Migraine: visualization.

Newsgroups: alt.folklore.herbs
Subject: Re: Migraines
From: amberlyn.comtch.iea.com (Amberlyn)
Date: 21 Oct 1994 17:48:09 GMT

ROBIN F HOWARD (oatstraw.twain.ucs.umass.edu) wrote:
: Unfortunately, I've never had anything work for my migraines, save megadoses of ibuprofen, and even then I was just barely functional.

Here's something that worked for me once, and amazingly, I haven't had a migraine since. It doesn't use herbs, but it does work. This technique was taught to me by a medical psychiatrist. You need to be proficient in self-hypnosis, trance, visualization. In a comfortable position, relax and put yourself in a deep trance, but don't go to sleep. (There are many books and therapists out there who can teach these techniques.) It is best to practice this without a headache, so that it comes easily with one.

In trance, imagine your dominant hand getting hot. Perhaps you see it inches above a hot burner. It gets so hot that it begins to numb, and then numbness begins to creep up your arm. Now -- this is the "magic" -- lift your hand to your forehead, and mentally transfer the numbness there by touching the back of your hand to the forehead. When I did this, I felt my forehead crawl backward for what felt like inches.

While you can effectively numb your hand with imagined cold, heat is needed in this exercise as migraines are vascular, and we want to dilate the vessels to relieve pressure.

I hope it will help someone as well as it did me.

Amberlyn