Painkillers cause Headaches

You may have read the news today saying that taking painkillers too often can actually “give you a headache”, according the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence.  As a McTimoney Chiropractor this is not news to me, I have known this for a very long time, and it is worse if the painkillers you take have codeine in them, such as Co-codamol or DF118, or codeine phosphate. This is because codeine is an opiate, and therefore highly addictive, and so you get withdrawal symptoms very quickly.

So what are the alternatives? Well as a McTimoney Chiropractor I see many people in my clinic on a daily basis who are experiencing headaches of a various nature. Here is the story of one such lady.

Sally had been having headaches all of her life. Even at school at the age of 8, Sally remembers having headaches. By the time sally got into my clinic, she had had all the treatments and therapies that her GP had to offer, from the regular painkillers to anti-depressants and beta-blockers, and was due to retire the next year. Her headaches and migraines were controlling her life, if she woke up in the morning with a headache, she would stay in bed, because she knew that no amount of medication would be able to touch it.

When she came into me, we went through a complete medical history, including accidents that she had had. At the age of 7, Sally had fallen off a swing in the park! Any connections yet? You bet, falling off the swing Sally had knocked her neck out of alignment, giving rise to what we Chiropractors call “cervico-genic headaches”. Had her mother taken her to a McTimoney Chiropractor back then, Sally, and her family, would have been spared the years of misery that followed.

NICE says  that there is no proven treatment other than acupuncture. I know that the scientists out there would say that this story is not a randomised controlled trial (RCT) and I would tend to agree with them, but are you suffering from headaches and want to try something else, what do you have to lose, other than your life back? If not you, then maybe somebody you know and love. Do them a favour and pass this on to them.