The chronic and recurring pain that the migraine brings along with it is too much to bear for a human. Although there are people who can understand the early signs and symptoms of a migraine which is referred to as aura and can act accordingly to prevent it from happening, there are many who do not. This section hence deals with the various migraine treatment and remedies that one can opt for in case of a migraine attack.
Table of Contents
What is Migraine?
Migraine is a type of headache that is characterized by a severe, throbbing and recurring pain that usually takes place on one side of the head. The headaches are debilitating, intense and painful and can have multiple symptoms that point towards it. There are a lot of factors that can act as a trigger to start a migraine attack. Some of these factors include exposure to sound and light. These attacks can be long lasting and stay till up to hours or even days if not treated well.
Those people who have a family history of having migraine are more prone to getting migraine attacks. Along with that, women are more prone to getting affected by a migraine attack than men are.
Stages of migraine
The migraine usually occurs amongst people belonging to the age group 15 to 55 years. Before understanding the migraine treatment, it is a must to understand the various symptoms that points towards a migraine. The migraine is marked by three stages. However, it is important to understand that these phases do not occur in everyone. These four stages of migraine of migraine are:
Pro drome Stage
The prodrome stage is the period that occurs two to three days before the migraine actually starts. The symptom of this stage marks the onset and warns the person of an upcoming migraine attack. Some of the symptoms of the Prodrome Stage are:
- Food cravings
- Increased frequency of yawning
- Constipation
- Frequent mood swings and changes
- Stiff neck
- Increased urination
- Increased thirst
- Low energy
- Irritation
- Hyperactivity
- Fatigue
Aura Stage
The next stage that follows the pre drome stage is the Aura Stage. For some people they might directly face the aura stage and skip the pre drome stage. The symptoms of this stage can last up to or over an hour. Some of the symptoms of the Aura Stage are:
- Difficulty in speaking.
- Temporary loss of vision.
- Numbness and weakness.
- Uncontrollable jerks in the body.
- Needle and pinning sensation on the face, arms and/ or legs.
- Seeing weird shapes such as bright spots or flashes of light.
- Hearing noises.
Attack Stage
The stage that follows the aura stage is the attack stage. This is the stage where the actual migraine pain hits the person. The pain during this phase can be acute and can last up to three days. The pain is explained as sever and the intensity varies from a person to another. Along with that the frequency of the migraine attacks also depends from a person to another. Without a proper migraine treatment, the migraine attacks might occur frequently or can even take days to make an appearance. Some of the symptoms of the attack phase of migraine are:
- Chronic pain on mainly one side of the head (can occur in both)
- Extreme sensitivity to sound and light
- Vomiting
- Nausea
- Throbbing or pulsing pain
- Dizziness
Postdrome Phase
Next to the attack phase comes the Post drome phase. During this phase the person usually witnesses frequent mood swings. A milder form of the headache shall however remain with it having a tendency to increase for a brief period of time if a lot of movement is done.
How to get rid of a Migraine?
Migraine causes a pounding and chronic pain that is unbearable and not similar to any normal headaches. What follows the pain is nausea, sensitivity of light and sounds and vomiting amongst others. Although there are a number of migraine treatment, here are a couple of home remedies too that can come to aid whenever they is a migraine attack.
Hence, some remedies to how to get rid of a migraine are:
Stay in a dark and quiet place
One of the things that increases or triggers a migraine attack is exposing oneself to loud noise and bright lights. Hence, staying at such a place could only worsen the migraine pain making it to last for a longer period of time. Therefore, in cases where a person is suffering a migraine attack, he must ensure to stay in a calm, quiet and dark place.
Get a good sleep
One of the natural home migraine treatment is to get a proper sleep. This is mainly because not getting a proper sleep can trigger a migraine attack. For that the first step is to draw and follow a proper sleeping pattern every day. In order to fall asleep, if a person wants to use the help of things that helps them relax such as a soft music or reading a book, they shall also try those. However, sleeping more than required can also trigger a migraine attack.
Exercise regularly
One of the best ways to prevent a migraine attack is to ensure one exercises regularly. Exercising regularly has several positive health benefits to the body. One of them is it helps the body to release endorphins, a chemical that helps to block the signals of pain to the brain. Along with that, it also helps to fight obesity and also lessen depression and anxiety which serves as triggers of a migraine attack.
Practice Yoga
Many people may suffer from a headache or a migraine attack in case they do heavy exercise. Hence, to avoid such a situation, it is better to avoid doing heavy exercises and practice yoga. Practicing yoga regularly helps in reducing the frequency and intensity of the migraine attack and therefore serves as a migraine treatment. Yoga helps the person to breathe and meditate which in turn helsp to keep away anxiety and depression.
Increase the Magnesium intake
Although having magnesium might prove of little help during a migraine attack, in taking good quantity of magnesium in the diet can help prevent a migraine attack. This is since deficiency of magnesium in the regular diet have proved to cause a headache in many people some of the foods that are rich in magnesium and can be included in the diet are almonds, eggs, milk, peanut butter, cashews, oat meal and sunflower seeds amongst others. People can also go for supplements or pills that contain magnesium after consulting with a doctor.
Understand and avoid the triggers
A person can get a migraine attack if they eat or expose themselves in an environment that contains something that triggers their migraine. For some people eating certain foods like cheese, red wine, meat etc. can trigger a headache. Certain other conditions like exposing oneself to extreme bright light or loud sound can also trigger a migraine attack. Therefore, it is important to understand the things that trigger a headache in a person and try to avoid the same.
Keep away from Stress
Stress has remained one of the prime reasons of triggering a headache. Bringing about certain small changes in the lifestyle of a person can help prevent them from stressing. Some of the ways a person can do that is by taking some time out for themselves every day and taking some time to relax. Rather than trying to squeeze every thing possible in a day, a person should let things be and get some time to breathe. Hence, by conducting these small changes a person can help themselves from getting a migraine attack.
Eat properly
The eating habits of a person also increases or decreases the chances of them getting a migraine attack. Therefore, in order to prevent the chances of getting an episode of migraine a consistent eating habit must be made. This is mainly because having an irregular pattern of eating that includes skipping meals, over eating and eating wrong foods can trigger a migraine headache. Along with this certain foods like cheese, chocolate, dried foods, pickles, ice creams, bacon, sausage, dairy products and alcohol can also lead to a headache and hence must be avoided.
Acupressure
Applying acupressure during a migraine attack can help to ease the throbbing pain of the headache. Acupressure means to apply pressure in certain pressure points of the body with hands and fingers to help ease the person of various pains. Along with that, practicing acupressure also helps to control the effects of nausea and other side effects that a migraine attack brings with it. Hence, acupressure serves as a migraine treatment.
Cool yourself
When suffering from a migraine headache it is important to cool a person first since that would help to ease the throbbing pain that the migraine causes. For that, one could try using a frozen gel pack, an ice pack or a wash cloth dipped in cold water and wrap it around the head. Since, it helps to slow down the flow of blood the pain of the migraine tends to reduce a bit. Along with that, applying certain oils such as the lavender oil or peppermint oil during a migraine in the forehead and temples also helps to reduce the migraine pain.
What are some Migraine treatment?
The migraine attack could be repetitive with the pain being extremely chronic, throbbing and painful. Therefore, along with following all the home remedies and lifestyle changes that are mentioned in the above section, it is also important to be under continuous migraine treatment after consulting the doctor. There are many migraine treatments that one could choose from or could even choose to undergo a handful of these.
Hence, to mention a few migraine treatment is:
Medicines
One of the ways in which migraine can be treated in by taking medicines that are prescribed by the doctors. There are a wide range of medications that are there to choose from. Taking these drugs can help prevent a migraine attack and also work towards easing the pain that it causes. People can also choose to have a combination of these medications.
Botox
The botox shots are prescribed to those adult patients by the doctors who suffer from chronic migraine attacks. The botox shots are given around the neck and the head of the person in about every 12 weeks. However, these shots are not for those patients who get a migraine headache once in fourteen days.
Mild Anesthesia
In this procedure, the nerve cells that are present behind and inside the nose are made to go numb. These nerve cells are known as SPG or Spheno Palatine Ganglion. This procedure works since this SPG is directly linked to the nerve that causes headache.
CGRP Inhibitors
One of the molecules that is involved in causing the pain that migraine brings along with it is known as Calcitonin Gene-related Peptide or CGRP. The CGRP inhibitors is a kind of drugs that works towards blocking or diminishing the CGRP effects. The injection is a pen shaped device that is given once in a month.
Final thoughts
The migraine attacks are one of the most severe forms of headache. The pain it causes is described as throbbing, burning and pounding. The worst part of the migraine pain is that like any other headache it makes functioning normally difficult but even worse. Therefore, people suffering from these headaches must ensure that they are under proper medical attention to lesson and control the chances of a migraine attack.
Along with that, these people must also ensure certain life style changes since otherwise they might trigger a migraine pain. The above sections therefore caters to provide some of the simple changes that person can opt to choose which would create a huge difference in their migraine frequency and intensity.
