At first your vision begins to dim. As if someone is gradually reducing the intensity of light. Then an eerie form of dizziness sets in and saps all your mental and physical energy.

A splitting headache follows ... and your head threatens to explode!

Welcome to MIGRAINE LAND! Migraine is all you need to spoil your day ... and week. That splitting headache lasts for an hour, and then always is followed by nausea ...

Vomiting comes next, and as the headache eases a little, a kind of hopelessness sets in, which I am certain is psychological, and triggered off by the severe feeling of weakness.

It knocks you out of orbit for almost a week. Even the feeling of general weakness that has set in, lasts during this period, and prevents you from attempting any physical tasks like carrying a heavy object or even making quick movements. There is a general discomfort which also threatens to bring back the attack.

Even several days after a migraine attack, while swimming I have experienced a heavy discomfort when the level of my head goes below the level of my body. Complete weakness prevails for a week, and sometimes longer.

During migraine attacks, I have made attempts to remember faces, addresses, mathematical formulas ... however, everything seems so distorted during this period.

This is one way I adopt, to make sure that the headache that I am experiencing is really a migraine attack, although the early signs would suffice to confirm.

The discomfort caused by the vomiting which signals the final stages of the headache cannot be compared to the discomfort caused when vomiting due to other forms of nausea.

In my very young days, hearing stories of accidents and injuries used to bring about a migraine attack.

Later on, there was a time when the smell of cut grass, and the odor of disinfectants in hospitals was certain to bring on an attack. It became too frequent, almost once every three months.

Striking a tuning fork or staring at a bright fluorescent light would almost definitely induce migraine in me.

I did neither seek a cure for migraine, nor did I make any attempt to find out its causes.

However, at that time I also used to suffer from an ailment called sinusitis and had a touch of catarrh as well. As a result of this, I had an eternal blocked nose.

My mother used to prepare various herbal oils, but ... this was the Beatles era! Oil, herbal or otherwise of any sort was not acceptable at all to a teenager with long hair!

I recall that for some reason I had decided to try out a particular yoga pose called the shoulder stand.

The method of doing this is, you lie flat on your back and raise your hips as high as you can and then hold your hips with the palms of your hand whilst the elbows rest on the ground. Since your knees are not bent, your toes point upwards. You remain in this pose for five to ten minutes. This causes blood to rush to your head.

I got used to doing this regularly, early in the morning before breakfast. Then I set off to school. At school I used to feel fresh the whole day, with no nose blocks at all!

As time passed, curiously, my migraine also laid off! It is strange that I never sought a cure for migraine! I was only interested in preventing a blocked nose condition.

I found more methods for the prevention of nose blocks that whenever I apply them, the threat of a migraine attack used to seem so far away.

Another yoga recommendation for blocked nose was to inhale a small quantity of pure water through the left nostril and send it out through the right. Then inhale water thought the right nostril and expel it through the left. Repeat this process three times. This should be done immediately on rising in the morning.

The author who recommended this method had mentioned that this would also prevent tumors from forming in the brain.

I have experimented with two other methods as well. One of them was to heat a tea spoon, pour a few drops of herbal oil on to the spoon and when the oil gets warm, rub it on to the top of your scalp. This has brought me immediate relief.

The last of these methods was actually recommended to me for vision improvement.

Rotate your head three times clockwise and three times anti clockwise. Repeat the process ten to fifteen times twice a day. Once on rising in the morning and then at sunset.

However, I never got to putting up a schedule in order to practice all these methods daily. But, I have been consistent in doing at least one of these exercises every other day.

My last full-blooded migraine attack came around October 1990! Wow it's eighteen years since!

Well according to my memory there were a couple of occasions after 1990, when I noticed the threat of an attack. On those occasions, I recall having quickly heated up a few drops herbal oil, letting it simmer to a temperature at which the scalp would not find it uncomfortable, and having rubbed it in onto the top of my scalp.

The next step, I remember was swallowing a couple of aspirins, not exceeding the dose recommended by doctors. Then I used to lie down. A cold pack placed on the forehead while lying down helps a lot indeed. A couple of hours later I am all right. No real attack, no weakness that is typical of the aftermath of an attack.

The herbal oil method can be used, I would say from my experience, for emergencies. In the absence of herbal stuff, even olive oil would do. For nearly two years now I have been applying the water inhalation method, and there have been no threats of any attacks.

These days, for nearly six hours a day I stare at the screen of an LCD monitor and thank GOD I have never been threatened by any form of migraine.

In recent times I have heard about various cures for migraine involving some form of meditation and also incorporating a healing system known as Reiki.

However, I have not explored any one of them as I am quite content with the way things are right now.

In conclusion, I would like to say that I do not vouch that all of these methods or any one of them will work on you or on anyone else.

If you do wish to try out any of these methods or all of them, you may do so at your own risk.

The purpose of this article is only to share some personal experiences on the topic, and not to play the role of a doctor.

... concluded