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

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?

Although headaches are natural, they are not necessary, argues David Buchholz, a professor at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. In his Heal Your Headache: The 1-2-3 Program for Taking Charge of Your Headaches, Buchholz counsels severe headache sufferers to avoid quick fix painkillers, which can cause rebound headaches. For a more holistic approach, minimize triggers like caffeine, perfumes, certain foods and stress and, for hardcore cases, use preventative medications such as tricyclic antidepressants, calcium channel blockers and others. Buchholz also discusses common misdiagnoses of migraine symptoms and challenges the myth of tension and sinus headaches (these are usually migraines, he argues).
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

"If everyone read Dr. Buchholz's book, headache would diminish as a problem all over the world." -- Howard Kirshner, M.D., Professor and Vice Chair, Department of Neurology, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine

"This book is clearly written, insightful and filled with useful tips for all individuals with migraine. A must read!" -- Ronald J. Tusa, M.D., Ph.D., Professor of Neurology and Otolaryngology, Dizziness and Balance Center, Emory University

"This is a very useful book that provides a fresh and logical approach to the management of headaches." -- Roy A. Patchell, M.D., Chief of Neuro-Oncology, University of Kentucky College of Medicine

After graduating first in his class from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, Dr. David Buchholz served as Chief Resident in Neurology at Johns Hopkins. He joined the faculty of Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, where for 14 years he was the Director of the Neurological Consultation Clinic. He also served as Director of the Division of General Neurology at Hopkins. He has published more than 150 scientific papers and articles and given over 450 invited lectures.