Headaches and migraines: natural remedies?

It does work.

Not for me and can’t see why it even would anyway.

I found paracetamol plus codeine the best for me. That was the prescription one with 30mg of codeine, the over-the-counter version with 8mg didn’t help.

drink water

– and throw up

For people who get flashing light/vision distortion with migraine paracetmol/codine relieves the pain but leaves the vision problems. Syndol is available again after going out of production for a while (its an ask-for- over-the-counter), which is codeine, paracetomol and a antihistamine. Why the antihistamine helps nobody seems to know.

It’s never going to work if you don’t believe it Drac, and a fairy will die.

Codeine is only good for occasional use. It is addictive if used too often, and can actually cause migraines.

Identify triggers. It took me a long time, but I am now convinced mine was physiological. Neck strain to be precise. In the last fifteen years, playing cricket (bowling), hike a bike with bike on shoulder and, once, golf whilst carrying a one-sided bag have all brought on migraines.

When actually mid-migraine (including at least 30% loss of sight) I found that sumatriptan actually increased the onset of symptoms, but also got through them quicker. I know you want to avoid pills, but I found migraines unstoppable once triggered.

Failing all this, laying down somewhere dark, quiet and cold seemed to help a bit. As did a cold compress on the forehead.

Unless you have suffered with this, it is difficult to imagine. People didn’t think it was possible that I was nearly blind at times. It was a contributing factor in my giving up cricket.

Hope you find something that works for you. Physiotherapy and neck stretches helped a bit to delay onset, but once it’s on, it’s going to happen.

Not to mention codeine can bung you up.

No wonder the tooth fairy didn’t come last week.

Oh ye of little faith!

http://www.livestrong.com/article/169717-hand-massage-for-a-headache/

My martial arts instructor taught shiatsu. That was one remedy he taught me over twenty years ago and I’ve been using it ever since.

BTW I know it’s from livestrong but don’t dimiss the information on that basis.

I’ll dissmiss it in trying it years ago and finding it didn’t work and that I still can’t see how it would. Still placebos are very powerful so it works for you then great.

And yes I did laugh at the Livestrong link.

Unless you have suffered with this, it is difficult to imagine

You sure got that right!!

Identify triggers

Mine are usually triggered by a bright flash of light, like reflecting off a windshield or chrome car parts, etc. I do occasionally wake up during the night and realize that the aura is beginning.

busydog

Yes, it’s something very different, that’s for sure. The moment of realisation always felt like my blood sugar hitting rock bottom, feeling panicky, but I am pretty convinced that was just a conditioned reaction.

I have been driven home from cricket matches and had to get a lift the next day to get my car back. Also slept for four hours in a car park near ladybower a couple of years back until I could see properly to drive home.

Also vomiting pristine paracetamol tablets three hours after taking them due to the digestion being shut down was revealing. Since packing in cricket I have been fairly free, and haven’t had one for over a year thankfully.

Still, worse things happen at sea.

Just thought of something else. Not prevention, but helped me. Find something you can eat soon afterwards that doesn’t make you gag.

Bizarrely, I craved Balti-type curry and rice. It doesn’t take much chewing and seemed to stay down.

Perhaps try this, but the trial and error approach can be unsavoury if it goes wrong!

Chocolate for me or something very sweet.

Triggers for me:

Bright flickering lights but rare now
Low Sugar levels, if I’ve not been eating much and exerting loads.
Stress
Lack of sleep
Bad neck (Massage helps here but that makes sense but has to be around my neck not me thumbs)

Triggers for me:

Bright flickering lights

Luckily you don’t work in an environment where flashy lights are a problem…. ahhh

Hahaha!

They’ve never done it.

Chocolate? That was a massive no-no for me! As was coffee.

For sugar I used to find orange juice very good, but the acid on the stomach wasn’t so flash.

Unfortunately I think only trial and error will give you a minimising routine, prevention is best, but not always possible.

Yup went through food triggers as a kid, cheese, chocolate and such nothing like that triggers mine.

Mine are usually triggered by a bright flash of light, like reflecting off a windshield or chrome car parts, etc. I do occasionally wake up during the night and realize that the aura is beginning.

This is an interesting phenomena – see Here[/url] for a little bit of quackery, but it’s some truth grounded in it…..
I get the same – I’ve spoken to a colleague with an interest in this, and really want to try getting assessed in a local centre (mostly out of interest).
However….it will mean I end up with pink or yellow lenses, which may come across a bit bonkers…..

DrP

Mine are usually triggered by a bright flash of light, like reflecting off a windshield or chrome car parts, etc. I do occasionally wake up during the night and realize that the aura is beginning.

The above is pretty much the same for me.

Only tend to get two possibly three a year. Paracetamol & Ibuprofen have NO effect whatsoever on mine.

Doctor prescribed 30mg codeine & dark room are the only things that work for me – It’s just the next couple of days when you just feel ‘off’ I can’t find a way to combat.

If you thought it would help, you’d happily stick your head in a cow-pat in full view of the entire world.

Chris

Very sad that folk are relying on drugs.

As a bodyworker, h&ms are quite straight forward to treat!

I can activate migraine symptoms and switch them off in seconds with some of my really bad cients.

Ask yourself this:

Do you have forward head posture [that’d be virtually everyone]?

Why ? [think structurally, lifestyle, stress etc] i.e. sprained ankle can cause protective weight shift, hip hiking, lower back pain, spinal kinks that have to right themselves higher up the chain [yup…misaligned cervical vertebrae] Pelvic obliquity and torsion have to be corrected and compensated for up and down the kinetic chain leading to very common patterns of dysfunction.

What muscles are likely to be inhibited?

What muscles will then have to compensate?

Which muscles and fascial restrictions refer pain in known patterns to the head?

Would it be worth treating these muscle and structural imbalances and the resultant referred pain patterns?

Look for the cause, don’t just treat the symptoms.

Taking drugs are analogous to filling in the cracks in a wall, rather than investigating the structural integrity of a building and taking the required action to address the problem at it’s source.

^^ Completely agree for tension type headaches/shoulder aches

Migraines are a vascular phenomena, however, with a more complex aetiology….

DrP

I don’t rely on drugs I take them if I’ve not been able to prevent one. Today for example I’ve been getting the twitching eye warning so to prevent I’ve had a bag of sweets, lots of fluid and now I’ve picked the youngest up I’m hiding in a dark room with my computer on low light.

Treating muscles on this occasion would make no odds what so ever, if I had one caused by when I do have a bad neck the yes it may help.

Had any thunderstorms or lightning events recently?
I saw this article from the National Geographic recently- hmmmm, i wonder…..