program on the right side of this page.
Dear Christian,
You have helped me considerably in the past through your snoring exercise program, which helped my sleep apnea, too. Now I would like to share a couple of things that have helped me in hopes that you may be able to continue your mission.
1. I read several books on the vegan diet, especially by John McDougall (A Challenging Second Opinion is one if his best) and by, Colin Campbell (his The China Study is a classic). After trying the exercises you sent me, I decided to try the whole food vegan diet as I still had problems. Let me list some of the results.
a) Dropped 45 pounds.
b) Sleep apnea conpletely cured.
c) Hypertension gone — no more beta blockers.
d) Carotid arteries opened up as measured by blood flow rate slowing down.
e) Very good energy, especially mental energy and clarity, for 70 years old. Doing scholarly writing and publishing still.
From my personal observation, the whole food vegan diet (no added oil) is a genuine cure for a number of lifestyle induced disorders. I am mentioning this to you because many of the disorders you address have been helped or cured by the diet I am describing. If you will read the two books I’ve mentioned you will see that this is a scientifically substantiated claim.
More radically, let me suggest that you go to the website of Hallelulia Acres and look into their program which is also vegan but also includes more raw food. Again, if you check out the list of testimonies, you will see that people have been delivered from many of the disorders you address.
May God continue to bless you as you serve others.
James Martin
i am new to all this- i thought pain, sleeples nights and snoring was all part of the deal. i can say now that this has changed. i sleep better, no longer need pain relief and i am working through the TMJ program. every day i am feeling better, losing weight and returning to my normal self.
thank you-i have given all your details to my doctor-he was aslo in the dark to TMJ and tell everyone how wonderful i feel.
thank you. my family and i are truly gratful.