Blog about old age!

8th November 2013 / Dr Maura McGill / Blog

If you had to choose, would you prefer to have your body or your brain fail first?

It seems that we all fear old age, and that’s perfectly understandable. There is a huge industry around anti-ageing products and techniques, from creams and potions, to exercise and lifestyle issues. I see a fair number of women even 10 years younger than me who are deteriorating physically at an alarming rate.
Of greater concern is the number of women, and men, who are deteriorating mentally, whether by reason of early dementia or, more commonly, from depression which is common in older people. It is often unrecognised and untreated. Geriatricians know that there is a condition that used to be called “involutional melancholia”, i.e. old age depression. Part of that syndrome is what I have come to call “elderly anorexia”, where older people tend to eat less and less and end up with malnutrition.
But when should we start to worry about this? When our parents are in their 70s or 80s? Or when we ourselves are in our 40s, 50s and 60s?Making the best of your physical and mental abilities never stops. From high school to marriage, to parenthood and beyond, we always have to make the best of our lot. Few are so well off that they never have to exert themselves, ever, to make money or to please a partner, or to get on with neighbours and friends without being boring.

It starts with us, me, myself and you, yourself.
How to take care of our bodies is well known but it is less clear how we should take care of our minds. After all, some of the great brains have succumbed to dementia, despite being at the very top of their professions. So what does it take? In medicine we continue to explore the chance of finding a gene for dementia (of which Alzheimer’s is only one form) and we hope to find some toxin that we can eliminate from our diet and environment before it is too late.

But when you look at those elderly who have escaped the dreaded mind-collapse, we find some interesting things….
They cultivate an attitude of contentment. They eat simply and sparingly, but good quality food. They continue to have friends and to entertain themselves and those around them. They exercise their brains as well as their bodies and get fresh air daily. Oxygen is a great boost to mental health! God rest them, but my parents lived into their 80s before dying of body issues rather than mental failings. My poor old Dad was so in control of his faculties that he was able to pretend to be deaf so that the young doctors spoke REALLY LOUDLY and SLOWLY to him, then he would turn and make a quick whispered aside to me at the bedside. I had to tell him to lay off as the doc was beginning to think he was crazy instead of sick!

But that is not the only answer. My friend’s father was a very famous QC who developed Alzheimer’s in spite of a lifetime of energetically defending a huge variety of persons, both here and abroad. So mental agility alone will not do. I did not know this man himself, but his son, my buddy, has plenty of cheerfulness and so we hope he will escape the same problem. Cultivating cheerfulness will make your life better, whether it changes your mental destiny or not, so why not do it anyway?!
I hope my formula works for my patients but so far, it has shown itself to be beneficial: Hair, teeth, nails and face all need attention, starting at age 40 if not before. Then body shape, exercise, diet and mind-set and friends to laugh with, and life will start going really well.

By the time you get yourself together with something worthwhile to do, someone to love and something to look forward to, you are well on your way to happiness, both now and in the future. Enjoy your body while your mind is agile and then IF your mind collapses, you won’t care so much about the body!!

Be well.
Maura

An amazing discovery regarding learning!

8th November 2013 / Dr Maura McGill / Blog

The world of deep and esoteric scientific studies often disappoints in what they produce, given that it costs millions to support sometimes meaningless research. But we have a winner. Not very new, but very useful. The age of the computer has us all remarking how on earth do tiny children understand keyboards, remote controls etc so quickly, and so much better than their elders?

The answer is in the way they learn. Little children have not yet learned to reason their way through a problem. They simply go at it like a bull at a gate and are prepared to fail enough times to get it right, almost by accident. This the true trial and error method of learning. (Apologies to my many teacher followers, who know this already, but read on…)

The research using rats-in-mazes shows that rats go quickly at the problem (food in a distant hidden corner) and simply try everything, including failed methods, then go forward when they get something right, with that learning imprinted on their brains. It has been shown that this is the easiest and quickest way to learn! Who could have guessed?

It certainly was not the way I was taught to do reading or maths but it IS the way to reach beyond logic into the computer age and, guess what?, the Brain Age! When things are not amenable to logic, we should try just doing it.

Like many, I enjoy a go at Solitaire on my computer or at crosswords (now that I no longer have children to feed and house) and I have tried this crazy method of doing things without trying too hard. It works. You do have to let go and try what first comes to mind, and try again what comes to mind, but by and large the final result comes sooner than you think.

But getting logic out of the way, does not mean getting the brain out of the way. The brain can be used in a non-logical way, by simply trusting the brain to do as you want it to do, providing you are giving it clear instructions every time eg imagine the desired outcome completed.

In medicine this use of the brain works particularly well in areas where ordinary medical logic hardly works at all. Like females losing weight, for instance. If you stop thinking it through too much, you can simply imagine the result often enough to create that reality. I have said before that you can insist to yourself that you are losing weight, or being a non-smoker, even when it is not true, and you will be surprised. As long as you don’t actively sabotage yourself, the brain will win and you will start losing weight etc. As an aid to dieting, it’s invaluable.

The way to do this is to ‘unzip’ your present body, together with its big bottom or big boobs (or big Everything) and step forward out of it, in your mind, and spend some time imagining using that slimmer body to dance, bend, run, skip or do whatever you miss most! Or you can state repeatedly that you don’t smoke and see yourself bypassing the place where you buy ‘them’ (unmentionables!).

The same applies to chocolate eating. There are women who cannot stop until the whole packet of chocolate biscuits is consumed, or the family sized bar is gone. But if you say to yourself, even as you eat the chunks, “I don’t eat chocolate”, the brain will win, and sooner than you think. As you say it, imagine what it would feel like to be a non chocoholic but eating this piece of chocolate….? Eat it, but tell yourself you don’t eat chocolate. I was amazed at how well it works as long as you say it every time. The Brain Wins!

Self hypnosis is not trial and error, but it is a way to side-step the logic the we have all revered for so long. The brain has been under-used; we have been told that we use only 10% of our full capacity. So in various ways we can use different parts of our brainpower.

We can even find ways to do the impossible! I look forward to hearing your stories!

Blessings,
Maura

DR MAURA MCGILL, Dr Maura McGill Gold Coast, menopause treatment, natural hormone therapy, PMS treatment

Female bosses

10th October 2013 / Dr Maura McGill / Blog

In the days when women were still underpaid (still are, I hear you say) they were keen to promote the idea of Same Pay for Same Job. And they were, and still are, right about that. But ask any workers whether there is a difference between the way a man manages and the way a woman manages, and those who are really tuned in will admit there is a difference.

Females are both better and worse at managing. Huh? Yes, there are features of management that women do really well, from their feminine side, and then there are features that require them to abandon their feminine side and look from a masculine point of view. This is a reflection of the survival patterns that have been encoded into us from the times of the caveman.

When the hunters came home with a kill, there was a feast. Lots of cooking, preparing, child-minding to keep them out of harm’s way while all this activity was going on. The men ate, drank and slept and went off on the hunt again, leaving the women to do some gathering of fruits or herbs and vegetables to add to the diet.

But hunting took days and days sometimes. During those times women sat around the fires at night, often getting into gossip and mischievous, excessive ‘noticing’ the short-comings of others around the fire. After all, there was no radio or television to entertain them and the children, so gossip was the way that they shared skills and information, and allowed senior women to have an honoured place and pass on the wisdom they had accumulated. In theory.

However, sometimes when people feel they are not listened to, not valued or not kept ‘in the loop’, they can react badly and become spiteful. Women are more inclined to take umbrage than men are, in my experience. But maybe I am not in the boys’ locker room to hear them gossip! If women have nothing better to do, they will talk about each other and report who said what etc until the cows come home. A very dangerous past-time!

So what does that mean for women who are managers? Whether they manage an all-girl team or a mixed team, they need to be able to sort the chaff from the grain in the irritant department. Some irritations are important and have to be dealt with; some are a waste of time and emotion. So telling the difference is crucial.

Using the yardstick of: “Will this be important in 1, 3 or 5 years?” can be useful. So squabbling over car park spaces or trivia left on the floor can safely be relegated to the do-now-and-forget box. But deep enmities (not merely a short tiff) between people need to be addressed before they cause mass resignations and the company goes down the gurgler. Telling the difference can be what really makes a good manager, male or female.

Effective, decisive moves come from the masculine energy. Tender, kind moves come from the feminine energy. There is a place for each of them but not always together. You gotta ‘know when to roll ’em, and know when to fold ‘em….”.

DR MAURA MCGILL, menopause expert, natural hormone therapy, PMS expert

Blog about Middle Aged Spread

30th September 2013 / Dr Maura McGill / Blog

Just had a coffee in a shopping centre…. As can be seen in any town anywhere, there was a young family, father about 35, mother about the same and a 2-3 year old in a stroller. They sat at the table next to me. She went to order and pay and he sat with the stroller. He was lean, average, nice eyes, altogether like thousands of other young fathers. She sat down. Overweight by at least 15 kilos, most of which was around the middle, with a ‘spare tyre’ of magnificent proportions, and a derrière to match. They waited until their order arrived and then both tucked in to sandwiches and coffee. Nothing untoward, you say? No, not if you do that every day, or see it every day in every shopping centre across the country.

There is, however, one thing very wrong about this scene. It is not her fault exactly. She has been conditioned to believe that men and women are equal in this world. And that extends to eating the same meal three times a day.

But Nature never intended men and women to be fed in the same way. Men from caveman days were the warriors and hunters and had to be fed Big Meals to keep up their energy for immediate emergencies. Women, especially after having a baby, were expected by Nature to have a more sedentary life, breast feeding, attending to the home etc. so there was, and still is, no need for a Big Meal equal to his! Why do women gain weight in their middle years? Because they eat as they did when they were 25-30. They expect that they will burn it off as they always have. But they don’t. Even going to the gym 3-4 times a week will not disperse the food that goes in the mouth if you keep eating patterns the same as when you were younger. Weight gain is, I believe, the number one concern of women everywhere, except perhaps in the Kalahari Desert or similar places! There, the food is scarce and the women don’t gain weight, because THEY DON’T EAT AS MUCH! I sometimes wish I could shake these women of 35 into LOOKING at what they are putting into their mouths. Bread, flour, biscuits, ‘treats’, ice cream, as well as three good meals a day! What do they want? Nature will find a way to stop them, strokes, heart attacks, anything to get them to STOP CRAMMING FOOD into their mouths.

We can easily manage with a handful of food a day, as any prisoner of war can tell you; as any hunger striker can tell you; as anyone on the poverty line can tell you. Just because you can afford a cappuccino and apple tart with cream is not a good reason to have it. If you really want to be lean and active, you have to do what lean and active people do, especially the women. Eat sparingly, no rubbish, keep busy with jobs where you cannot eat eg. sewing, painting, doing the vacuuming. And beware of your desk at work. When your energy flags or you are tired or bored, it is a reflex to make a cuppa and have a biscuit. STOP. Have a drink of water before anything else and ask yourself: are you bored, frustrated, tired, emotional, anxious? If so, the answer is not food.

Confront the feeling. Analyse it to find what it is trying to tell you. The reason you cannot lose weight maybe because you are hiding from some unpleasant truths. If they are too much to bear, well, maybe eating IS your way out, but then do not give me the responsibility of re-designing your diet when we both know a subtle sabotage is going on!

Blessings,

Maura

Life Before Menopause

24th September 2013 / Dr Maura McGill / Blog

To Understand Menopause it helps to understand how our hormone’s behave before we reach midlife and menopause

Hormones before menopause work on a cycle controlled by the pituitary gland just underneath the very centre of the lower surface of the brain. This little gland is the ‘conductor’ of the orchestra of endocrine glands in the body, including the thyroid, the adrenals, and the ovaries or testes.

The pituitary is organised on a bio-rhythm sort of cycle, some say related to the phases of the moon. There is good evidence to show that this may well be true! It also responds to what is going on in the brain, at least to some extent. The brain is the ‘commander in chief’. If there is some sort of huge trauma going on, a big shock or critical performance issues such as chronic long distance running or long term starvation, the hypothalamus part of the brain, which lies geographically above the pituitary, can communicate with the little gland almost instantaneously to affect its output.

Before menopause in a normal woman, the pituitary puts out FSH or Follicle Stimulating Hormone to stimulate the ovaries to develop and then release an ovum or egg for fertilisation. Since the reproduction of the species depends on this cycle of FSH and ovarian response, it takes a major impact of some sort to disturb the pituitary so that it stops stimulating the ovaries. But under normal circumstances the FSH during the fertile years runs at anything from 3 to 30 or thereabouts.

So, what about progesterone, the ‘forgotten’ hormone?

Well progesterone is produced in the ovary after the egg has been released for fertilisation. The body produces heaps of progesterone but only in the second half of the cycle, so as to ensure that the new embryo, if present, has the best possible chance of being properly embedded in the uterine wall and the woman’s early pregnancy proceeds without problems. A low progesterone output during the second half of the ovarian cycle will often indicate an inability to carry a fertilised egg into later pregnancy. The IVF clinics around the world, and also in Australia where it all began, will give their patient progesterone routinely to ensure the best possible environment for the fertilised egg.

So if you only have progesterone after ovulation, then a pre-menopausal woman only need progesterone from Day 10 or 12 to the next period. But it is different in menopause. The whole hormone orchestra changes because of the slow, or no, ovarian response to FSH. The pituitary continues to try to stimulate the sluggish ovaries, and puts out increasing amounts of FSH, which can go up to 300-350 before the pituitary recognises that there is never going to be any response from the ovaries, and it slowly reduces the amount of FSH.

Slight or absent ovarian response also means there is less oestrogen running around the blood stream. The combination of high FSH + low oestrogen (not merely low oestrogen alone) is what causes the hot flushes. We know this because when the FSH reduces back down, even when there is less than 10 units of oestrogen, there is no hot flushing! At that point the woman has successfully traversed the menopause and is now post-menopausal.

FSH, hormones, menopause, Menopause Symptoms, natural hormone therapy, oestrogens, progesterones

5 Reasons Women over 60 do NOT HAVE Hot Flushes for Hormonal Reasons

10th September 2013 / Dr Maura McGill / Articles, Blog

Women over 60 are not having hot flushes for Hormonal reasons it’s for one of these…

5 reasons

1. Uncontrolled Blood Pressure – very common very curable

Most people who know they have blood pressure take their tablets in the morning so if they’re not properly controlled by the evening their tablet has run out & when they’re pressure goes up as they lie down you often get a hot sweat.

Treatment – have the tablets morning & night but split the dose.

Quite often you take their blood pressure in the morning & gives the impression that everything is alright because they’ve just taken their tablets.

2. Thyroid Disease – easy to find easy to cure

Thyroid either or too high or too low can give you hot flushes but their an odd sort of hot flush their not the drenching sweat type but their still uncomfortable, makes it difficult too lose weight – because the thyroid is like the throttle of you car. It controls your metabolism so if it’s too low it causes weight gain.

Treatment – mostly medication but talk to your doctor.

3. Sugar metabolism – very common very curable

Where you get a sudden rush of sugar and your body says No No No and the insulin rushes out and slams the sugar down (after going up) which causes the hot flushes. It typically occurs at night after they’ve had a couple of glasses of wine & dessert.

Drenching sweats at night is very suspicious of the sugar metabolism.

4. Phaeo-chromo-cytoma & carcinoid syndrome – very rare!

*** All need to be looked for – But you wont find them if you don’t look which is why you test and measure everything ***

5. Progesterone is in balance.

Only for women over 60 – it helps with bone density brain function and is an anti proliferative (which means it stops things growing so if you have anything like a little breast cyst or similar that could change, then progesterone is going to be great for things like that).

hormones therapy, Hot Flushes, HRT, menopause, Menopause Symptoms, metabolism, night sweats, peri-menopause, Peri-menopause treatment, progesterone

Blog on LISTENING – Dr Maura McGill – Menopause and PMS expert

3rd September 2013 / Dr Maura McGill / Blog

A domestic crisis arose (of some great significance, involving water, electricity and children!) and the woman rang her boss in the early part of a weekend morning to say she could not work. Getting a call in the early hours of weekend morning ( well, 6am may not be early to some) obviously disturbed what was either a comfy sleep-in or a little consensual ‘exercise’, if you know what I mean. Both were at their wits end, but what was interesting was that both felt they were not being ‘heard’ by the other. What resulted was resentment that they were each being undervalued by the other!

I have some sympathy for each point of view. If only we could see others’ point of view a little more clearly. This is not easy to do, as I can testify. I have (or rather used to have) an extremely short fuse and would blow up at the lightest thing. I am better these days, maybe because we all reach that age where the rage is simply not worth it as the outcome rarely changes for all out ranting!

One of the things I learned at law school, and in practice later was to speak harsh truths in a soft voice. Thus, “I am sorry, Mr Bloggs, but the deal is off as of this morning” can be stated like a prize fighter with the winner’s belt around his girth. Or, it can be stated in a still, small voice that nonetheless conveys the same message. Which one will make Mr Bloggs ‘arc up’ into full indignation? Hardly the still small voice. The message is, do not take the still small voice for weakness.

In a crisis we react. Maybe the electricity crisis was understandable by anyone with small children. The other domestic facts are unknown but we can assume, if a normally sensitive, soft-voiced person hits the rage button that something is going on of which we may be totally unaware. Best to let them react, as they feel fit without retaliation.

Of course, there are other explanatory reasons for emotion-based responses. Other causes of frustration can include work related concerns, low self esteem due to limited abilities to to function physically or socially. In practice, family doctors daily see that menopause or PMS can and do lead to irritability. In order to deal with mood swings that are caused by menopause, it is important for women to recognize when and why mood swings occur. Let yourself feel the panic, the anger, the reaction whatever it is, and allow it space to just to ‘be’. Then make a time to have ourselves heard when that reaction has calmed down.

This particular application in domestic stress with divorces, separations and access visits to children. Many a spouse has felt totally justified in their position without the slightest grant of substance to the other point of view. They feel pushed aside, undervalued, disrespected if the other spouse take the upper hand. Not necessarily so. Standing firm does not mean standing LOUD.

Same goes for disciplining children. (How come I only know this now when my children are beyond discipline, being in their 40s??) Standing firm is what seems to work in the Worlds’ Strictest Parents show on TV. Yes, I confess I am occasionally to be found wishing I had done thins differently for my boys, but thank god they have both turned out well. But now that I know more about listening, I can tell you it is so very valuable. Do not put your own anger above the feelings of another as it might just turn out they are in a worse place than you are!

Blessings,

Maura

anger management, children, family, hormone imbalance, hormones therapy, listening, menopause, natural hormones, PMS

Blog about Preening

14th August 2013 / Dr Maura McGill / Blog

“Never test the depth of the water both feet…”

This little saying came my way this week, and made me smile every time I read it!

But I jumped with both feet into some serious preening this week, as I went from the hairdresser to the beauty salon to have my eyebrows….. threaded! What a strange sensation. Even though she was only inches from my eyes, I really could not see how she did it, but I have the smoothest, hair-free eyebrows in captivity! And they still look like mine.

Having returned to my original hair colour (brunette) and having dumped the blonde look, I am happy that the effect is improved. Which only goes to show that some people have skin more suited to blonde and others to brunette. Pays to find out, but a clue might be the colour you were when you were young.

Then the question arises: whether to jewel up or go for super-casual? You might say it depends on the occasion, and to some extent that is true. But in this crazy world where women lose their fingers and are beaten up to get their purses and rings, the Europeans have perfected the art of stylish, but non-precious decoration.

Some years ago I bought the most beautiful stainless steel necklace/chain in Paris and it does not have a gem anywhere in it. But when we were young it was a mark of being desirable (by boys/men) if someone found you so attractive they gave you a ring, preferably with a diamond, and for the 4th finger. But gold jewellery was acceptable up to the moment when engagement was required to be marked with The Ring.

Now that girls expect a house complete with washing machine and landscaped gardens, perhaps the ring has taken a back seat, unless you are Kim Kardashian of course! Wow, 21 carats, I’d definitely be scared to wear it in public without teams of bouncers around me, and who needs that?! You could hardly wear it to the supermarket for a spot of grocery shopping.

But how sad it is to find that ‘women of a certain age’ have not moved on with their hair do or their ornamentation. Both will make you look very stale if neglected. A good rule of thumb is: if you are still wearing your hair in the same style you had when you were 25-30, and now you are 50 plus, time for a real change. Same goes for make-up. It also pays to get away from the assumption that every woman over 50 has to have short, short hair, preferably blonde. Men don’t run away with women with short ‘Nana’ cuts! They run away with longer-haired leggy girls with less brains than them!

The mysteries of female grooming are unknown territory to men and even those who have been happily and securely married for decades would prefer not to be witness to the leg-shaving, hair-colouring that some women indulge in at home.. Go to a salon, or at least to a girlfriend’s and save your mystique. Men don’t care so much about the spider veins on their spouse of 20 years, but a shaggy hair that need washing and a dull face without make up OR a smile, will surely turn them off. At an age when they need all the encouragement they can get, it is up to us to make an effort!

I remember my grandmother talking about the sin of vanity, I guess to stop teenage girls spending hours in front of the mirror. As I grew up I slowly realised that vanity is a lot more complex and has little to do with mirrors. But my generation were warned against too much preening so it was not until I lost a lot of weight that I was able to take an interest in my grooming. If weight is holding you back, and you hate the way you look, don’t wait until you lose weight. Go and get your hair done, eyebrows plucked, threaded or whatever, and get your nails done. Anything to make you happier with even the smallest improvement in your appearance. The congratulate yourself and take the next small step, every day improving something. Gradually…… you appear!

Then you can make exciting changes in all sorts of things, different food, different clothes, different company, maybe even a different man!! But don’t throw the one you have out for a new hair do, win him over seductively!

Be well!

Maura

balance bio-identical Bladder breast cancer Christmas DR MAURA MCGILL family Gold Coast health Hormone Replacement Therapy hormones hormones therapy Hot Flushes HRT Ireland life-balance life-changing , bio-identical, DR MAURA MCGILL, Gold Coast, health, Hormone Replacement Therapy, hormones, HRT, magical menopause, menopausal, natural hormones, personal development, PMS

A BLOG ABOUT FAMILY FRICTION

1st August 2013 / Dr Maura McGill / Blog

A BLOG ABOUT FAMILY FRICTION

I have just had a long conversation with a very close friend about the nature of family responsibilities. It was tough for her to hear my deep conviction that no matter what your offspring do they are still your children and you are still their mother and no bond on earth is stronger or more enduring.

Most mothers have seen their sons or daughters make disastrous mistakes, of which the mother does not, definitely not, approve in any way. Does that mean you walk away from them? Does that mean you deny them the right that you have yourself, to make your own mistakes however you wish?

We don’t have to approve of our children’s decisions. Heck, we don’t even have to like our kids very much when they play up. Heaven knows there are enough examples of ADHD kids that you would send to the funny farm if you could just to have a peaceful day, but you don’t stop loving them and telling them that your mother’s love remains no matter what they do, whether you approve or not.

Maybe the truth is we want to compel them to behave in ways we think they should? Maybe we want to show our deep disapproval of their way of life or their personality, and maybe, yes, we would have a more trouble-free life if they did not bring their troubles to our door. But isn’t that all about US and our peace of mind? But that is not really loving them no matter who they are.

Maybe we feel they do not deserve our love…..? Who are we to withhold it?

Life accumulates sore points and regrets over time. It is very important for our own mental health that we do not turn them into bitterness and a burden that we carry to the grave. We need to forgive, even if we do not forget. Let it go. If they are adults, we can say I respect your right to make this decision (drugs? Crime? Etc) and I will stand by you even though I hate what you are doing, but don’t ask me to condone it. I will always love you, but I cannot rescue you from your own folly all the time. Bear the consequences as an adult, but know that I still love you and I will be there for you when you come to me.

Blessings

Maura

family, Hormone Replacement Therapy, hormones therapy, menopause, mother, Reiki

Migraines a Whole World of Pain

22nd July 2013 / Dr Maura McGill / Blog

woman-hungover-headache-final_article_new

MIGRAINES: They are a whole world of pain. The poor women who suffer with recurrent, severe migraine, are truly to be pitied. But trust me, there are answers. And here they are.

Ever had a migraine? I’m not talking about a severe headache here. I’m talking about a vision-impairing, nauseated, dizzying, almost-unconscious-with-pain, vomiting headache! The pain. Oh God, the pain!

Most doctors seem to know so little that it amazes me. There is a focus on “killing the pain”. That is at best, only a partial solution. Most migraines are worse than the VAST majority of pain killers. The actual causes need to be addressed if you HOPE to find a solution.

I suffered from migraines for many years. I have actually been known to bang my head against a wall, hoping that that particular pain would distract me from the pulsating monster in my head. I researched and found only more and more medications, most of which did not work.

Over the years of personal suffering, I tried chiropractic, diet restrictions, sedatives, hormones, meditations, naturopaths and acupuncture. None brought lasting relief.

Usually I tried to forget the pain once it left me. Eventually I decided that the problem could only be addressed when I could think though it when my thinking organ itself – my brain – was NOT actually in savage pain.

I thought about all the different types of patients I had seen with migraine and asked myself:

WHAT ARE FACTORS THAT MIGRAINE SUFFERERS HAVE IN COMMON?

…and THAT turned out to be the right question.

Until that point the truth had escaped me. But then I realised that MIGRAINES HAVE MULTIPE CAUSES …even IN THE SAME PERSON!

So, what are the factors and how do they work? The multiple causes of migraine are:

1.    STRESS: I never met a migraine sufferer who wasn’t stressed! It’s a common denominator, whether the patient recognises that stress or not.

2.    HORMONES: especially for women – we are five times more likely than men to have a migraine. If the hormones are out of balance, then you can expect some bad effects somewhere. When you test for it, you find that there really is a hormone imbalance INCREDIBLY often.

3.    NECK PROBLEMS: everyone knows how awful it feels when your neck hurts. If you have slept wrong, or had a car accident, or somehow ‘put your neck out’ as the common phrase puts it, then a headache, or migraine, often follows.

4.    FOOD REACTIONS: it is well known that some foods, like chocolate, Vegemite or similar yeast extracts, beans and some other foods can be the final trigger to start a migraine.

5.    SLEEP DEPRIVATION: one of the forms of torture is to stop a body from sleeping. Sleep is imperative for normal processing of emotions and reactions to life’s problems. Getting a good sleep heals more than headaches.

The real clincher is that……

In migraine patients, they almost ALWAYS have 2-3 of these factors!

So “WHAT IS CAUSING MY MIGRAINE” is usually the WRONG QUESTION to ask yourself.

The right question?: “What THINGS (plural) ARE causing my migraine”.

From one migraine to the next, you might have two to three DIFFERENT factors in place.
This makes tracking the cause of any one migraine very difficult for any single patient to identify.

One time her neck is a problem. The next time her hormones have tipped the scales. Another it’s a food issue. So no wonder she is confused!

THE SOLUTION? Make sure each factor is controlled as far as possible. That is…

A)   No chocolate, beans or Vegemite for a month at least;

B)   Make sure your hormones are in a normal balance, with no excess oestrogen;

C)   De-stress by using meditation daily. No need for an hour, just 5 minutes will help;

D)   Get a good night’s sleep. Use wild lettuce and hops rather than sleeping tablets (see my earlier BLOG about sleep);

E)   Get your neck problems assessed properly. Maybe you need a massage, maybe you need to change your pillow? Maybe you sit for hours with your neck twisted at a small angle, looking at your computer screen, or TV?

But if you can eliminate even one factor, your chances of reducing your migraine incidence are greatly improved!

I truly hope this helps at least one of you to understand a little better. And maybe even get relief. In the very least you know that the culprit is probably “culpritS”, and what they may be.

Blessings as always,

Maura

bio-identical, Doctor Maura McGill, headaches, hormones, hormones therapy, Maura McGill, stress, womens health

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Listen to these
raving fans of
Dr. Maura's
program

"Maura sheds, light on the
'black hole' called menopause.
Knowledge is power."

Ms M S. Gold Coast

"Such valuable information!
Why couldn't I have heard
this stuff sooner
Thank you, thank you, thank you!"

Mrs D C, Gold Coast

"I'm very resistant about putting chemicals into my body. Maura's seminar taught me that I don't have to take HRT. I'm so very grateful for that."

Mrs S D, Darwin

"I'd been at my wits end, trying to find a someone who could give me a straight answer

Mrs K S, Gold Coast

"I learnt more in fifteen minutes from Maura than I have in six months from my Doctor."

Mrs D S, Mackay

YES !
GIVE ME FREE INSTANT ACCESS TO:

YES !