UHAM065

48 * UNDERSTANDING HEADACHES AND M IG RAI N ES

The Peruvian guide and bus driver were concerned by this time, and suggested that I tried chewing coca leaves, as the locals do to combat soroche. They gave me a smali parcel of the leaves, wrapped around a tiny błock of resin, to put inside my cheek and chew periodically. This tasted bitter and was thoroughly unpleasant, but, to my surprise, it did indeed lessen the pain. Although it did not alleviate it completely, it certainly seemed to take the edge off the sharpness of the stabbing, and I seemed to be able to see morę clearly and to bearthe light better.

I chewed the leaves on and off all day while travelling. While I cannot say that the headache would not have receded by itself, I did feel that this had madę a considerable difference. That mght, I was back down to 2300m, and, after a few hours at this level, the pain disappeared completely. Fortunately, it did not come back agam during my time in the Andes, even when I returned to high altitude. However, I did carry coca leaves with me after that, just in case. • •

Amelia, 33

The important thing to do is to take care and follow appropriate advice. If you are going to suffer altitude sickness, there is probably no way of completely avoiding it, but being careful can certainly reduce the suffering that is likely to occur. If you are a migraineur, pleasebe aware that there is a very goodchance that travelling at high altitudes could trigger an attack. Although you might want to see the world, there are certain places that might be out of bounds for you for health reasons.

Nutritional causes

Basically, just about anything you eat or drink, or what you do not eat or drink, can lead to a headache. However, these causes are listed with the rarer ones because they are often undiagnosed, and so cases of diagnosed food-related headaches are not common. Food is madę up of Chemicals, like in fact everything in the world, including you. Sometimes people react badly to those Chemicals and sometimes they are allergic to them. Reacting badly and being allergic are not the same things, but it is not necessary to explain the subtleties of the differences here. Suffice it to say that allergies are an immune reaction, whereas a sensitivity to something might not be an allergy. Chinese people can react ąuite badly to alcohol, and can often be very ill and drunk on just smali ąuantities. This, however, is because of their body chemistry and is not an allergy.