Natural Migraine Relief

Natural migraine relief comes in many forms and there are many different specialities and methods to stop a migraine in its tracks. The best method without doubt is to keep a diary of your migraines and figure out with the help of your family and friends and also your doctor or health care professional, what it is that triggers your migraines in the first place. Then take steps to avoid these triggers or a small change in your lifestyle could result in reducing or stopping your migraines completely.

Your diet is considered important in the treatment of migraine as many foods contain supplements thought to trigger attacks. For example coffee and chocolate, and monosodium glutamate and nitrates found in processed meat.

Many people find relief when relaxed in a darkened room with a cold compress on the forehead. Some take a relaxing bath; others use meditation, yoga or essential oils.  As you can see all these methods aim to reduce stress and induce a relaxed feeling of well being to the sufferer.

Chiropractics have had some success with manipulation of the neck and spine as this is thought to increase blood flow to the brain and reduce the instances of migraine. Natural migraine relief is anything that can be done to reduce or stop migraines for the sufferer whilst not using chemical drugs, but in some cases these will be needed until a satisfactory way of dealing with them naturally is found that suits you the individual.

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Medication for Migraine

There are many medications for migraine either sold over the counter in drug stores or as prescribed by your doctor or health care professional. There are three different levels of migraine treatment.

Level one is preventative medication, which is prescribed to stop the attacks happening in the first place. These are usually taken over an eighteen-month period of time and are used to break the cycle of attacks. The medication used is not necessarily invented for the treatment of migraine but has been found to help in the prevention. For example some anti depressants can help to prevent migraines.

Level two is  acute treatment, where a medication is used immediately when an attack happens. You will learn the signs of an oncoming attack and if the medication is taken early enough it can prevent the migraine from developing. The drugs used tend to be over the counter analgesics for example paracetamol and aspirin or ibuprofen.

Level three is treating the migraine itself if the preventative and acute treatments don’t work. If you find you have to use this often then your acute treatment may need changing. The drugs used here are normally prescription strength and may include an anti nausea medication.

A word of warning however, too much medication can result in headaches caused by your medication. If you find you are using medication for migraine more than three times a week it is suggested you speak to your doctor to find out if your pain killers are in fact causing the pain.

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Headache Back of Head

Headache back of head is a very common search term put into google and yahoo every day. There are currently approximately 20 million migraine sufferers in the USA alone and many more suffering from headaches on a daily basis. The reasons for headaches that originate in the neck are many and varied from bad posture or sleeping position, to too many pillows, sports injury, sitting at a computer too long, muscular tension, stress, anxiety, not enough sleep, too much sleep, the reasons go on and on.

As with migraines it is important to find out what it is that triggers these headaches and change your lifestyle and the headaches will go away. If having tried a variety of different methods you still suffer it would be an idea to seek professional help because there could be a more serious underlying problem that needs to be sorted out.

The most common reason for back of head headaches is stress or tension. The muscles in the neck tense up during stressful situations and the resulting strain causes the headaches. These are the easiest to stop. Avoid the stressful situation or learn to cope with the stress better and adopt relaxation techniques to combat the situation.

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Headaches and Pregnancy

Headaches and pregnancy tend to go hand in hand, but the difference between normal stress induced tension headaches and migraine headaches should be explained. Normal headaches that involve a dull ache on either side of the head and neck area are often the result of stress, exhaustion or dehydration and can last for the duration of the pregnancy.

Migraine headaches on the other hand happen in about 20% of expectant mothers and tend only to last for the first three months. They are believed to result from an abnormality of the blood supply to the brain and are a vascular headache. The symptoms can be very debilitating resulting in nausea and vomiting, loss of appetite, extreme fatigue, throbbing or pounding head pain or tunnel vision or blind spots.

These migraines can last for anything up to 48 hours or in some extreme cases longer, but will do no harm to your unborn child no matter what discomfort you are in. The major problem with any headache or migraine whilst pregnant is the amount and strength of any medication you require should be carefully monitored by your health care professional.

Common triggers for migraines should be avoided for example, coffee, cheese and chocolate and such things as bright lights, stress and loud noises. These triggers can be discovered if you monitor your migraines and avoid whatever it is that causes them.

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Ocular Migraine

Ocular migraine has a variety of symptoms. You will see a small, enlarging blind spot in your central vision with bright flickering lights or a shimmering zigzag line inside the blind spot. The blind spot will then grow and move across your field of vision. This entire process may last only a few minutes but normally not more than twenty minutes.

What triggers ocular or ophthalmic migraines is not really understood by the medical profession so a visit to your doctor may not be of much help to you. Normally ocular migraines are associated with no pain or headache and are just an inconvenience because your vision is affected.

If however they more frequent or you start having pain associated with the deterioration in vision it would be wise to consult a doctor. There are other conditions that affect your eyesight and you may not in fact be having ocular migraine at all but something that could be diagnosed and cured easily with medication.

During migraines changes take place in the blood flow to the to the area of the brain responsible for vision and this can cause ocular migraine even though there is no pain. There are thought to be many different triggers for migraine and discovering these triggers with the help of your doctor may reduce or even stop the occurrence of ocular migraine.

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