You’ve read the good advice, or at least the advice that has been know to work. But how many times have you gotten advice on how to treat a migraine that, well, gave you a migraine? Some advice making the rounds almost sounds like jokes, or at least some kind of fiction. But the following are actual migraine treatments that people like you and me have received from friends, family, co-workers and strangers.

A man who had been suffering headaches for decades went to see a headache specialist in the 60s and was advised to start dating younger women. Not just younger women, mind you, but younger women of the kind that you don’t meet in bars. Nice younger women. Okay, well maybe that shouldn’t quite qualify as one of the worst pieces of migraine advice of all time. It’s certainly not as bad as:

Buy a razor and dig out that nerve bundle over your eye that's causing all your freaking pain! Yeah, that would definitely qualify as bad advice. In the first place it would hurt like you know what. In the second place, it would probably make your head hurt worse, not make it feel better.

This next one is entertaining because of the exactitude of its requirements, but it could possibly pan out in the future to have some merit. Take a five ounce magnet in your left hand and a three ounce magnet in your right hand and alternatively rotate them exactly three inches away from your skull for five minutes. To be honest, magnets have been used in scientific studies to treat various illnesses and there are subcultures out there that turn to magnetic power as a general cure-all for just about anything. To say that magnets could have no effect at all migraines might be going too far, but it’s still got to rank as bad advice to assume that the magnets have to be of different weights, held in different hands and only work when held at a specific distance for a specific amount of time. Then again, who knows?

There are several modes of thought that might find this next one actually makes sense. Those who are completely convinced that all migraine pain is in your head and that medicine can’t work because it’s not accomplishing anything anyway might just see past the idiocy of this next one. Quit your medication cold turkey, stiff it out for a few weeks and desensitize your head. Sure. And maybe if angina sufferers just desensitize their hearts they won’t die from a heart attack.

Sit in a bathtub filled with ice for five minutes then take a hot shower until all the ice has melted away. Where to begin on this one? In the first place, sitting in a tub billed with ice may take your attention away from the headache, but only because you are transferring your attention to the pain caused by frostbite. It’s almost certainly not a good idea to sit that long in ice. Next comes the question why does the shower have to last until the ice melts? Is there some magic in the time it takes for hot water to melt away all that ice. This one goes beyond merely bad advice straight to insane. It’s almost impossible to imagine how this cure could work.

Quit your job and sell Amway. This one probably came from a top level Amway distributor trying to add to his pyramid.

Migraines are caused by severe resentment of someone. If you can overcome the resentment, you will get rid of your migraines. There are two problems with this treatment. One, resentment has nothing to do with migraines and two, getting rid of migraines is probably easier than overcoming resentment.

A lot of crazy advice over the years about a lot of different things has gradually turned into accepted methods of treatment. After all, who would ever have thought that bread mold could cure disease? Still, it’s probably not the best idea in the world to take a razor to your head.

That thing about dating younger women still doesn’t sound too bad, though.

You walk into a moderately business office sit down a chair in a well-dressed lobby and wait for your name to be announced. Finally, it comes and you are assessed by an intake worker, finally sent to a therapist a week later, and then recommended to the staff psychiatrist. In this short time, you were diagnosed with Bipolar, Depression, which is an element of bipolar, and posttraumatic stress disorder. You also have a history of Diabetes, High-Blood Pressure, and Allergies. Now the doctor is not aware of the inflammatory fiber nerve disease underlying the symptoms. You continue to visit the mental health experts complaining constantly of your symptoms, and they begin treating you like a Hypochondriasis. (Someone occupied with health issues and most times are exaggerated)…you begin feeling confused, disappointed with the therapist, and decide to go to see a physician that finds a fiber nerve disease, which proves that you complaints are valid. However, you were already given prescriptions for psychotic and depressive symptoms. You begin taking the medications and suddenly your insurance policy stops payment on the drug Effexor XR. Suddenly, you explode feeling aggressive, wanting to kill, wanting to die, wanting to harm and there is no explanation since these feelings has never occurred to this magnitude before you took the antidepressants prescribed. Now the problem has increased and you are searching desperately for an answer, yet you find nothing. What went wrong you might ask? Well, Effexor XR is given to patients with depression and bipolar symptoms. Since Effexor is said to target the brain chemicals increasing the Norepinephrine and Serotonin in the brain, it is claimed to eliminate symptoms of depression and bipolar. Now Effexor XR is notorious (once the medication is stopped abruptly) for increasing behaviors including, suicidal thinking, impulsive behaviors, violent outburst and so forth. The Prescription has caused increase in Blood making it a bad deal for patients with High-Blood Pressure. Now you went to the therapist to fix a problem and your problems has increased dramatically at it is all because of health care, mental health, medical, and so on. You start feeling that it cannot get any worse, but the doctors continue increasing your medicines prescribing Tenormin (Atenolol) for your pain and after prescribing numerous doses of inflammatory prescriptions, which lead to stomach disorders, you are now taking meds to control your stomach. Moreover, it does not stop here. Next, you are given Impramine HCL for pain, Tramadol for pain, and rotated between antidepressants finally prescribed Effexor XR again. If you are feeling alone you are not, since many times doctors, mental experts, and health care providers make this mistake excessively many times to count. It is ludicrous to go to mental health experts all to find severe complications exploding your life and you are the one to blame, when in reality these experts made a serious mistake. Since the mental health expert obviously had no choice but to eliminate Hypochondriasis, and claim that they were only searching for answers to the problem (making excuses) you finally say I am searching for another mental health expert, since you have no idea what you are doing. You go to the next office; sit, wait, and when you are called you talk to an intake worker, then a therapist, and finally a psychiatrist. You go through the same procedures wondering if these experts are smarter than the other experts you just left, and soon find yourself on Effexor XR, Impramine HCL, Tramadol, and a variety of other medications. I told you people what happen before you tell the experts, yet they ignore your cries and tell you to take your medications as prescribed. Are we fixing problems or are we adding to the many problems we face every day. Some mental diagnoses were later proven a medical problem or central nervous interruption that created a series of symptoms delusional to mental health experts, believing that the patient was mentally ill. Caught in a web of testing and despair we often fight to find a reason that our minds are tricking us into acting out of accordance to the so-called normal. The solution is right in front of them in most cases, yet everyone is turning their heads and looking for another answer.

Nobody can hurt you without your consent

There are many instances in life where your confidence is hit hard. Sometimes you overcome life’s hardness, sometimes you get overwhelmed. Sometimes your courage and confidence sees you through, but sometimes your self-confidence gets a beating. However, the point here to remember is that “Nobody can hurt you without your consent.” The problem is not as important as the impact it had on you, rather the impact that YOU let the problem create on you. In life pain is inevitable but suffering is optional, as the saying goes. It’s purely your choice, and whether you choose to bounce back or suffer is entirely your prerogative.

There can be many reasons that your self-confidence is hurt. You may have had a bad marriage and now are heading for a divorce. You were not chosen for your college’s football team; you may have been laid off. There’s definitely a lot of pain involved in any of the situations. But you don’t necessarily have to suffer. You must arise and resolve to get back your confidence.

The following ways would help you do just that.

Look at the brighter side

If you have been laid off, it would be okay to feel bad about it for a day or two but not more than that. Losing a job is a terrible thing, but it does not mean the end of the world. Who knows it might be a blessing in disguise. Maybe you have got some time to review your life, get aware of where you are going, have a look at your likes and hobbies which you could not develop because of pressures of your job. Maybe this is an opportunity to start afresh and live your life a new way which is more in sync with your abilities and aptitude. Similarly, a divorce may cause great pain but then you weren’t too happy in your marriage either. It probably was just not meant to be. Now you have a chance to rebuild your life the way you want it to be.

Stop comparing yourself with other people

When we have a problem we always question God – “Oh, God, why me?” Certainly God gave you a lot of rewards as well. Did you then get up and ask God –“Oh God, why me?” That’s what human nature is all about. We complain and remember God when we are in trouble or else we are too busy with ourselves. Stop looking at other people who seem too happy and comfortable to you from a distance. Stop comparing their comfort with your suffering. This will only frustrate you further. Focus on yourself and make every effort you can make to go out whenever you are feeling down. Self-pity is very addictive and capable of destroying lives. Instead of indulging in self-pity (though we all do from time to time), take control of your life and take responsibility for your actions, learn from your mistakes and make a fresh start. And yeah…don’t be bogged down when you hear a “NO”. A “NO” is something which even greats like Edison and Ford, too, had to face. If you look at them positively, you will find that each “NO” actually takes you closer to a “YES.” It’s been reported time and time again that Edison conducted more than a thousand failed experiments before he actually made an electric bulb! So get going and take the an occasional no in stride.

Are you standing in your own way

You will notice that shadows are caused when we stand in the path of sunshine. In our lives, too, we cause a lot of shadows by standing in the way of our own happiness. In today’s world, it is important to be flexible. A lot of people will look for a job for months, yet still reject work coming their way because they are not willing to adapt to some new job requirements. Jane, a schoolteacher, was laid off from her job. She kept trying for months to get a job as a teacher while rejecting opportunities such as taking private tuitions, being a nanny, doing copy-editing work as a freelancer. The long wait hurt her self-confidence even more. Sometimes it is wise to be a little flexible and adapt ourselves to new job demands rather than to look exactly for what we lost. It helps regain confidence quickly which brings along enough energy to get an even better job in the field of your choice!