Daily Devotional

Get Rid of Headache Pain

Friday, October 13, 2023
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The righteous cry out, and the Lord hears them; he delivers them from all their troubles. Ps. 34:17, NIV.

More than 45 million Americans have chronic tension headaches, and 16 to 18 million of them suffer migraines, which have an even uglier reputation. Migraines bring severe, usually one-sided throbbing pain, often accompanied by nausea and vomiting and sometimes tremor and dizziness. What can you do to prevent this debilitating pain? Here's what Betty Pierson writes:

"Headaches have plagued me since adolescence, so I was not alarmed when I developed a 'banger' while on vacation. As I flew home, the headache worsened until I was afraid I would die; then I was afraid I wouldn't!

"I often prayed and asked for deliverance from the pain. My family doctor referred me to a neurologist, who injected me with Sumatriptan, which cut the pain in half, but it was still disabling. Other medications were tried. After three weeks with no improvement I was referred to Johns Hopkins. The neurologist there described himself as a preventative medicine doctor. He took me off all medication and asked me for a period of four weeks to follow a migraine-prevention program that eliminated foods with high amounts of tyramine, an amino acid. This included foods containing caffeine (such as chocolate), citrus fruits, processed meats, nuts, peanut butter, milk, yogurt, sour cream, and cheese. I did not believe this program would work, but with God helping me through each day of the next four weeks of pain without medication, I soon felt better. When I again ate some of those foods and my pain returned within five days, I was convinced. I have followed this program for more than a year and have never had another full-blown headache or menstrual headache! The doctor told me that out of 60 women patients, 40 had responded as I did and 20 did about half as well."

Add to Betty's list a few more items that might trigger migraines: monosodium glutamate (MSG) found in many Chinese dishes, salt, meat tenderizers, soy sauce, yeast extracts, and homemade yeast bread.

But for the biggest headache of the world—that of sin—there's only one solution: the cross of Jesus.

Thank You, God, for the natural remedies for pain, and thank You for the Jesus remedy for sin.


Used by permission of Health Ministries, North American Division of Seventh-day Adventists.


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