Heal Your Headache

The 1-2-3 Program for Taking Charge of Your Pain

De: David Buchholz M.D., Stephen G. Reich - introduction M.D.

Narrado por: Mike Lenz

A three-step program that puts headache sufferers back in control of their lives.

“A must read for all individuals with migraine!”—Ronald J. Tusa, M.D., PH.D., Professor of Neurology and Otolaryngology, Dizziness and Balance Center, Emory University

Based on the breakthrough understanding that virtually all headaches are forms of migraine—because migraine is not a specific type of headache, but the built-in mechanism that causes headaches of all kinds, along with neck stiffness, sinus congestion, dizziness, and other problems—Dr. Buchholz’s Heal Your Headache offers a simple, transforming program.

Step 1: Avoid the “Quick Fix.” Too often painkillers only make matters worse because of the crippling complication known as rebound.
Step 2: Reduce your triggers. The crux of the program: a migraine diet that eliminate the foods that push headache sufferers over the top.
Step 3: Raise your threshold. When diet and other lifestyle changes aren’t enough, preventive medication can help stay the course.

That’s it. In three steps, you can turn your headache problems around.

Includes answers to questions like:

• What is a migraine anyway?
• Why do I get more headaches than most people?
• Of all the potential dietary triggers, what are the major culprits?
• Will my headaches get better when I get older?
• Why does the weather give me headaches?
• How long will it take me to get over rebound when I stop taking my Excedrin?
• Are my children doomed to suffer from headaches?
• Why do I wake up every morning with a headache?

This title was updated in November 2021 to reflect the latest medical advice.

Essential for migraine sufferers

This book really helped me finally grasp the concept of threshold, and triggers. After years of hearing arbitrary things about specific foods being the “cause” of headaches, I feel like I have a whole new approach.

I will say that I found some of the information about rebound to not match with my experience. I’m pretty confident I regularly get stuck in rebound due to medications that were all on his safe list.

I’m 4 months into following the 1-2-3. The first month was horrible - 2nd and 3rd were really good, and now month 4 is horrible (lots of external stressors and barometric shifts). He makes this sound easier than it is. Without meds, or food triggers, at least for me, there is still a lot of migraine pain. So that’s something I’m
Navigating.

So despite this not being a fun read and the authors voice being annoying, I do think it was a good addition to my toolkit and will likely shape the way I approach my wellness for years to come.