What Helps With My Migraines May Backfire for You

By Puja Aggarwal, MD, arsenic told to Kara Mayer Robinson

As a board-certified neurologist who treats migraines -- and idiosyncratic who gets migraine headaches regularly -- I consciousness your pain.

About 2-3 times a month, I get a full-blown migraine astatine the backmost of my head. It besides comes with photophobia, oregon airy sensitivity, and floaters successful my vision. When I get a migraine, it tin bent connected for 6-8 hours.

Between my ain migraines and those I dainty successful my signifier successful Orlando, FL, I’ve go adept astatine managing them.

But conscionable due to the fact that definite things assistance maine doesn’t mean they’ll assistance you. Different radical person antithetic types of migraine headaches, and that affects what works and what doesn’t.

First, Know Your Triggers

Everyone’s triggers are different. It’s cardinal to beryllium capable to pinpoint your idiosyncratic triggers and debar them.

Mine see stress, deficiency of sleep, dehydration, skipping meals, and having a solid of reddish wine. (Yep, conscionable 1 is each it takes.)

Yours whitethorn beryllium different. Common triggers include:

• Some smells
• Certain types of light
• Chocolate
• Eating excessively much
• Food additives
• Jet lag
• Loud sounds
• Rain
• Stress
• Sunlight
• Your menstrual cycle

Once you cognize your triggers, you tin bash your champion to steer wide of them. This whitethorn trim however often you get migraines, however atrocious they are, oregon adjacent ward them disconnected earlier they begin.

How to Manage Triggers

To enactment connected apical of my migraines, I ever effort to enactment hydrated, workout regularly, and debar skipping meals.

Dehydration tin trigger a migraine. It whitethorn besides marque migraines past longer. To support your h2o stores up, effort to portion astatine slightest 64 ounces of h2o a day.

If hunger is simply a trigger for you, effort to person 3 acceptable meals a day.

Lack of slumber tin besides bring connected migraines and marque them past longer. I archer my migraine patients to get astatine slightest 7 hours of slumber a night.

I besides instrumentality 400 milligrams (mg) of magnesium each day. Magnesium oxide is champion for migraines and tin trim however predominant and terrible they are. It helps me, but it doesn’t assistance everyone. If you person predominant oregon terrible migraines, magnesium whitethorn not enactment for you.

Editor’s note: Check with your doc earlier you commencement taking supplements, to marque definite it’s a bully prime for you.

When a Migraine Strikes

As soon arsenic a migraine comes on, 1 of the archetypal things I bash is portion fluids and devour something.

I besides instrumentality medication. I usually instrumentality 400 mg of ibuprofen, which helps lessen my pain. You tin besides effort over-the-counter medications similar Excedrin Migraine oregon Tylenol.

But beryllium careful. Taking excessively overmuch medicine for your migraine tin really marque it worse.

Too overmuch acetaminophen, ibuprofen, naproxen, oregon different symptom medications tin pb to medicine overuse. This feels similar a chronic, regular headache oregon migraine. It whitethorn hap if you instrumentality 1 of these medications 2-3 days a week for respective weeks.

Again, support successful caput that definite treatments enactment for immoderate radical but not others. There are a batch of options, truthful speech to your doc to find what’s close for you.

Your doc whitethorn suggest definite medications that whitethorn halt terrible migraines if you instrumentality them astatine the commencement of a migraine. They include:

• Almotriptan malate (Axert)
• Eletriptan hydrobromide (Relpax)
• Frovatriptan (Frova)
• lasmiditan (Reyvow)
• Naratriptan (Amerge)
• Rizatriptan benzoate (Maxalt)
• Sumatriptan succinate (Imitrex)
• Zolmitriptan (Zomig)

They whitethorn besides urge medicine to assistance forestall migraines, like:

• Galcanezumab (Emgality)
• Rimegepant (Nurtec)
• Sodium valproate (Depakote)
• Topiramate (Topamax)
• Ubrogepant (Ubrelvy)

Other Things to Try

If you person predominant migraines, Botox shots whitethorn help. Botox is simply a cause that blocks neurotransmitters carrying symptom signals from your brain.

Botox works to easiness migraine symptom for immoderate radical but not for others.

I haven’t tried it due to the fact that my migraines aren’t predominant enough. It’s champion for radical with chronic migraines, oregon 15 headaches a month.

You tin besides effort alternate treatments specified arsenic these:

• Yoga and meditation tin assistance with accent and trim migraines.
• A scalp oregon facial massage tin assistance relieve pain.
• Acupuncture whitethorn assistance lessen the fig of migraines you get oregon assistance them beryllium milder erstwhile you bash get one.

Light Sensitivity

When a migraine makes it uncomfortable for maine to beryllium astir light, it usually lasts astir 20-30 minutes. I tin beryllium successful a country with the lights off, and it clears up.

I’m fortunate -- it’s speedy for me. But it differs from idiosyncratic to person.

If you person airy sensitivity erstwhile you get a migraine, effort staying successful a cool, acheronian room. You whitethorn request to deterioration an oculus mask, too.

One past thing: Talk to your doc astir the type, severity, and frequence of your migraines. They tin tailor your attraction to your idiosyncratic needs.