10 Home Remedies for Awful Migraine Headaches

I am a woman who's suffered from migraines since I was a kid, so I know what it's like to feel sick with the unbearable pain of a migraine. As I hate going to doctors, I treat my migraines at home based on what I've researched, experimented with, and tried. Of those remedies I tried, some gave me relief, others had no effect, while others actually made the painful headaches even more agonizing.

Here are 10 home remedies for migraine headaches, many of which have helped me quite a bit. Some treatments are herbal and natural, some are pharmaceutical products you can get over the counter.

However, of course I have to warn you not to take what I write here as medical advice. I'm a migraine sufferer, not a doctor. Always talk to your healthcare practitioner before trying to use any treatment at home for migraines on yourself, another adult, or most especially a child who has a migraine or other type of severe headache. And use sense even about taking the advice of a doctor - I speak from personal experience here, as when I was a kid, my mother was told by my pediatrician to give me codeine (a narcotic) every day to prevent headache. Medical opinion changes over time, so use care when taking any advice, professional or not. Just some personal thoughts stuck in here. So okay, on to my favorite remedies...

Okay, it's obvious, but it should be covered. They're not particularly natural or non-invasive, but NSAIDS, or over-the-counter nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs such as aspirin, ibuprofen and naproxen sodium can be effective. These painkillers can help a migraine most when taken as soon as the pain from a migraine begins, or when the symptoms of a classic migraine begin. Take only the dosage advised on the bottle or by a health care practitioner. Doctors also sometimes prescribe prescription medications for migraines, such as ergotamines or triptans.

Pregnant women should not take NSAIDS - I learned this to my dismay when I was pregnant. Acetaminophen (Tylenol) is generally the only pain medication advised by doctors during pregnancy. Check with your Ob/Gyn to be sure.

My personal experience: During pregnancy, taking tylenol seemed to be enough to get rid of my migraines, even though acetaminophen doesn't work when I'm not pregnant. Otherwise, I generally take ibuprofen - in the smallest possible dose.

Caffeine may be a migraine trigger - but in some cases, it might help a migraine. (Caffeine is one ingredient in the migraine medication, Excedrin Migraine).

Caffeine in the form of coffee may provide temporary pain relief. Take the coffee black, with no sugar or cream, as both might be migraine food triggers.

My personal experience: Tea may also work for you - it never has for me, though. Nor has chocolate or Coca-Cola, two other potential food triggers for migraines. Only black coffee has helped me, personally.

Although not well understood, the cause of migraine pain seems to be inflammation in the head that causes blood vessels there to swell. Reducing blood volume to the head may help the pain of a migraine. A cold shower or - my preference - an ice pack to the head, neck, face and shoulders may help accomplish this.

Some ideas for an ice pack at home may be a:

• gel pack kept in the freezer, surrounded by cloth ( I use inexpensive and durable ice packs for my migraines made by Accurate Manufacturing)
• wet towel put in the freezer for 15 minutes
• frozen package of peas or corn (discard this afterward)

Don't apply heat to the head! At least, in my experience, that only hurts a migraine headache and makes the pain much worse. For years, I applied heat to my head, neck and shoulders thinking it should help, but the throbbing only intensified. Edit:  Although this is my personal experience, it's not the experience of everyone with migraine.  I have a relative whose migraines worsen with cold applied to the head.  The lesson here is to experiment safely and see what works for you.

Instead of heat applied to the head, try taking a hot bath, as warm as you can comfortably tolerate it.  Immerse your hands up to the elbows in the warm water. Bathe for at least 20 minutes. Don't lie down and soak or immerse your head. Occasionally you can splash cold water on your face or even dab your face with an ice pack.

Caution: Hot baths are not necessarily safe for everybody and all medical conditions. Check with your physician if in doubt.

A surprising home "cure" to some of the pain of a migraine can be to keep the head elevated.

Not many realize this, but think about it: For the same reason that a hot compress can hurt and a cold one can help - that is, they affect how the blood flows to and from the head - keeping the head elevated might help a migraine and lying down in a horizontal position, where the head is at a level with the body, might hurt a migraine.

My personal experience: When I have a migraine, I sit in a recliner or on a chair. In bed, I prop up a lot of pillows behind me so I'm not lying prone. My head throbs when my head is at the same level as my body, so I avoid that and always make sure I'm as upright as I can comfortably be.

Mild exercise is one of the lesser-known alleviatives for migraine headaches. Even pregnant women with migraines may be able to do mild exercise that focuses on getting the blood to circulate in the lower body. Walking or just pumping the legs while sitting might help. Unless told otherwise by a medical professional, anyone with a migraine should avoid exercise that is strenuous or gets blood flowing toward the head.

My personal experience: One day, I was at my grandmother's home and began to feel the pain of a migraine headache when I had no access to medications. I got on my grandfather's upright stationary bike and began to gently pedal. This worked my lower limbs while keeping my upper limbs relatively immobile. Within about ten minutes, I began to feel better, and the headache never developed.

According to the Natural Health Guide to Headache Relief (see References), feverfew is an effective home remedy for migraine headaches. Taken over the course of a few months, feverfew might even help prevent migraine.

Feverfew is not advised for people on anticoagulant medications, pregnant women or for anybody allergic to ragweed. Contact a medical professional before trying feverfew for migraine headaches.

My personal experience: I have never tried feverfew as a migraine preventative. I believe I tried it once as a treatment for acute migraine and it did not help me at all.

Ginger root is a migraine herbal remedy that may help a headache associated with nausea. It helps me a lot, personally. I usually take a few slices of fresh ginger or chunks of dried ginger and simmer them for ten to twenty minutes in a teapot. One or two cups really helps ease the "sick" feeling for me. The sooner I take it, the more it tends to help me.

It can also be taken in extract form or even as powdered ginger if diluted with plenty of water - the recipe can be found in the Natural Health Guide to Headache Relief (see References.) I am guessing the capsule form of ginger root would also work.

If you're pregnant, ask your doctor before using ginger at all.

Rest is important to help get rid of a migraine. Quit working and go rest. That means alone, or someplace peaceful. Ideally, try to fall asleep.

Where and how you rest depends on the way you experience migraines. Some people tend to be light-sensitive when they have migraines. They feel best when holed up in a room with the shades drawn and the lights out. Others tend to be sensitive to sound. Go where there is the least of what aggravates you.

My personal experience: Sometimes migraines can be "slept off." When I have a migraine, I couldn't care less if the room I was in was dark or light - but if the television is on and the volume set to any noise at all, I flinch. However, flickering light bothers me, too - I can't seem to stand looking at fluorescent lighting, the computer, television or movies, either.

I'm not sure, but I think I should have made this one number 1! There is a lot of information out there about how foods can cause migraine headaches in some people. Basically the standard advice boils down to the same basic foods to avoid:

• red wine
• hot dogs
• bacon
• sausage
• peanuts
• aged cheese
• milk
• yogurt
• soy
• aspartame
• fava beans
• MSG (monosodium glutamate)

Food triggers do not necessarily cause migraines each time you eat them. The time delay before the onset of migraine might be minutes or hours, or even 24 hours.

My personal experience: I get food-related migraines from foods not only on this list (especially those with free glutamic acid), but from food I eat that bring my blood sugar up too high, like bananas. (I had pre-diabetic blood sugars that, once controlled, reduced the number of my headaches impressively. No more taking after-meal naps and waking up with pounding migraines - yay!) I figured out many of my food intolerances with elimination diets and a low-carb diet.

Some facts about migraines:

• Migraine headaches are a specific type of vascular headache in the same class as cluster headaches.
• They involve the constriction of blood vessels in the head.
• They can be severely painful or mild, and last for a few hours or days at a time.
• Migraines afflict women more than men.
• They may occur on either side of the head or on both sides of the head.
• Symptoms: Aside from a throbbing pain in the head, face, neck and/or shoulders, they may be accompanied by nausea and vomiting and other symptoms such as coldness of the hands and the face getting hot.
  

My personal experience: My migraines tend to alternate sides of the head - first they occur on the right side; then they move to the left side, or vice versa.

Common migraines are known as migraine without aura. Only classic migraines, also called migraine with aura, are announced by an "aura" that can occur up to a half hour before the migraine pain starts. The aura may manifest as

• visual disturbances
• dizziness
• feeling mentally fuzzy
• numbness.

Start using home remedies and treatments as soon as the aura occurs.  The earlier a migraine treatment occurs, the more effective it is likely to be.

Migraine, WomensHealth.gov

Migraine During Pregnancy, American Pregnancy Association

Natural Health Guide to Headache Relief by Paula Maas & Deborah Mitchell