Headaches & Migraines
Progressive Medical Center
Integrative Functional Medicine & Health and Wellness Center located in Dunwoody, Atlanta, GA
Everyone occasionally struggles through a tension headache. Excruciating headaches and migraines are less common, but they still affect 17% of Americans. When you need headache relief, Benjamin Johnston Sr., MD, and the experienced team at Progressive Medical Center can help. They complete extensive diagnostic testing and provide holistic care that relieves and prevents headaches by drawing from the best of conventional, alternative, and chiropractic treatments. To learn more about natural treatment options, call the office in Atlanta, Georgia, or book an appointment online today.
Headaches & Migraines Q & A
What causes headaches and migraines?
There are more than 150 different headaches that all fall into two categories:
Primary headaches
Primary headaches originate from muscle, nerve, and blood vessel problems in your head and neck. Examples of primary headaches include tension headaches, migraines, and cluster headaches.
Secondary headaches
Secondary headaches develop from an underlying health problem. For example, temporomandibular joint disorder, concussions, and sinus congestion frequently cause secondary headaches.
However, there are many possible underlying problems that can lead to a secondary headache that conventional medicine seldom addresses, including:
Leaky gut
A leaky gut occurs when inflammation damages the lining of your small intestine, allowing inflammatory and toxic substances to get into your bloodstream.
Hormone imbalance
Imbalances in thyroid hormones, sex hormones, and cortisol increase your chance of developing headaches.
Dehydration
Lack of water affects your brain and causes a headache. Your symptoms may range from a dull headache to intense, migraine-like pain.
What symptoms develop due to headaches and migraines?
All headaches cause pain, but they differ in the duration, severity, and location of the pain. Here are three examples:
Tension headaches
Tension headaches cause mild to moderate pain that’s often described as pressure or tightness across the forehead or on the sides and back of the head.
Cluster headaches
These headaches cause intense, piercing pain around one eye. Each headache lasts up to several hours, and multiple headaches occur in clusters. You may have several headaches daily for months before they go into remission for a time.
Migraine headaches
Migraine pain is severe, throbbing, and typically begins around one temple. The migraine may stay on one side or affect both temples. Without treatment, migraines last at least four hours, and they can continue for up to three days. These headaches also cause nausea, vomiting, and sensitivity to lights, sounds, and smells.
How are headaches and migraines treated?
Progressive Medical Center provides integrative medicine, which means the team thoroughly evaluates the many facets of mind, body, spirit, and community that influence your health and contribute to your headaches.
Their goal is to identify all the underlying causes and then customize your treatment to address all the problems associated with your headaches or migraines.
Your provider often begins by helping you identify the things that trigger your headaches and creating a plan to avoid those triggers.
Whenever possible, Progressive Medical Center uses natural headache treatments such as:
- Dietary changes
- Nutritional supplements
- Bioidentical hormone balancing
- Chiropractic adjustments
- Posture correction
- Acupuncture
- Therapeutic massage
- Stress management
When you need effective and long-lasting relief from headaches and migraines, don’t wait to call Progressive Medical Center or book an appointment online.