SOMETIMES THE FEAR OF A HEADACHE IS ALMOST AS DEBILITATING AS THE HEADACHE ITSELF. The psychological and emotional trauma that comes with never knowing when your next headache is going to strike can be paralyzing. Left unchecked, this anxiety can take over, causing headache sufferers to decline invitations, avoid travel, and bypass new and exciting opportunities.
As upsetting as headaches are, however, you can’ t let the fear win out, says Michele Nicosia, a pain management physical therapist at St. Louis Behavioral Medicine Institute in Missouri.“ Anxiety is a normal response to uncertainty, but it can also make things worse,” she says. When people are anxious, they tense their muscles, which decreases blood flow and can lead to more headaches.“ It becomes a vicious circle.”
Chronic anxiety diminishes quality of life and increases the frequency of headaches, especially for tension-type headache sufferers, says Arthur Elkind, MD, president of the board of directors of the National Headache Foundation and director of the Elkind Headache Center in Mount Vernon, N. Y.“ Many migraine sufferers get anxious they may get an attack when they’ re going to do something pleasant,” he says.“ That alone can make them upset and impact their quality of life, even though they may never get the migraine.”
To break that cycle, you need to start by giving yourself a break, says Kathleen Farmer, PsyD, a psychologist with the Headache Care Center in Springfield, Mo., and author of the website Managing Migraine: A Patient’ s Guide to Successful Migraine Care( www. managingmigraine. org).“ Migraine sufferers have hyper-excitable brains,” she says. Of course, that ' s not always a bad thing. It can lead to many positive attributes, such as having an excellent memory for numbers, a strong drive for achievement and a detail-oriented sensibility. But it also means migraine sufferers are more likely to be anxious about the feeling that they have no control over their condition, Dr. Farmer says.
The best way to tamp down that anxiety is to recognize it for what it is, and implement tools and strategies to calm your nervous system and put your fears into perspective.
Our experts offer this advice to reduce headache-related anxiety and get back to living a normal, more stress-free life.
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ACKNOWLEDGE THAT
KNOW YOUR TRIGGERS. People with hyper-excitable brains are more susceptible to the environmental stressors that can trigger headaches and anxiety. But
YOUR STRESS IS REAL AND APPROPRIATE. if you take the time to identify what these stressors are and manage your exposure Anxiety is a common condition among to them, you can minimize both the headaches and anxiety about not knowing migraine sufferers, who also are more when headaches will occur. This launches a positive cycle of confidence and control. likely to experience depression and“ Understanding what triggers anxiety can help dissipate it,” Dr. Farmer says. sleeplessness, Dr. Elkind says. Because of the biochemical pathways in their brains, migraineurs are more vulnerable to stress, and the uncertainty of not knowing when a headache will strike is a legitimate trigger for feelings of anxiety.
Recognizing this fact can help ease your worries that you are overreacting to fears about when the next migraine will strike.
Rather than feeling bad about the anxiety, recognize it as a related symptom and take steps to mitigate it.“ Things that will help reduce anxiety are biofeedback— which helps control anxiety by contolling bodily reactions— or diverting their attention by having them engage in exercise,” Elkind says.
26 HEAD WISE | Volume 1, Issue 1 • 2011