Migraines and home remedies

[swapmeet]

My mom (Who is 70 now) has had issues with Migraines all my life, and she claims the older she gets the more frequent it happens, and they're much much worse. She takes a medication daily now to help reduce the frequency but the side effects are almost not worth taking the drug. Almost.

Now that i'm knocking on 40, I find that I get them a little more often and when I do, they're pretty intense. This morning I was dizzy and nauseous from one that started yesterday afternoon. Almost threw up in my son's room. No bueno.

Typically my home remedy for migraines is generic caffeine and gatoraide. This morning I stepped up to some $7 starbucks thing with 4 shots of espresso as well as a gatoraide. Its helping, I feel like a functional human being.

My theory is that the caffeine will promote blood flow which restricted blood flow is a common cause of migraines. But, caffeine can dehydrate you, which will counter act the benefits. So I pound the sports drinks and water. Also if you read the ingredients on a "migraine headache" medicine like Bayer or Advil, they just add caffeine in a powder form.

Just curious if anyone else suffered from these and maybe had any home remedies or OTC drugs that helped.

 

[Ducky]

Caffeine definitely helps migraines. Which is why you will find it in Excedrin Migrain.

However, I think my best suggestion would be to stay away from New Product Release Threads on the X for a bit, and you may have less Migraines.

 

[CRJ]

my easy fix is stretching. it will detense muscles pulling on nerves and improve your bloodflow.

 

[sneds]

I use to get migraines every week when I was younger, and usually get one or two a year now. I lose most of my vision and usually have to lock myself in a dark, quiet room and sleep it off. In the last few years, I discovered taking Aleve as soon as I feel one coming on works for me. Usually within 20min it's gone and life is back to normal. Hope this helps, migraines are not a good time.

 

[swapmeet]

my easy fix is stretching. it will detense muscles pulling on nerves and improve your bloodflow.

Ah yes! So I can tell that I need to stretch. Usually my shoulders and I try to stretch them as best as I can. But this morning for example, when I stretched that's when I got nauseous, maybe i'm holding my breath or straining too much.

 

[whitca]

Find a specialist. My Dad suffered from migraines too. When I was a kid, he'd come home about every night and have to lie down in a dark room until it subsided enough that he could eat. It got to the point that he had to carry a pain shot with him and inject himself in the leg when they would get bad enough. It turned out they were triggered by a food allergy he never knew he had. Milk chocolate, bananas, and yellow cheese (cheddar, etc) would trigger his and they would get bad enough that he occasionally had to miss work. Once he cut those out of his diet the migraines stopped. He still gets minor headaches from other stuff but they're nowhere near as severe and it doesn't bother him enough to go through the testing to find the cause.

 

[CRJ]

Ah yes! So I can tell that I need to stretch. Usually my shoulders and I try to stretch them as best as I can. But this morning for example, when I stretched that's when I got nauseous, maybe i'm holding my breath or straining too much.

possibly. I find touching my toes is the best. as well as spreading your legs and going from one foot to the other. try to get your palms flat on the ground. the back muscles are very strong and take a lot to loosen properly especially if you havent done this in a long time, but i feel like a million bucks after a workout and good stretch. sauna also helps this, and if you stretch after the sauna its even easier. the neck muscles are often the cause of a bad headache, but not always. im a pretty firm believer theres always a natural or physical way to remedy a situations or problem.

 

[OCD Solutions]

I say allergies as well. My sister suffered most of her youth with them. They magically went away once she moved off to college and we soon discovered it was due to her eliminating red meat from her diet.

 

[Joker]

You can try things that improve cardiovascular health. Things like nitrates and fish oil will improve blood flow. Constantly using caffeine is bad for your longevity.

+2 on the chiro

 

[Jetfiend]

Chiropractor helped my daughter. She was getting at least 2 a month. Since getting occasional adjustments, she has only had one in the last year.

 

[SkiPro]

My mom for most of my life got Cluster headaches which is categorized under migraines but worse. So bad that she used to have to do the same thing, as in lock herself in a dark room hook a mask to her face and suck on oxygen for hours at a time. Still then that didn't work and she would have to inject herself with some kind of stuff.

When I turned 15 I too started to develop CRAZY bad migraines or what might be clusters. Normal pain as in broken bones or bumps and bruises or any kind of pain for that matter is nothing.. You could break my arm clear the f$$k off and beat me with and I would prolly laugh because it wouldn't/couldn't be as bad as head pains. Its ALWAYS on the left side of my head and face, I loose vision in my left eye because my eye will sag shut and I can't open it. And if I do manage to get it open everything is burry. The pain goes threw my jaw and my gumline(where my molars were before I got them removed) and is behind my eye. My temple and eye pulsate to the point where its scary..It a undescribable.. Normal headaches are a blessing. There have been multiple times where ive wanted to grab the 45 and end it myself, I wouldn't wish that pain on anyone. there is nothing worse. I would rather break both arms and quit jetskiiing forever then go threw a month of attacks. Ive been found multiple times Curled up in the fettle position on the floor of the bathroom at work with the lights off.

What I do is the second I feel an attack coming on I pop 2 or 3 migraine pills and pound as much water as I can consume and haul a$$ to the darkest place I can find and just wait it out. They only last 30 mintues to an hour or as little as 15 minutes or up to 3 hours at a time. Sometimes up to 3 times a day for about a month and then will go away for weeks at a time. What is also strange is that pain pills like tabs don't help a bit. Just mess me up. But even migraine pills like advil or excedrine or anything like that don't work. I just have wait it out.

Thanks guys, sorry for the essay. I will try the stretching and such. Good luck to all with migraines or clusters. I know what they about and they are no joke. And people who don't get them just don't know and can't understand and wont ever.

 

[McDog]

I have heard that giving yourself an ice cream headache on purpose can help, but I don't get them so I don't know for sure.

 

[Big Kahuna]

A friends wife has the cluster headaches. We would share a hotel room sometimes at races and several times she would be up half the night. She would sit in the tub with lights out. And said she literally would bang her head on the wall to try and alleviate the pain. 1. SM. Go to a sinus specialist and get checked out for sinus issues. I use to get really painful headaches right above the eyes........ 2. If that does not work go see a neurologist.........

 

[keno]

The caffeine works by constricting the veins in the brain to alleviate the headache. The injection that many of you spoke of is probably sumatriptan. There is also oral triptans that you can take such as rizatriptan and sumatriptan. Ergotamine nasal sprays work well too. (Don't use on a woman, can cause birth defects) In general opiates ate not used for migraines as they are not very effective. Sometimes it can be as simple as a sinus issue or facial nerve so go see your doctor!

 

[swapmeet]

I appreciate everyone's responses. I've heard 3rd hand stories about bad migraines, but reading what some of you wrote... sweet jesus thats awful. I don't like mine but i'm thankful that I don't have it as bad as some have described.

I can't recall what my Mom takes, but she hates taking it. The side effects are pretty bad. But I believe she's seen all sorts of doctors and this medicine is the only thing that works for her. Its actually a anti seizure medicine that helps with Migraines. She has no idea what causes them, but the generally happen when the weather changes drastically. She can tell when a big front is about to hit.

I definitely need to stretch more. My headaches are usually tied to stiffness in my shoulders, neck and back.

 

[Joker]

Try the chiro and deep tissue massage that may help a lot.

 

[bird]

My freshmen year in college I was up late going to get some Gatorade in the dorms, and a girl was wandering the halls looking for help. At the time I was drunk, so keep that in mind.

She asked me if I could squeeze her head as hard as I could. She said she needed a guy to do it because girls weren't strong enough in her hall. I put my hands between her temples and ears, and she told me to push harder and harder. I think it took about a minute, but her headache went away from the pressure release. I was laughing inside because I'm sure it looked hilarious with me squeezing her head while she was saying "harder harder!".

She went on to tell me her life story about how she was in a car accident, in a coma for weeks, and then she had to re-learn everything like a baby. She still got migraines from the accident, and physical pressure was her only release.

 

[Jack Munch]

I was hit by an 18 wheeler in 09' and had migraines and all sorts of other problems. I wrote a little about it in the back pain thread. Check this video out.

My health had deteriorated so far that Doctors couldn't do anything about it. Think of the spine as an electrical conduit and the top bone (the C1 atlas) is the bottleneck of your nervous system. If you compress your brain stem you are putting pressure on 7 trillion nerves. There are only about 1200 doctors in the world that can correct this situation. It is called an atlas specific adjustment and can be performed without surgery. It saved my life and now I help others with the same problem. Some chiropractors can perform it but 99% of them do not know how. Call around and ask if they know how to perform an atlas specific adjustment or if they just twist and guess. Ask them in person and watch their face if you want to get a real laugh. They will either high five you or drop their heads in shame. They know what you are talking about. Most of them skipped the extra two years it takes to learn this because they wanted to know how to "pop people's knuckles". I have personally seen many people start crying right on the table because their symptoms went away right then. Others it has taken months for the body to retrain itself. If you want to know more there is a book on it called The Subluxation Specific the Adjustment Specific Volume 18 by B.J. Palmer. Took me a while to read it but it is the most powerful book I have ever read. It is the holy grail to the human race.

 

[swapmeet]

It is the holy grail to the human race.

 

[swapmeet]

From the Amazon description:

The Definitive Manual for True Chiropractic

IN ENTERING into the study of this book and its work, each should, so far as possible, lay aside for the time being all previous theories, beliefs, teachings, and practices. By so doing you will be saved the trouble of trying, all the way thru, to force “new wine into old bottles,” If there is anything, as we proceed, which you do not understand or agree with let it lie passively in your mind until you have studied and gone thru the book the THIRD time, for many statements that would at first arouse antagonism and discussion will be clear and easily accepted further on, after mature reflection and after repeated understanding. After you have given the book mature deliberation, if you wish to return to your old beliefs and ways of living, you are at perfect liberty to do so. But, for the time being, become as little children; for said the Master, “Except ye become as little children, ye can in no wise enter the kingdom of heaven”.

Sounds..... exhausting.