My Shrunken Head Collection

So as soon as I got to Dr. Eve's office yesterday she hooked me up to a gadget called a fingertip thermometer. The theory with Bio Feedback is that as your stress level rises, the temperature of your fingertips lowers. Stress puts our bodies on alert and the blood stops flowing readily to our extremities (in the event we lose one during battle....).

By learning how your body feels when it begins to stress you can get an early start on telling it to calm down. Eventually you'll become so familiar with this process you won't need the thermometer.

Every time my number began to drop, Dr. Eve would point it out to me. Every time, my shoulders were tensed up and/or I wasn't breathing properly. When the number would lower, I would relax my tense shoulders, breath correctly, and think about making the number go back up. It worked every single time.

Over the course of the hour session, my temperature stayed in about a 4 degree zone. That was, until Dr. Eve began to tell me how her brother had suddenly dropped dead after one of our sessions a few weeks ago. By the time she finished telling me the story my fingertip temperature dropped more than 10 degrees! Dr. Eve said it started the decent right after I said "I'm sorry to hear that."

I'm going to search out a model I like and buy my own. It's a very intriguing concept.

For a "more better" explanation of the process I will copy and paste an article I found while searching the subject:

Biofeedback for migraines and headache, has been well studied and utilized by psychologists for decades as a psychological method of controlling pain. It involves teaching the brain to achieve a balance between the sympathetic (fight or flight) part and the parasympathetic (relaxation, slowness) parts of the nervous system.
Like most headache patients, you probably have some degree of anxiety. Studies indicate up to 85% of all people in chronic pain have some degree of anxiety. As a result, chronic anxiety can make headaches worse as this heightens your sense of tension.
Once the pain starts, the sympathetic system goes into overload and you have increased sweating, muscle tension and higher heart rate.
This is where biofeedback for migraines can help. Through lessons in learning how to lower heart rate,biofeedback for migraines can decrease body temperature, loosen muscle tension and decrease sweating, you can control pain.
How Biofeedback Is Performed
Biofeedback is not a passive treatment. It requires intensive participation in learning to control such normally involuntary functions that are part of the parasympathetic system.
In the first session, the psychologist will talk to you and find out more about your health history and your headaches. The biofeedback therapist will then apply sensors to various points on the body. The location depends on the problem that needs treatment. For migraines, sleep problems, and mood disorders, for example, the electrodes are often attached to the scalp. Other possible sites include the hands, feet, or fingers.
The sensors are connected to a computer,or another piece of monitoring equipment that provides instant feedback about the function trying to be controlled, such as the tension in a particular set of involuntary muscles or circulation to a specific part of the body. Some biofeedback machines signal changes graphically on a computer display, others beep, buzz, or blink to indicate the strength or level of the function they are targeting.
The therapist will teach you mental or physical exercises that can help affect the headaches. Success is seen by noting any changes in the intensity, volume, or speed of the signals from the machine. Gradually, biofeedback success is found when thoughts and actions result in the desired change in involuntary responses. (Lowered heart rate, etc) The standard recommendation once techniques have been taught, is to practice twice a day for twenty minutes at a time.
Like other meditation techniques such as yoga, biofeedback for migraines definitely serves a purpose and should be part of your headache management.