Researchers from Bright Path Yoga in Plano, Texas looked at the efficacy of an 8-week strategy of using yoga and meditation to help manage fibromyalgia symptoms, which typically consist of widespread pain, sleep disturbance, stiffness, fatigue, headache, and mood disorders.
The small pilot study looked at the impact of this program on 11 participants.
Results revealed significant improvement in the overall health status of the participants and in symptoms of stiffness, anxiety, and depression. Significant improvements were also seen in the reported number of days "felt good" and number of days "missed work" because of fibromyalgia.
Iranian researchers from Isfahan University, Arak University and Shafa Hospital investigated the efficacy of guided imagery and meditating on a happy memory for relieving the intensity, frequency and duration of chronic tension-type headaches.
Sixty people, all receiving individualized headache therapy, were randomly assigned to one of three groups of 20. One arm listened to a guided imagery audiotape 3 times/week for 3 weeks; one arm imagined their happiest personal memory 3 times/week for 3 weeks; and one group received treatment as usual.
Subjects completed a demographic questionnaire and kept a headache diary.
In three of the outcome measures; headache intensity, headache frequency and headache duration – both guided imagery groups (tape and perceived happy memory) had significantly more improvement than the controls. There were no significant differences between the two kinds of guided imagery groups at any time point.
My 37 year old daughter has suffered from terrible migraine headaches for most of her adult life, at least once or twice a month. She’s been conked out on medication more times than I’d like to count. The pain of these headaches is so strong that she misses a lot of work. All she can do is stay in bed and lie very still with the shades drawn and no noise. It’s heartbreaking to watch her in so much pain. She is my only child and the mother of my only 2 grandchildren.
I help with the housework and keeping the kids when the headaches come on her (her husband is pretty useless, but that’s a whole different topic for another day). Mostly it’s a waiting game. All we could do was wait for them to go away.
About 2 months ago a nurse friend who works at the hospital with me told me about guided imagery and suggested I get one for my daughter. She said that if she listened regularly and taught herself how to relax with them, it could improve her condition. She wasn’t sure, because she mostly used them with cancer patients, but she said she was under the impression that it could maybe help with headaches too.
Dear Belleruth, I have been reading Your Sixth Sense and listening to some of the related downloads. I wanted to thank you for helping me understand the language of my own inner workings a little bit better. I have been struggling with Lyme Disease and am faced with the decision of IV antibiotics. It's a rough decision b/c I have many allergies, so it may have to take place in the ICU under the watch of medical staff for 5-8 weeks... ugh! Here is what I wrote on my blog tonight:
Dear Belleruth,
I'm feeling anxious about the economy, worrying about losing my job, my health insurance, etc. etc. I don't want to dwell on this, as I believe that my thoughts could manifest the very events I'm worrying about.
Any tools, affirmations, guided imagery to help with this?
Thanks,
Kathy
Answer:
Dear Kathy,
I’m so glad you asked this in the way that you did. It gives me a chance to hopefully offer some reassurance and at the same time, rant and carry on about one of my favorite pet peeves.
First off, let me say that I’m sorry you’re faced with these very real concerns. These are dicey times and no way am I minimizing this aspect of your question. A lot of really good, capable people are in this worrisome situation with you.
Researchers from the Department of Psychiatry at Brigham and Women's Hospital/Harvard Medical School reviewed the evidence on the efficacy of biofeedback for the two most prevalent headache conditions--migraine and tension-type headache.
Two recently published meta-analyses yielded data from 150 outcome studies - randomized controlled trials as well as uncontrolled quasi-experimental designs. Of these, 94 studies were selected for inclusion, going by predefined criteria. Meta-analytic integrations were carried out separately for the two conditions of interest.
Researchers from the University of Hartford reviewed the findings to see if a high level of hypnotic suggestibility (considered a stable individual trait) is necessary for a hypnotic pain intervention to relieve headache pain.
Higher suggestibility has been found to be associated with greater relief from hypnotic pain interventions, and although individuals in the high suggestibility range show the strongest response to hypnotic analgesia, people of medium suggestibility (who represent approximately one third of the population) also have been found to obtain significant relief from hypnosis.
The researchers conclude that high hypnotic suggestibility is not necessary for successful hypnotic pain intervention for headache – medium suggestibility works too . But the available evidence does not support the efficacy of hypnotic pain interventions for people who fall in the low hypnotic suggestibility range. According to some studies, these subjects may benefit from imaginative analgesia suggestions (guided imagery), or suggestions for pain reduction that are delivered while the person is not under hypnosis.
Citation: Milling LS. Is high hypnotic suggestibility necessary for successful hypnotic pain intervention? Current Pain and Headache Reports. 2008 Apr;12 (2): pages 98-102. milling@hartford.edu
A review and meta-analysis of studies investigating the effects of biofeedback on tension headaches was undertaken by researchers at Philipps-University of Marburg in Marburg, Germany.
A literature search identified 74 outcome studies, of which 53 were selected according to predefined inclusion criteria. Meta-analytic integration resulted in a significant medium-to-large effect size (d = 0.73; 95% confidence interval = 0.61, 0.84) that proved stable over an average follow-up phase of 15 months.
Biofeedback was found to be more effective than headache monitoring, placebo, and relaxation therapy conditions. The strongest improvements resulted for frequency of headache episodes. Further significant effects were observed for muscle tension, self-efficacy, symptoms of anxiety, depression, and analgesic medication.
Most effective of all was biofeedback in combination with
relaxation. Effects were particularly large in children and
adolescents. The review concluded that biofeedback constitutes an
effective, evidence-based treatment option for tension-type headache.
A woman who suffered from migraines until she had a hysterectomy, just as her grandmother did, wonders how much easier it could have been if her doc had not denied the hormone/migraine connection
Researchers from the Department of Pediatrics at the University of Minnesota, in a retrospective study of clinical records, found that self-hypnosis significantly improved symptoms of recurrent headache in children and adolescents.
Researchers from the Department of Pediatrics at the University of Minnesota did a retrospective review of 178 consecutive outpatient clinical records (referred to the Behavioral Pediatrics Program from 1988-2001) to see if self-hypnosis helped children and youths with symptoms of recurrent headaches.
Iranian researchers from Isfahan University, Arak University and Shafa Hospital investigated the efficacy of guided imagery and meditating on a happy memory for relieving the intensity, frequency and duration of chronic tension-type headaches.
My 37 year old daughter has suffered from terrible migraine headaches for most of her adult life, at least once or twice a month. She’s been conked out on medication more times than I’d like to count. The pain of these headaches is so strong that she misses a lot of work. All she can do is stay in bed and lie very still with the shades drawn and no noise. It’s heartbreaking to watch her in so much pain. She is my only child and the mother of my only 2 grandchildren.
