Natural Remedies for Migraines

I've had a Cefaly neuromodulation device for about 2 years. It was almost unendurable to use at first, probably due to this over sensitisation effect. I used it as recommended, daily, for the first month or two but I admit I slackened off and used it only occasionally thereafter. Gradually it became easier to use and I restarted the daily use this year. Only then did it really work. I've had only one migraine in the last two months (usually average 13 per month).

It's not cheap (about £300) and the electrodes have to be bought regularly (they last longer if you're scrupulous about cleaning your brow before use, and putting them straight back on their plastic sheet afterwards). However, this device has broken a chronic migraine condition that's lasted decades.

I should add, I've been careful never to overuse migraine medicines, though I suspect the bar is set too high, especially for ergotamine-containing meds and some people can probably go into overuse while keeping well within the recommended limits.

Eliminating any source of inflammation, so far as possible, also has a role to play. Gum health is critical and food intolerances should be explored.

I also take a couple of supplements and it's taken a few years to hit on a combo that seems to work for me. Magnesium L-Threonate, a B multi; and Vitamin D in Winter. I do better without the high dose vitamin B2 recommended by headache doctors.

I have also Migraines since ages. Lately I am taking Vita Biosa for an other issue. My Migraines starting to be less. You can buy the Original also in England (see comments at Amazon first). Because of Covid I red about Melatonin. But Melatonin can also help Cluster headaches and Migraines and other pain issues. Try a sustained typ before bedtime.

Regards,

Marie Louise, Zurich Switzerland

I am dealing with headaches/migraines since young age of 2, but just the last few years I started using natural ways to stop them. I use many things as I noticed, that sometimes remedies, that worked for me one day, might not work the other. Lately I started combining several remedies together, and that seems to work better than using any one of them. For prevention I use mainly magnesium and alpha lipoic acid. I take either magnesium malate powder or magnesium glycinate capsules without any fillers. I feel that I need minimum of 600mg a day, but if I ate sugar or day was stressful for any reason, I need more. It is not cheap, otherwise I would probably take daily 1000 mg. I can't take more than 300mg at one sitting though without getting belly rumbles, so I take my in two doses. I take 2 alpha lipoic acid 300mg tablets per day-also in two times. I feel that those two help a lot, however I am not particularly good at taking it every day twice a day since I do not like to eat breakfast early, so I have to remember to pack them in my bag. If I take just once a day for a few days, migraine comes. When it comes, I take:

1. 600 mg magnesium at once or within 2 hours (better tummy troubles than horrible headache)

2. drink 2-3 tablsp ACV in a large glass of water (I avoid honey as sugar negates some of the magnesium)

3. drink wood betony tincture (2 droppers in a bit of water.) I also use devil's claw tincture with good results. I tried wild lettuce one, but that tends to give me more nausea.

4. take half teaspoon of turmeric and half teaspoon of ginger powder with some black pepper for better absorption in a bit of water.

Those 4 things work really well for me. Much better than drugs, because even though those would take the pain, but would make me feel weak, and nausea would still be there. Herbs/supplements make me feel good, not just take the pain away.

I did use cayenne tincture couple times to stop it, when I was out and didn't have my usual remedies. It works for a while, but then it would come back. Now I make sure I have at least magnesium and tincture with me at all times.

Without the l-tyrosine I get an instant migraine so don't run out if it helps you. You can get them online, but most vitamin stores don't carry it. God bless.

I started getting sessions of Bio Energetic Synchronization Technique a.k.a. B.E.S.T. This was life changing. After 3 sessions my neck pain was gone. The headaches took longer to go away. They slowly occurred less frequently, until eventually no more. I feel 10 years younger and now have energy to exercise and am overall much happier and at ease in all areas of my life. I recommend this for anyone who has not experienced full healing from the other things you may be trying. There is a nutritional component to the treatment which may go well with some natural remedies you can find on this site.

Some things that have helped has been vitamin B2 and magnesium (magnesium oil). These helped some but still not good. I find just putting the magnesium oil on my hands and fore arms and rubbing hard until it heats up avoids skin irritation. Probably helps absorption also. I also use magtein every now and then.

I came to realize that the migraine originated from the right side of skull base between my skull and cervical. For years I have felt neck stiffness and discomfort there, but was unable to diagnose what it was. About 3 years ago, I developed chronic meningitis so wondered if may that was still there. So that complicated things.

I went to a chiropractor. My migraine calmed down more. I still had to use the magnesium oil but could sleep well. After about a month, I came to realize that the discomfort I had was pinched or compressed nerves. The chiropractor treatment wasn't helping quickly enough so I researched some supplements for pinched nerves and found that calcium and potassium is used.

I have been taking some calcium over the years, so decided to look into potassium. I have been taking a few potassium gluconate 99mg tablets for occasional hemorrhoids and diarrhea which it resolved quickly. I didn't realize it but 99mg is just 3% of fda recommended 3500 mg. So I upped my dose to 1200 mg. I took it in divided doses thru day. I found that stiffness in my neck mostly dissipated in a day. They say that people who have low magnesium are also prone to low potassium levels. I have ME/CFIDS so I have been predisposed to low magnesium. Thru experimentation, I have found, magnesium oil and magtein the best. They help the body in different ways.

Foods have less impact on my migraines also.

The only caveat I read is that if you have kidney disease (this likely means kidney failure) that you should be careful with potassium. My kidneys are fine. I am 60 year old male. I went down to a health fair and got my kidneys checked out for $10 without a doctors approval. This is convenient because I don't like using conventional doctors for anything.

They kind of hype the caveat all over the internet probably scaring a lot of people away from potassium because they assume everyone has failing kidneys and kidney disease. If you are taking prescription medications too long, I can see a lot of kidney failure occurring. I stay natural. Some people take 10 grams pf potassium a day with no ill effects.

I notice potassium wasn't listed as a remedy so something for you to research and experiment with if you have a migraine. I am not done with my own experimenting but want to get this out there for people struggling with migraines.

Sounds like my story, too. Except I do drink organic coffee, twice a day. Now I opened my essential oil box and took the peppermint oil and rubbed my right side of the head. Today is the 7th day of my migraine. Pills work, but I got allergy and this morning because of such desperate state I took my ibuprofen and then antihistamine. My poor body... But it gave some relief. I am having hormonal migraines (at least I think so, because they appear before ovulation and after, and if pain is for 7 days, then I would say it longs my whole ovulation period). Then short after there is the first day with its weird headache and then again the same. These days I tried: acupuncture, lavender oil, ginger, pine pollen, bamboo, vitamins B, ice packs, peppers. Now I just read that cardamom bean can help. Once I am ready to get up to search for it, I will try it, too. What is that demonic pain that us women must experience? What are we paying for? Anyway, thank you for your comment, I feel already ease from the mint oil!!! Be blessed!

Inga.

There is no doubt that my weekly 3 day migraines were caused by congestion, and a lack of digestive enzymes . At last after 15 years of suffering here is my sucessful and natural remedy answer and no more migraines at all!

Eat 3 meals a day and if hungry between or after meals only raw fruit.

The last meal must be finished by 7 pm if you go to bed at midnight to allow at least 5 hours to elapse between the last meal and going to bed. (to allow the liver to cope)

Eat 90% raw food, ie 2 lettuce based salads a day organic if possible, and sprouts for protein eg lentil sprouts, chick pea sprouts , mung bean sprouts, and alfalfa sprouts. 5 cups of sprouts give 50 gr protein. Breads made from raw sprouted wheat with chick pea sprouts dried 8 hours in a dehydrator, raw vegetable juices eg carrot, spinach and celery, dried and fresh fruit and soaked (for 8 hours) and rinsed nuts and seeds which can also be made into nut or seed milks. also 2 tablespoons a day of seaweed if you can eat seaweed. Salad dressing can be with raw organic apple cider vinegar or lemon and raw organic cold pressed olive or sesame oil and unrefined seasalt. As many avocados as you like

If you eat something cooked then take immediately afterwards natural enzymes eg natural pills made from natural pineapple and paw paw or papino , about 6 times the dosage on the bottle

Walk at least 1 hour a day to oxygenate the body and improve circulation

Drink at least 1 litre of mineral water a day - never tap water

Avoid sugar ie sacarose, brown or white- instead have raw honey

Avoid sweeteners instead have stevia

Avoid coffee and black tea instead have red tea(Puerrh tea)

Avoid processed cheese (specially blue cheese it is a certain migraine) instead if you must have dairy then have fresh cottage cheese Avoid dairy yoghurts and milk instead have nut and seed milks and cheeses made at home.

Avoid meat, eggs, poultry and fish instead have sprouts, nuts, seeds and seaweed Cooked legumes and grains also give me migraines but sprouted no problem. Good luck this works!

Personally I can't eat more than a quarter cup nuts a day.

Our bowels are extremely weakened from modern-day living (devitalized food, less movement, less oxygen and more pollution including chemicals in almost every man-made object that our bodies are burdened with, etc.). The weakened bowels (which results in all elimination in the body - liver, kidney, skin, etc. - to be compromised) can cause so many different symptoms it is unbelievable. Headaches are a classic example of bowel troubles, and I highly suspect migraine headaches to be directly linked as well, though the exact causes may differ. Another way to know how well your bowels are functioning are the sinuses. Whenever sinuses are congested, bowels are congested, and a thorough colon cleanse using colonics can literally clear the sinus congestion as the major bowel obstructions are eliminated. This may at times take multiple daily colon cleansing sessions. Extreme cases such as sinus infection may take a few days of colon cleansing to relieve, but pain will decrease with each cleanse in most cases.

I only wanted to mention the colon issue because of your comment on cooked legumes causing migraine headaches. Cooked legumes are constipating food. They are nourishing, and they do have fiber, but they are still heavy, especially since they are often paired with grains (which are also constipating, especially when eaten alone with no salad or vegetables). Whether the cause for legumes being hard to digest is a lack of enzymes in modern man, a lack of movement, not enough fresh foods, toxins in the food, certain bacteria fed by the food, overconsumption, or a combination of these things, they can still be eaten, but if a headache occurs, colonics can be a saving grace and relief.

Perhaps the real solution is to eat a perfect diet, but most people just can't accomplish that today, and I'm not quite sure if that is even possible considering our culture and the Earth's conditions. The body needs help, and this is one of the most simple methods. Colon hydrotherapy is so effective that it used to be the first thing done by old world cultures (the origin of the term physician, physic being an enema), and the next best thing was a laxitive (which some locals here in rural Appalachia erroneously call a physic since they probably were unable to perform enemas safely - in the old days, whenever signs of illness came on, they would take a "physic" which was castor oil in this case).

The most important function of a colonic is to improve elimination of toxins (which are considered "unspecified" and nonexistent by our Medical Association) from the body. Also, by eliminating accumulated filth in the bowels, you are removing a breeding ground for harmful organisms in the body. Since the body has the burden of waste removal eliminated, it can go back to functioning properly and put more of its resources into healing. This greatly improves the immune system, and the body is much less susceptible to picking up contagious illness.

I wrote this to give some of my experiences and observations about colonics since it seems that there is not enough mention of colon hydrotherapy for these people suffering with migraines and headaches. In my opinion, it is one of the first thing that anyone suffering with migraines should try. Regardless of the cause, which most often I suspect to be a combination of toxicity in the body combined with other factors, colonics can ease the body's burden and allow it to do what it is necessary to overcome and heal the crisis situation.

An example of using colonics to help with nauseating headaches is as follows: I once was a vendor at a market which also had a vendor selling power equipment. He would regularly run the gas-powered tools to demonstrate to customers. By the time the market was over, I started becoming quite ill. After five minutes of driving home, I had to pull over and let my partner drive because I was in very bad condition. The nausea and headache and fatigue was intense. Upon returning home, I immediately did a colonic with likely 7 to 10 gallons of water. By the end of the colonic, I was greatly improved and able to function normally. There may have been some remaining symptoms of the toxicity, but through the colonic the body was enabled to heal, and by the next day they were gone.

This situation was not solely caused by the chemicals in the exhausts. It was a combination of several things, otherwise everyone around would have been equally ill (including my partner who is more prone to toxic poisoning from chemicals than I). Other factors may include stress, diet and the condition of the digestive and elimination organs.

It is worth noting that colonics alone are not the answer. They help the body when it is weakened, but the conditions that caused the weakness need to be changed for improved conditions. These conditions will include toxins/chemicals in the environment (synthetically scented candles, air fresheners, detergents, certain synthetic materials, cleaning chemicals and fuels, exhausts, there are so many things that can cause a toxic environment), and diet conditions are another major contributor to a toxic body. Dairy, sweets, refined foods, and overconsumption of meat, grains, starches, and lack of fresh food in the diet will weaken the body.

I hope to have given some direction to any in a hopeless case. There are multiple ways to heal and improve any condition, but this is one that I think could help where nothing else seems to have worked. For those of you interested in trying colon hydrotherapy, it may be advisable to include a probiotic in your diet (such as primal defense) to be sure that you maintain the proper levels of beneficial intestinal flora. And also follow some of the principles outlined in the post above that this is a reply to.

Good health, and God bless!

I've been giving him 3-4 Feverfew (380mg per pill) pills a day, and 3-4 Butterbur pills a day as well. It's not til now that I've realized the Butterbur has extra Feverfew thrown in. (ButterBur 75mg and Feverfew 200mg.) So far, it's been three days since he's had a headache or migraine. February 9th and 10th he had a headache (which is fairly unusual--he tends to get migraines every other day--sometimes everyday, sometimes only 2-3 times a week.) It's now the 12th-- so clearly not definitive at all, but I wanted to put this out there since it's promising so far. I plan on giving him these high doses until the two bottles run out (which I bought at the natural food store) and then buying online and bringing down the dose and seeing if a migraine shows up or not.

I've looked into overdosing and it's mainly digestive upset-- he hasn't had any of that.

I tried acupuncture and new prescription glasses but get headaches persisted. In all fairness, acupuncture helped but with varying degrees of success. In my late forties, exercise was the new trigger, with intense running, pull-ups and even moderate yoga triggering the headaches.

Finally, my wife mentioned that her yoga teacher was a chiropractor and new exactly how to solve my headaches. After three short 10 minute visits to the chiropractor, cracking my spine in the neck and back, I am migraine free. Now I perform yoga twice a day and avoid my trigger foods and have been migraine free for three months.

Take two tablets of feverfew every day until migraines subside, then every other day. If you are under lots of pressure (job, family etc) make sure you take two daily.

Feverfew works if the sufferer has a "classic" migraine; light halo, light sensitivity leading to blurred vision and usually nausea.

This is to be taken as a preventative not as a pill to be taken when the migraine is upon you.

A few days ago, I found the ACV cure and was so excited that I ran right out and bought organic ACV and organic honey. I almost wished for a headache to test it out. I was so positive it would work! Watch out what you wish for. A mere 2 days later and the familiar feeling in the right temple started. No worries. I can get rid of it easily! I mixed 2tsp ACV and 1tsp honey in 8ozs warm water. (Ugh! ) Went up to bed. Forty five minutes later, husband noticed I was agitated from pain. "Your new thing didnt work?" Me, "Not yet. " I just knew that if I could go to sleep that it would be gone by morning. My positive attitude had to count for something, right? No. At 2:00AM, I was up to a level 8/9. It was almost as if I had drank wine (one of my worst triggers) Two rounds of Relpax and 1200mg's of Advil... Four hours later... and sleep finally came.

Ok, I am willing to try it again... Even though I feel like the ACV actually exacerbated my condition! I dont think I used enough ACV. I thought I remembered it being 2tsp, but now I see that people are using 2 and 3 TBSP. I will give an update after I try it again.

Can anyone tell me the purpose of the honey? Is it to make the whole sour cocktail more palatable? Or is there an actual purpose for it?

This remedy gives instant relief from pain and I am feeling better.

Thnx, binu

A friend was studying acupuncture and asked if I would go to him as a case study. The day before that my cervical smear had come back positive. Now I was looking at camera's being put up and down - and - my privates being poked at. So I ran for it. He and his instructor recommended that I see a nutritionist. I was a bit wary because we were just coming out of the days when nutritionists would recommend "egg and grapefruit" diets for losing weight.

Anyway the following was what she recommended.

Supplements - Vitamin E. (for help with healing)

Preferably all organic but not necessarily.

Breakfast - Porridge with water or red grapes

Lunch - homemade vegetable soup with homemade brown bread or brown scones

Dinner - chicken, fish or lamb - boiled, steamed or grilled only. Carrots, broccolli and potatoes boiled, steamed or grilled only.

For drinks and snacks - Water, black tea and more grapes.

No sauces or salt or sugar. What you see above is it.

The recomendation was to follow this for two and a half to three weeks then slowly start to re-introduce food i.e one at a time and if there was a reaction go back to basics for a few days then re-introduce another food.

It was daunting and the first three days I felt awful(detox) and dreaded mealtimes as my family were having lovely "normal" meals. By day 4 I knew this was working. By day 7 if I had been told to stay on this for the rest of my life I would have done it gladly. After 2 weeks my family all started to follow this regime because the transformation was obvious. The house had its toilet back. I felt so good that I only introduced 1 or 2 foods a weeks to see if I had a reaction but didn't eat them again and stayed eating that way for 4 months. Turned out my main intolerances are milk and mushrooms. I can drink milk or I can eat mushrooms. Put the two together and I get diarrhea and headaches within an hour and then for about two days everything I eat upsets my stomach.

Sorry to other readers that this is so long. This regime may not be perfect but as a working person this was accessable and easy to implement.