5 Home Treatment Options for Relieving Migraine Headaches
Naturally!
Most people just take a pain pill, but how safe is that? If you
are worried about taking potentially dangerous medications for
your migraine headaches maybe you should try one of the many
safe and effective natural approaches that are available today.
There are many migraine headache treatments available that can
be both safe and effective. Natural treatments for migraine
headaches are usually safer and cheaper than traditional
pain medications. And in many instances they can relieve pain
just as well or even better than prescription or
non-prescription drugs. The possibility of a negative reaction
to a safe and natural migraine headache treatment is still
there, but it is less with most natural treatment methods than
it is with pain-relieving medications.
Every person on the face of the earth is unique. Their body
chemistry is different than anyone else's. One person may find
relief from their migraine headaches with one type of treatment
while someone else may try that same treatment and find no
relief at all. No two people will experience the same reaction
from the same treatment. But why is that?
Every body is made up of a mixture of chemicals. Every person
produces certain chemicals in their body so that they will be
able to function at their best. Histamines will increase gastric
secretion and dilate the capillaries. Insulin is secreted by the
pancreas and helps regulate the blood sugar levels. Hormones are
produced by the body for many different functions. Adrenaline
(epinephrine) is produced in response to stress. Every body is
unique and produces different chemicals in differing amounts.
When a person takes aspirin (a chemical) for their migraine
headaches it changes the chemical make-up of that person's body.
You've always heard that when two chemicals, in the same
amounts, at the same temperature, etc. are mixed together they
will cause the same reaction. That may be true, but when one
chemical (such as aspirin) is taken by two separate people their
reactions will never be exactly the same because no two people
have identical chemicals in their body. One person taking
aspirin will not have the same reaction as someone else taking
aspirin. And it's the same with natural migraine headache
treatments. Since no two people are identical no two people will
respond exactly the same to a treatment method for migraine
headaches.
So just because one migraine headache treatment does not work
for one person does not mean it won't work for your migraine
headaches. There are many effective alternatives to taking
medications when it comes to relieving migraine headaches. You
just have to try one for yourself to see if it will work for you.
One natural and popular treatment method for migraine headaches
is chiropractic care, or chiropractic manipulations. Studies
have shown that over 80% of headache patients find some type of
relief for their headaches with chiropractic treatment. And
chiropractic treatment has been shown to be extremely safe.
Spinal problems cause headaches and when these spinal problems
are treated by chiropractors a high percentage of their patients
experience relieve from their pain.
Another natural way to relieve migraine headaches is
biofeedback. This is a safe and potentially effective way to
eliminate pain. Biofeedback is not actually a treatment, but a
training program designed to help a person develop the ability
to control their autonomic (involuntary) nervous system.
Functions that are normally automatic in the body, such as blood
pressure regulation or heart rate can be controlled voluntarily.
This technique makes it possible for a person to control their
own heart rate, blood pressure, skin temperature or relaxation
of their muscles.
It's no secret that stress causes muscle tension. And nobody
will deny that muscle tension causes pain and headaches. And
it's also a fact that by relaxing this muscle tension,
especially in the neck and head, it is possible to relieve the
migraine headaches or neck pain that is being caused by the
tension. With biofeedback the machinery is not always necessary.
Once the biofeedback technique is learned there is no longer any
need for the equipment. The patient with migraine headaches can
now produce the desired effect at any time. A person that has
been trained with biofeedback can control some of their bodily
functions, such as muscle relaxation, which can help relieve
their headache pain.
Another cause of headaches can be the intake of too much salt.
Some people just can't get enough of it. They pour it onto their
food with wreckless abandon. And too much salt can and does
cause headaches. What's the solution? Simply lessening the salt
intake can sometimes prevent the headaches from occurring.
Food sensitivities have also been shown to cause migraine
headaches in some people. Foods such as cheese, alcohol, MSG
(monosodium glutamate - a food additive), yeast, wheat, nuts,
avocados, beans, bananas, oranges (and other citrus fruits),
pork, vinegar (and pickled foods), dairy products, caffeine,
chocolate, onions and others can cause migraines. Foods that
cause migraine headaches are called "migraine triggers." People
who experience migraine headaches because of food allergies can
reduce or eliminate their pain by eliminating the foods that
cause the headaches.
It sounds simple, but it takes a little detective work to figure
out which foods, if any, are causing the migraine headaches. So
how can you determine which foods are the culprits? The logical
way is to keep a diary of what you eat and when. Get a small
notebook, with each page representing one day, and make three
columns on each of the pages. The first column on the left side
of the page will contain the hours in the day. The second column
down the middle of the page will be a list of the foods eaten
that day. And the third column on the right side of the page
will list the symptoms (headaches) that you experience.
Here's how the food diary works: if you had an orange, cereal
and milk for breakfast at 8 AM you would write "orange, cereal,
milk" in the middle (food) column directly to the right of 8 AM
in the left (time) column. Make a note of everything that you
eat on this list and at what time you ate them.
Next, whenever you experience a migraine headache write
"migraine headache" or "headache" in the right (symptoms) column
that corresponds with the time (in the left column) your
headache began. For example, if you started feeling pain from
one of your migraine headaches at 2 PM you would write
"headache" in the right (symptoms) column directly across from 2
PM in the left (time) column.
Once you've had enough time to experience a few migraine
headaches you will be able to examine your food diary to
determine which foods you ate shortly before you began
experiencing your pain. For example, if you had 3 migraine
headaches over a one-month period, and you had milk shortly
before each of the migraine attacks, milk may be the culprit. It
may take a few weeks or even a few months to come to any
conclusions, but over time, by figuring out which foods or
ingredients in these foods, are causing your pain, you will be
able to eliminate these ingredients and relieve your pain caused
by these foods.
Probably the most common cause of headaches is just plain old
stress. People who experience tension in their lives can get
headaches from their increased tension. Stress can be caused by
many things including work-related stress or family-related
stress. And although it's not always possible to eliminate the
cause of the stress it is often possible to relieve the muscle
tension and pain that originates from the stress.
Biofeedback training (as explained above) is one way to help
reduce stress. Other ways are taking a warm bath or shower,
lying down and relaxing in a quiet dark room, having someone
massage your neck and head (temporal region) muscles to help
relieve your tension and muscle spasms or placing something cold
(ice) on the back of the neck (at the base of the skull). When
using ice it should not be placed directly on the skin. Some wet
paper towels that have had the water wrung out of them should be
placed between the ice and the skin. Regular exercise can also,
over time, reduce tension.
We have discussed 5 natural treatment methods that are available
to migraine headache patients. They are all considered safe and
are effective for many people. There are many other natural
treatment methods out there for you to try. If you have
headaches it may be beneficial for you to try some of these
treatments or search for others on your own. But as a word of
advice, it is always a good idea to talk with a chiropractor or
medical doctor before treating yourself for a health condition.