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 migraines tends to run in families. Sometimes a concussion can cause migraine. Stress, diet, menstruation, 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 they report “never happens that fast.” But everyone is different, and results don’t always happen in the same time frame for everyone. I can tell you that biofeedback won’t hurt you or make anything worse. I have colleagues who have treated clients solely with this technology and since 2005 nobody at that practice has completed 15 sessions without results. Pain reduction results tend to be very long lasting, actually, and it is one of the reasons people want to try this method of treatment for their migraines.
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. Neurofeedback does not require pills or excessive amounts of talk, and it’s a great option for those who want something more.
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, a trusted colleague, 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