Migraine

NATURAL TREATMENT FOR MIGRAIN

A migraine is usually an intense pounding headache with nausea that occurs from time to time. The pounding or pulsing pain usually begins in the forehead, the side of the head or around the eyes. The headache gradually gets worse. Bright lights or loud noises make the headache worse. The headache can last for two hours or even up to two or three days.

Symptoms:

• Nausea and vomiting
• Throbbing or pounding pain on one side of your head (or both)
• Light, noise, and movement—especially bending over—make your head hurt worse; you want to lie down in a dark, quiet room

No one knows for certain what causes migraine. Things that can trigger migraine include the following.

• Certain foods and alcohol; missing meals; too much sun; sleeping too little or too much
• Hormones and menstruation
• Certain odors, such as perfume or cigarette smoke
• Stress
• Blood platelet disorder
• Low Blood Sugar or Hypoglycemia

Herbal Remedies:

Ginger (Zingiber officinale) contains constituents that inhibit platelet aggregation. Ginger tea works, for a migraine headache in the front of the head. One case study published in the Journal of Ethnopharmacology reported on a 42 year old female migraine sufferer who found relief taking 500 to 600 mg of ginger powder mixed with water every four hours for four days. The patient was instructed to begin ginger at the onset of visual aura. The authors report improvement within 30 minutes of beginning ginger. They also note that continued use of ginger by the woman led to decreased frequency and intensity of migraines.

Make a tea from equal proportions of ashwagandha and brahmi (about 1/3 to 1/2 teaspoon each), steep in a cup of water for about 10 minutes, and drink 2 or 3 times a day.

Diet:

Reduce your intake of sugar, refined foods, animal products (meats and dairy), caffeine, alcohol, soda, and salt.

Drink more water and eat more fiber, vegetables, whole grains, and vegetable proteins.

Prevention:

Avoid Direct Sun: Because migraine headaches are predominantly a pitta disorder, they are affected by the hot sun. When the sun rises, its hot, sharp, penetrating rays increase pitta in the cardiovascular system and cause the dilation of the blood vessels in the brain, which results in the painful headaches. So avoid direct exposure to the sun.

Walks in the full moon and by water; and flower gardening reduce Pitta causes of migraines

Do a cooling breathing exercise such as shitali. To do it, curl your tongue into a tube. Inhale slowly through the curled tongue, swallow, and then exhale normally through the nose, keeping the mouth closed. You will feel the incoming air cool your saliva, your tongue, and the oral mucous membranes.

Hot Oil head Massage is also beneficial

Advice:

The following herbal compound is beneficial in managing migraine.
shatavari 5 parts
brahmi 4 parts
jatamamsi 3 parts
musta 3 parts

Prepare this mixture, and take 1/2 teaspoon twice a day, morning and evening, after breakfast and dinner, with a little lukewarm water. This formula is designed to pacify the aggravated pitta and help relieve migraine headaches.

Diet for Headache

Give up pickled food, cheese, smoked fish, onnuts and chocolate. These are the first to be avoided. Alcohol and non-vegetarian diet may shoot up your headache. One can include salads into his diet. Green leafy vegetables containing roughage will be beneficial as they prevent constipation and so the headache.

Caffeine is contained in many food products like cola, chocolates, coffee and tea and many of the analgesics or anti-cold tablets. Caffeine in lower dose may increase the alertness and energy but in higher dose it causes irritability, anxiety, headache and insomnia. Furthermore, the people who consume high levels of caffeine regularly are more susceptible to develop withdrawal headaches when they stop taking medicines.

Chocolate, wine, Monosodium glutamate (MSG) and nitrates are very well known factors creating headache. Strong beverages and chilled cold drinks are to be avoided

How Migraine Headaches Work

Just about anything may precipitate a migraine attack: excessive caffeine, various foods or scents, dry winds, changes in altitude or seasons, hormonal fluctuations, taking birth control pills, missing a meal, or being in a stuffy room. Intense emotions, such as excitement or anger, also have brought on migraine attacks in some people. Even exercising, having sex, or eating very cold foods could lead to an episode.

In about 10 to 20 percent of migraine sufferers, the pain may be preceded by a visual warning. Such people may see a sort of "aura" that may include flickering points of light, blind spots, or zig-zagging lines. Rarely, migraine sufferers may also smell peculiar odors or notice that their limbs have become numb just prior to an attack. (It's partly for this reason that some researchers think migraines are nerve-related, or neurological, in origin.) Most people who get migraines, however, are knocked for a loop with no warning at all.

A migraine headache usually starts with an intense, throbbing pain on one side of the head. Usually the pain begins to spread. And often, victims experience nausea and vomiting as well. Oversensitivity to stimuli is also a symptom of migraines. You may be especially aware of lights, odors, and sounds. This phenomenon probably occurs because blood vessels in your brain are overreacting by contracting and expanding abnormally.

Symptoms vary from person to person and may range in severity. A migraine headache may last a few hours, or it could make your life miserable for up to three days.

Why Migraines Happen

Why you get migraines is not clearly understood. Researchers have linked migraine symptoms to changes in the diameter of blood vessels in the head. At first, the vessels constrict. Then, as the pain begins, they dilate. What scientists don't know is why these changes occur.

One theory is that they result from an imbalance in a mood-regulating brain chemical called serotonin. Hormones probably also play a role in the development of migraine headaches.

There also seems to be a strong connection between estrogen levels and migraines. That may explain why more women than men experience migraines and why attacks often seem to occur just before, during, or after a woman's menstrual period. Migraine headaches, moreover, seem to run in families, spurring some researchers to speculate that victims have a "migraine gene" that predisposes them to attacks.

Relaxation Techniques

The readjustment of your activities may call for a short period of relaxation each day, perhaps just ten to fifteen minutes after meals. If you can learn to let all your muscles go limp, especially your face muscles, you can do much to relieve muscle tension.

It will be beneficial as well as pleasurable to allow for recreational activity in moderation, preferably one that can be enjoyed with others in the family, one that is not overtaxing in energy and that will make a pleasant change from your daily routine; for example, a visit to the zoo, a trip to the seaside, or just a walk in the country with the opportunity of studying creation in all its variety.

Lifestyle Changes

If the conditions at work or the nature of your work leads to undue stress and fatigue, it may be that a change is called for, or if this is impractical, then an improved work schedule may be necessary. Certainly it would be unwise to work overtime to the detriment of your health. If you are a housewife and work at home, a practical schedule for your daily routine will be a great help in avoiding undue stress and fatigue. Whether at work or at home, it is important to ensure adequate ventilation and proper lighting.

It is advisable to obtain not only sufficient sleep, but also restful sleep. For this purpose you may need a softer or firmer pillow, an extra pillow or one less, or even a new mattress if you are to avoid bad posture and muscle tension that may be contributory to some migraine headaches.

Migraine treatment using Lemon Crust

Lemon crusts can cure migraine. Grind lemon crust and apply as a paste on the forehead. Migraine cures using this remedy has been found very effective and long lasting by many.

Natural Migraine headache treatment using Vegetable Juices

Carrot juice combined with spinach, beet and cucumber juices are good for migraine treatment. Use on the 2 following mixtures as migraine therapy:
1: Mix 200 ml of spinach juice with 300 ml of carrot juice.
2: Mix 100 ml each of beet and cucumber juices with 300 ml of carrot juice.

Migraine relief diet

Migraine : Home Remedies suggested by users (http://www.home-remedies-for-you.com/remedy/Migraine.html#touserremedies)

Fasting on orange juice and water

Cleansing the body of toxins is important for effective treatment of migraine headache. Fast for 2-3 days on orange juice and water. Alternatively, fast on juices of carrot, celery or cucumber.

Avoid foods like white flour products, sugar, tinned or preserved foods, etc

To prevent migraine avoid or reduce white flour products, sugar, confectionery, rich cakes, pastries, sweets, refined cereals, greasy foods, tinned or preserved foods, pickles, condiments and sauces.

All-fruit diet

3-4 fruit based meals for about 2-3 days after the juice diet could help relieve some of the migraine pain.

Well-balanced diet of seeds, nuts etc.

Adopt a well-balanced diet consisting of seeds, nuts, grains, vegetables and fruits.
Include milk, yoghurt, buttermilk, vegetable oils, and honey.
All fruit diet for a couple of days each month can keep your body cleansed as a migraine therapy.

Eat frequent small meals, Copious drinking of water is essential.

Drink water regularly and in good quantity. Eat frequent smaller meals than lesser large meals. This help your digestion process.

Other migraine treatment

Take warm-water enema to cleanse bowels

Cleanse the bowels by taking warm water enema during the fruit juice diet.

Hot bath, cold compress applied to head

A hot foot bath, fomentation over the stomach and spine, cold compress applied to the head, and towels wrung out of very hot water and frequently applied to the neck will go a long way in relieving migraine headaches.

Plenty of exercise and walk in fresh air is essential

Exercise regularly and frequent fresh air walks help relieve migraine tension.

Riboflavin (Vitamin B2)

(http://www.migraineremedy.com/supplement-category/Riboflavin)

Riboflavin works in the treatment of migraine, and researchers have noticed a deficiency in certain energy generators in the brain cells of some people with migraines. They suspect that flooding the system with riboflavin could indirectly help regenerate this flagging energy system and somehow short-circuit migraine pain.