Do migraine sufferers want to just ‘manage’ headaches, or would they prefer permanent freedom from this complaint? I know what my preference would be!
In writing about National Headache and Migraine Awareness Week, September 17-23rd, Professor Paul R Martin, Adjunct Professor, School of Psychology and Psychiatry, Monash University, and Head of Conquer Headaches – The Headache and Migraine Program, suggests how people can learn to cope with headache/migraine triggers.
From early in my life I experienced migraine headaches. My parents tried to find a cure for them. Doctors were consulted, drugs prescribed, and treatments undertaken. Numerous theories were put forward as to the possible cause. There was even a theological notion that I had to endure this affliction because it was God’s will. Finally, we accepted the medical diagnosis that the headaches were triggered by a particular food. I stopped eating it. The headaches diminished in number, but they certainly weren’t cured.
The current medical view is that migraine headaches can’t be cured. That belief, along with the one that people are helpless beings dependent on physicality, or that they are powerless entities controlled by an ambivalent deity, are not health-producing. So what concepts do lead to lasting good health?
The answer I found lay in spiritual concepts such as these. Divine Love doesn’t condemn some people to a life of suffering, and bless others with a life of health. Each person is tenderly preserved in his or her original state of perfect health. Everyone has the ability to exercise mastery over the body, to be free from illness and live a normal life. It’s a person’s divine right to be well.
Spiritual concepts like these, make a difference. Thought changes. It undergoes transformation. This change of thinking ultimately has a healing effect. It corrects negative beliefs about the source of health. It rectifies bodily disorders. Health improves. Sickness is healed. Why?
There’s a connection between an individual’s state of thought and his or her health. For example, if someone believes that a certain food can adversely affect them, that person may live in fear of that food and most likely suffer if they eat it. On the other hand, if that person thinks less about stomachs and aching heads, and more about the spiritual facts concerning health and well-being, they will experience wellness. This is what happened to me.
The spiritual ideas relating to health changed my way of thinking. I stopped looking for headache triggers and measuring the intervals between them, and spent more time thinking like this: “I’m the likeness of Spirit. I’m spiritual. I’ve been made well. I’m not afraid of this particular food. Food doesn’t control me. Through the strength of divine Spirit, I can control my body – both its feeling and its action.”
What was the effect of this approach? My wellness increased. Many months later I realized I couldn’t remember the last time I’d suffered with a migraine. The entire thought of it had disappeared. That was the end of the headaches. I started eating the food that I thought triggered the headaches. It had no harmful effect whatsoever. Today it’s a favourite of mine.
Thinking spiritually completely healed me of migraines over four decades ago. I’ve never had them, or any other kind of headache, since then. This encourages me to confidently believe that others can be cured of this ailment too. Like me, they can stop ‘managing’ pain, and be free of migraine headaches – permanently.
I’m a professional Christian Science Practitioner and Teacher. Through my prayer-based practice, I help people find happiness, health and healing.
Before I became a student of Christian Science, some forty something years ago, I too suffered greatly from migraine headaches.
Extremely aggressive in nature, they would have me bedridden with violent retchings, until I was able to fall asleep.
On waking the following morning, all was well, though would always feel a little drained. I was never able to take any form of medication, as it would only exacerbate the situation.
When feeling an onslaught of an attack, I made every effort possible to get home. I felt less vulnerable there somehow.
I will be eternally grateful for having been introduced to the teachings of Christian Science, by a very dear and beloved friend.
We would talk often about the truth of being, and as I began to read, study and ponder the textbook of Christian Science, “Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures” by Mary Baker Eddy, together with the Bible, I suddenly became aware of a shift in consciousness.
A shift from fear, dread, and hopelessness, to one of love, hope and inevitable healing.
These attacks became beautifully less, until the whole concept of such an abuse happening to anyone of God’s beloved children, vanished from thought, and consequently from my experience.
I really have no idea when they ceased, but, they did, and what I learned along the way has only strengthened my trust in the healing power and ever-presence of our dear Father-Mother, God.
Thank you Beverly!
Thank you Shelley for sharing your experience. It is so good to know that you too have been freed from these headaches. Well done. A spiritual approach to healing this ailment has once again proven to be successful. That’s why it’s encouraging for other sufferers, to know that you underwent that “shift from fear, dread, and hopelessness, to one of love, hope and inevitable healing”. They can do likewise and be well.