Headaches are a pain but migraines are the worst. Only those who experience migraines understand the suffering someone goes through until the pain goes away.
Some people experience vision changes, hearing and smell sensitivity, nausea, vomiting, joint pain, and of course the splitting head pain that can last hours to days.
Assuming all concerning causes of migraines have been ruled out and you have been properly evaluated, these 5 tips may help you to prevent migraines naturally.
1) Eliminate the triggers
Common triggers to migraines include red wine, sulfates, nuts, chocolate, gluten, dairy, fake sugars such as sucralose and aspartame, and processed meats. Consider cutting these foods out for eight weeks and seeing the difference in your headaches then add them back a week at a time. It may seem like an overwhelming transition.
However if you are a chronic migraine sufferer and your migraines are directly linked to a food causing inflammation in your head, how simple to give up the offending food.
2) Eat regularly
Once you figure out what foods to avoid, do not skip meals or snacks. Hypoglycemia is a common cause of headaches that can turn into migraines. Some people become angry, moody, anxious, nauseated or shaky when they need to eat but a migraine sufferer develops head pain when the blood sugar drops.
3. Relax those tight muscles
Do you carry your shoulders up around your ears? Do you hold your stress and tension in your back and neck? Do you routinely find yourself in a hunched-over position at your desk? All of these are bad for the muscles and joints that can lead to spasms, tightness, knots, and inflammation that radiate up into the head and trigger a migraine.
Work on your posture, sit ergonomically at your desk, and have regular body work like massage, acupuncture or chiropractic. Enjoy a relaxing bath, do regular yoga, and have a good upper back and neck stretching routine.
4) Watch the weather
Many migraine sufferers experience head pain with the transition from sunny weather to cloudy, rainy weather and vice versa. If this is you, start paying attention to the weather and be proactive about your migraine medication, or really cut out the inflammatory foods and go for a massage. Anything to help prevent the impending pain.
5) Use hot and cold
To encourage blood circulation, place your feet in a bowl or tub of hot water while wrapping your neck and forehead with cold washcloths. The dichotomy of hot and cold will encourage circulation to draw inflammation out of your head and help reduce the pain. Some people also lay in a hot bath and place cold compresses on their forehead and neck.
Migraines are not pleasant so give these tips a try, and see if your pain improves or the number of headache-free days increases!
Sources:
Rajendrakumar, P., Sarma, R., and Grimsley, E. (2006). Popular Sweetener Sucralose as a Migraine Trigger. Retrieved on June 29, 2014 from
http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/545187
Schwedt, T. (2014). Chronic Migraine. Retrieved on June 29, 2014 from
http://www.bmj.com/content/348/bmj.g1416?view=long&pmid=24662044
Zhao, L., Liu, J., Zhang, F., Dong, X., Peng, Y., Qin, W., Wu, F., Yi, Y., Yuan, K., von Deenan, K., Gong, Q, Tang, Z., Liang, F. (2014). Effects of long-term acupuncture treatment on resting-state brain activity in migraine patients: a randomized controlled trial on active acupoints and inactive acupoints. Retrieved on June 29, 2014 from
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24915066
Reviewed June 30, 2014
by Michele Blacksberg RN
Edited by Jody Smith