Home Remedies

Sometimes we get stuck in a migraine cycle that medicine cannot break, and instead of going to the hospital, we try home remedies. I'll discuss each from my viewpoint, and provide a link to a site where they go more in depth.

First, the free ones, the ones that don't cost you anything, and you can do them from home.

- Putting an ice pack over your eyes and the back of your neck. For some people, this constricts the blood vessels that are painfully enlarged.
- Putting your hands and feet in a hot water bath, and an ice pack on the back of your neck. This draws the blood to your extremities, and cools the blood heading to your brain.
- An alternating hot and cold shower on your head. This gives your brain a chance to cool down, and relax, decreasing the pain.
- Having an extremely hot washcloth covering your eyes, temples, and forehead. Make it as hot as you can stand. This helps relax away the pain.
- Use a heating pad over your shoulders, or on your head. This calms you down, and relaxes tight muscles, effectively decreasing the strain of the migraine.
- For some people, an icy drink helps decrease migraine pain. Giving yourself "brain freeze" helps collapse the enlarged vessels.
- A relaxing bath has the same effect on your body as a heating pad, except the bath calms your entire body.
- For some, not all, the caffeine rush in coffee, tea, and energy drinks helps decrease, or mask, the pain associated with migraines.
- Using a pressure point massage may work, if you know the points to massage.
- Taking time for meditation can help decrease a migraine.

Now, for this next set of remedies, you may need to purchase something either in a drug store (D), at a specialty shop (S), or at your neighborhood grocery store (G), but the items are relatively inexpensive.

- Put an ice pack at the base of your skull, take some Benadryl(D), and rub Vicks Vapo Rub(D) on your forehead, temples, and under your nose. This helps block odors, loosen congestion in the temples, and relax the forehead.
- Use peppermint wax melts(S) on your temples. This should help relax you.
- Peppermint oil(S), and coconut oil(G) mixed together, and rubbed into your temples help relax your muscles.
- Using essential oils(S) can decrease the pain associated with a migraine.
- Making tea with ginger(G) or feverfew(S) can help decrease the migraine.
- Taking supplements(D,G,S) can help with migraine pain.

This last set of remedies are more of a preventive. They are more expensive; and they don't work right away, or they aren't available everywhere.

- Getting a Dalith piercing. These cost at least $50 per ear,depending on your location. They inflict a lot of pain the first few days. For some the pain is unbearable. After the first few days they usually work extremely well in breaking migraine cycles. For some, however, they stop working after they heal.
- A Heppa Air Filter can help by decreasing the allergens in your house.
- Sea bands, mostly help with the nausea associated with migraines.
- Legal medical marijuana, with high levels of CBD (Cannabinol), which does not get you stoned, is an appealing treatment for chronic pain sufferers.

If you are interested in a more in depth view of the remedies listed above, or are curious about some I haven't covered, check out this LINK.  They have an entire list with links to sites you can purchase all of the items noted in this blog, as well as informational books to help break the pain cycle.

If none of these work for you, I suggest going to the E.R. they have strong drugs, and the ability to inject them, for faster absorption by the body.

**This blog is not intended to be used as a substitute for medical advice**

"Tough times don't last, but tough people do." - Inspirational quotes about sickness.