Pharmahealthblog. Health and medical information

Since almost everyone suffers from headache at some time, it is often not regarded as a disease, although clearly it is ‘disease’ (i.e. not being at ease). But since headache interferes considerably with the lives of significant numbers of people, it seems illogical to regard it as normal. However, the changes occurring in the body are subtle, so that it is exceedingly difficult to analyze changes taking place, even with sophisticated research tools. Often, no sooner has some abnormality been discovered, than it is shown to be only secondary to pain, or not to be present in all who supposedly have the same symptoms. By comparison, the understanding of an obvious abnormality such as an infected chest is simple, as not only can changes be seen on an X-ray, but the ’cause’ can be isolated by observing the germ in the laboratory.The fact that a number of people have a specific form of headache does not necessarily mean that the cause is the same in all of them. In the same way, a blocked nose and sore throat may be caused by infection with germs or by allergy; the symptoms can be identical but the treatment of each is very different. Treating a ‘runny’ nose due to hay fever with antibiotics is worse than useless.The situation in the classification of headaches is analogous, except that a good deal is known about the structures concerned with pain and the nerves which carry the sensation.
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A hot bath is a great help at period time, not only because it keeps us sweet smelling, but because heat eases pain. As in everything else, we are all highly individual in the amount of heat we need. One woman’s hot bath will feel lukewarm to another. In Victorian times women used to be told that they couldn’t take a bath or wash their hair when they had a period, otherwise they’d catch cold and end up with pneumonia. Although we tend to mock such an idea today, it was actually sensible advice at the time it was given. In those days most bathrooms were unheated, hair was long and difficult to dry, and ordinary people’s homes did not have central heating. Now that most of us can keep our homes adequately warm, and dry ourselves and our hair thoroughly and quickly, there’s no reason why we shouldn’t bath as often as we like — providing we have a warm bathroom and the necessary supply of hot water.

A hot water bottle is a cheap form of warmth and there’s nothing to beat its comfort, especially when it can be applied quickly to a localized pain, like the one you feel low down in your abdomen, or in the small of your back. Some women make themselves into a hot water bottle sandwich, with bottles back and front. They find the double source of heat eases a lot of pain away. Many say the heat also helps them to relax. On the other hand there are some who find that direct heat is too exhausting to help them much, more evidence of how different we all are in the things we like and the things we need.

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