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| or vascular system. These include migraine and its variants as well as headaches due to abnormal stretching of the arterial walls in the cranium as a result of vessel-wall disease. |
| Migraine |
| Migraine is an all too common problem today. A recent study suggests that 8.7 million women and 2.6 million men suffer from migraine with moderate to severe disability. Of these, 3.4 million women and 1.1 million men experience one or more attacks per month. 2 |
| Orthodox medicine holds that the fundamental cause of migraine is unknown. The herbalist, as with most holistically orientated practitioners, can achieve excellent results with migraine by focusing on a number of factors which suggest causal links. Specific herbal remedies can prove exceptionally successful if used in the context of addressing the whole body and environment of the patient. |
| Although the precise cause of migraine headaches is unknown, a key element is blood flow changes in the brain. People who get migraine headaches appear to have blood vessels that overreact to various triggers. One theory which might explain these changes suggests that the nervous system responds to a trigger by creating a spasm in the nerve-rich arteries at the base of the brain. The spasm closes down or constricts several arteries supplying blood to the brain, including the scalp artery and the carotid or neck arteries. As these arteries constrict, the flow of blood to the brain is reduced. At the same time, blood-clotting particles called platelets clump together, a process which is believed to release a chemical called serotonin. Serotonin acts as a powerful constrictor of arteries, further reducing the blood supply to the brain. Reduced blood flow |
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