Many of our brave men and women are secretly suffering from chronic headaches that occur after receiving a devastating injury to the head. They are called post traumatic headaches and they are a side effect of traumatic brain injury (TBI). More than 30% of TBI victims report ongoing headaches that continue to worsen after their injury. Most of these people are men and women who have served in our armed forces and sustained their injury while on active duty. The severity of these headaches can be described as severely bad tension headaches to as bad as migraines. If you have ever had a migraine or you know someone who gets them, then you understand just how awful this actually is.

Sadly, there is no magic medicine that can just make these headaches disappear. It’s not like you can simply pop a couple of aspirin and then you will feel fine. Some of these veterans are going to have to live with these post traumatic headaches for the rest of their life. To add insult to injury, the headaches, which are a symptom of the initial injury, also bring along a whole slew of new symptoms, including: severe pain, nausea, vomiting, dullness or numbness on one side of the head, and/or a tight squeezing sensation on both sides of the head.

So, if you are a veteran who is suffering from post traumatic headaches, what can you do to make life more bearable knowing that you are going to have to deal with this for a very long time, maybe even the rest of your life? Believe it or not, meditation can help you. It can help you a lot, in more ways than one.

Meditation can actually reduce the pain you experience from the headaches. And I don’t just mean it can take your mind off the pain. It can actually make you feel pain less. This has been tested and scientifically proven. Scientists can look at a patient’s brain through MRI scans and see that their brain is actually responding to pain less after meditating than it normally would. Meditation can also help reduce your stress and anxiety. This has also been scientifically tested and proven. You see, simply knowing that you are going to have to deal with painful headaches for probably the rest of your life can bring on a ton of stress and anxiety in addition to all the stress, anxiety, and depression you are already experiencing just from going through a traumatic injury.

I suggest 15 to 20 minutes of mindfulness meditation a day. Now, to you that may sound like a little or it may sound like a lot, but either way, I assure you it is worth it and it will help. Mindfulness meditation will help you cope with pain better and will bring you sense of relaxation, peace, and balance.

Additional resources: http://www.brainline.org/content/2008/12/headaches-after-head-injuries-8212-post-traumatic-headaches.html#

Note: Specifically, with regards to medical issues, always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition. Never disregard professional medical advice or delay in seeking it because of something you have read on the Web site.

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