There is a migraine personality or syndrome.
Migraineurs are often highly responsible, self-sacrificing people with a lot of people depending on them. They are typically bad at relaxation and tend to have cold hands.
We know that migraine tends to run in families. Sometimes a concussion can cause migraine. Stress, diet, menstruation, concussion and other factors can start a migraine or make it worse.
Migraine pain is caused by swollen blood vessels inside the brain pressing against nerves. You can think of migraines as the brain getting stuck in swollen mode. Neural over-activation takes the form of neural vasodilation.
The self-regulation counter-balance to turn off the faucet is impaired. Biofeedback training enhances self-regulation and strengthens the capacity to moderate blood flow within the brain.
Biofeedback is highly effective for preventing migraine. We consistently see reductions in frequency, duration, pain intensity, and severity–meaning how they limit your life.
Some people come in with a migraine and then report that it is gone at the end of a neurotherapy session, “which never happens.” But everyone is different and I do not want to make any promises I cannot keep. I can promise that biofeedback won’t hurt you or make anything worse. Since 2005 in my practice, nobody has completed 15 sessions with no results. Pain reduction results are very long lasting. We can’t say for sure because the methods are progressing quickly and some technologies were only invented recently.
Please Contact Me
If this is an issue for you or someone you know, please contact me to learn if neurofeedback may be an appropriate treatment. We’ll talk briefly on the phone or chat via email and then set up a time to meet.
Research
Biofeedback works better than medications to reduce migraine.
Neurofeedback and biofeedback with 37 migraineurs: a clinical outcome study, Feb. 2010
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2826281/
Of those who choose neurofeedback, 54% had complete cessation of migraine and 39% had greater than 50% reduction.
QEEG-guided neurofeedback for recurrent migraine headaches, 2011
http://www.eeginfo.com/research/articles/QEEG-Guided.pdf
Gary Ames was an early adopter of this new method showing a 90% response rate.
Passive Infrared Hemoencephalography: Four Years and 100 Migraines, 2008
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1300/J184v08n03_03
“This is amazing. I feel so good every time we are done with a session.
Such a huge impact on my life. Thank you.”
“Biofeedback has been great for me.
It really worked to overcome my issues.”
“I have grown so much over the past 2 months.
This freedom is wonderful.”
“I used to have a slew of problems.
Those are gone now and I have moved on.”
“I used to have mental problems that would consume my life.
But now I’m just living a great life.”
“I can’t believe how much this biofeedback helped me overcome that head trash.
Life is so much better now.”