A 22 year old woman carrying her first baby had headaches for a 48
hr. period. Her blood pressure was normal and the midwife asked what
else she should be looking for.
Get her to come in and see you. Make a list of all the possible
causes of headache and query them. Do a 24 hour diet recall
(including hydration).
>
I'd ask her:
* Have you suffered from headaches before?
* What triggers them?
* Have you been really busy, experiencing stress or emotional abuse?
* Have you had your eyes tested recently?
* How much TV do you watch per day?
* What is your favourite cookbook? What kind of protein do you like?
* Have you ever had a head injury?
* Do you ever see a chiropractor or acupuncturist?
* Have you taken aspirin or any other meds for this headache?
* How has your sleep been lately?
* What's your biggest fear right now?
* Do you use salt? How much? (Tell her to salt to taste and get
"grey" salt from health food stores.)
* Do you smoke--nicotine or loco weed?
* Do you use caffeine? (She may have headaches because she just quit
coffee/tea.)
* Do you eat food with MSG or nitrates? (Chinese food, pizza, deli meats)
There are a million things that cause headaches. Two days of headache
pain is a long time. This headache could be a symptom that leads you
to something that will make a real difference at the time of birth.
Your job as a healer is to facilitate the woman's self-healing. By
asking lots of questions you open up her mind to more possibilities.
Also, by acting with concern at this point, you let her know that
it's all right to call you with physical symptoms and that you will
take action to work with her on solutions. Even without other
pregnancy induced hypertension symptoms, headaches can be a sign of
poor protein intake and you can ward off future problems by
addressing the problem now.
A friend's neighbour had severe headaches in early pregnancy. I never
met her but suggested over the phone that she begin to make every
bite that went into her mouth be protein. The headaches disappeared
immediately and when she told her doctor he said he would pass that
information on to his other patients.
-Gloria Lemay
Vancouver, B.C. Canada
Reprinted from Midwifery Today E-News (Vol 2 Issue 22 June 2, 2000)
To subscribe to the E-News write: enews@midwiferytoday.com
For all other matters contact Midwifery Today:
PO Box 2672-940, Eugene OR 97402
541-344-7438, midwifery@aol.com, Midwifery Today
|
|