The Main Migraine or Pain Phase

If you have a headache that last more than seventy-two hours (three days), you should see a doctor. You maybe experiencing something called “status migrainosus,” a severe migraine that can last over a week without any relief. It isn’t dangerous. However, it’s a very good idea to call your doctor if this happens to you. Treatments that may bring you complete relief include steroids, anti-inflammatory drugs, drug, and/or certain narcotics. The emergency room is not the place to go in this situation, since you probably won’t be a high-priority patient, but if you can’t get in to see your regular doctor and must go to the ER, you’ll want to take a letter from your doctor explaining how to treat you in this situation.

During the pain phase of the migraine, do you experience the following? Check all that apply to you:

Pain Phase Symptom	Do I get this?
		Always	Often	Rarely	Never
Headache
Nausea and/or Vomiting
A sense of seasickness (you may need to stay still so you don’t become nauseated)
An aversion to food
The head pain gets worse with physical exertion
Intense sensitivity or aversion to light
Intense sensitivity to noise
Diarrhoea
Runny nose
Stuffy nose or congestion
Eyes tearing up
Very sensitive scalp or skin, so that you can’t stand being touched or your clothes feel tight
Vertigo
Hot flashes or chills
Fluid retention, suck as a swollen face or hands

Steps to Exposure

To ease your fears, consider this: there will be structure and gradations to these exercises. These evidence based exercise have been used successfully with literally thousands of people who suffer from anxiety. They conquer their anxiety and learn to challenges. Occasionally people relapse, but when they get back on the exposure program, they got better again.

The steps to the exposure exercises as follow:

1.      Identify your forms of avoidance.

2.      Use gradations in intensity of exposure. You’ll start by using your imagination, then later using real-life exposure.

3.      Eliminate your escape and avoidant behaviours.

4.      Perform the easiest exposure first, and then work up in difficulty.

5.      Note the difference between your worst fears about exposure and what actually happen.

6.      Note the gradual improvement in your symptoms.

Breathing Exercise 3

Use this exercise to monitor your breathing throughout the day and re-establish a calming breathing pattern.

1. Breathe through your nose.

2. Slow your breathing to eight to twelve breaths per minute. The slower the better.

3. Exhale more slowly than you inhale.

4. After breathing out, hold for a moment before taking your next breath.

Restructuring Your Breathing

To learn to relax, you’ll need to force yourself to develop new habits, such as the way you breathe. Because one of the most common symptoms of panic is shortness of breath, you’ll want to learn to breathe differently.

Whenever you feel anxious, stop and note your breathing, then slow it down. Breathing deeply, especially with a longer exhalation, will help you relax. You can shift from the fight-or-flight response (activated by your sympathetic nervous system) to the relaxation response (activated by your parasympathetic nervous system) by using the following methods.

1.      Hold your breath for 10-15 seconds. This temporarily prevents the dissipation of carbon dioxide.

2.      Breathe in and out of a paper bag. You will rein hale the carbon dioxide in the bag and restore the balance of oxygen and carbon dioxide in your bloodstream.

3.      Exercise vigorously when you’re anxious. This increases your metabolism and produces more energy. The inhales oxygen is used up by the process of metabolism, and a larger quantity of carbon dioxide will be produced.

4.      Practice deep abdominal breathing, which allows your lungs to fill to capacity. This slows your body down.

Weekly Depression Rating Scale

To see if you might be clinically depressed, please read through the following list and rate how frequently you’ve experienced each symptom over the past week by placing a check mark in the appropriate column.

Are You Depressed?

During the past week	None or a little of the time (0-2 days)	Some of the time (3-5 days)	Most of the time (6-7 days)
Waking up at night or in the early morning, unable to return to sleep
Very restless sleep
Loss of energy; fatigue
Decreased sex drive
Unable to enjoy life; loss of zest for life
Withdrawing from others
Strong thoughts of suicide
Loss of appetite
Memory problems, forgetfulness, or poor concentration
Feeling irritable or easily frustrated
Feeling of sadness, hopelessness, or unhappiness
Sleeping a lot
Feeling of low self-esteem
Apathy or low motivation

If you checked more than five of the items in the “some of the time” or “most of the time” columns, you may be struggling with clinical depression and, would probably be helped by seeking a diagnosis from a health care professional.

Chest Expander

While standing, widen your stance and stretch your arms up and to the side, making the figure of an X, while breathing in deeply. Exhale as you bring your arms back down to your sides.

Neck Roll

While sitting or standing, drop your chin to you chest, then slowly roll you head around 360 degrees. Then roll it in the opposite direction.