Fighting the Invisible Bully: How to combat Migraines
If you suffer from migraines then you know how it feels to be attacked by this invisible bully. Migraines are a debilitating neurological disease that can severely affect your life. It can change your mood and disrupt your family, work, or even school lives. It has no sympathy for your pain and suffering. Migraine attacks go beyond just pain in the head. It can include many different symptoms that can last anywhere between hours to days.
Not only do you suffer the pain of your head feeling like it's about to split open, but you also get to feel the overwhelmingly horrid nausea an attack can bring. The way simple lights, sounds, and odors can push you over the edge. Feeling like you're going to cry, but knowing you can't because it'll just make things feel a hundred times worse. It's a terrible thing to live with.
There are ways that you can fight back. There are remedies and things you can avoid to cut down on the attacks received by your invisible bully. These little tips and tricks are to help ease symptoms and won't necessarily cure you of migraines.
1. Diet
Your diet could be the reason you are experiencing migraines. There are certain foods and drinks that can trigger a migraine attack. Cutting these foods from your diet can help to combat the surprise migraine. The most common triggers are excessive caffeine, chocolate, and alcohol. Caffeine can also help ease migraines but not in excess. Meats that are canned, cured, pickled, tenderized, or preserved are also known to trigger attacks. When eating meat you want to make sure it's all fresh. Dried fruits and a few others like papaya and avocados can also aid a sudden trigger. Also stay away from anything that is high in sodium. The best way to combat this through diet is to do the research on what exact foods are possible triggers. Remember, a fresh diet is the best.
2. Remedies
Remedies have been my saviors in the past. I try my best to use remedies over medication when I can. There's a remedy for nearly everything out there. Colds, stomach aches, and even migraines. These remedies I'm about to share have worked for me. Take into consideration, however, that every individual is different. What may work for me may not have the same effect on you. That being said here are a few remedies to help you out if you feel a migraine approaching.
Migraine Drinks
Drink 1
3 handfuls of spinach
1 tbsp of crushed flax
1/2 lemon juice
1 cucumber
1 beet root
Blend the ingredients together using a blender then pour it into a glass and drink it.
Drink 2
1 cup of water
1 lemon juiced
2 tbsp of Himalayan pink salts
Combine these ingredients and drink it.
Peppermint or ginger tea are also very helpful when it comes to migraines. A small mug of either and it could ease you out of what could end up a terrible migraine.
Some other remedies are a bit different. For example, if you have a migraine you can submerge you feet and hands into hot or warm water while placing a ice pack on the back of your neck. What this does is it draws your blood down from your head to relieve the tension building there. Using essential oils is also a good way to ease back an attack. Oils like peppermint, lavender, and eucalyptus are good starts. These are all good remedies to help you combat your migraines.
3. Vitamins
Sometimes migraines are do to vitamin deficiencies. Perhaps there is something lacking in your diet that isn't giving you the right amount of a certain vitamin. Taking supplements might help or eating foods rich in these vitamins; magnesium, omega-3 fatty acids, and vitamin B2. Eating fish that is high in omega-3 fatty acids helps to reduce migraine pain, duration, and frequency by curbing inflammation and balancing serotonin.
Those are a few things that I have learned to use to combat my migraines. Don't let your migraines bully you. Take the stand and fight back. If things seem out of control it is always best to call your health care physician, so that they can help you find a better solution or provide you with the proper medication needed to fight your migraine attacks.
