Medical professionals can assist you in identifying your migraine triggers and treating your migraine episodes, and may suggest lifestyle modifications, including sleeping and diet routines as well as physical exercises and stress reduction techniques.
People experiencing migraine attacks may benefit from pain-relief medications during an attack; others can use preventive medicines to lower their frequency.
Acupuncture
If you experience chronic daily headaches, it is crucial that you visit a physician to have them diagnosed and treated. Your healthcare provider will conduct a detailed medical history review and perform tests to rule out potential causes like tumours, infections or brain damage as potential sources.
Acupuncture is an alternative form of pain relief that works by stimulating specific areas of the body with needles. It has been found to alleviate migraine symptoms; for optimal results it should be administered by an experienced professional. For maximum success it should only be attempted under supervision from trained personnel.
Migraine treatment seeks to both stop and prevent further attacks. Acute treatments include pain-relieving drugs taken during an attack to stop it (such as NSAIDs and triptans). Non-drug solutions for acute and preventive treatments include aerobic exercise, sleep hygiene, dietary changes and supplements like magnesium or CoQ10 supplements. Some people may benefit from antidepressants like Amitriptyline (Elavil) for its potential to help prevent migraines; it should always be taken under supervision from a healthcare provider.
Biofeedback
Biofeedback is a mind-body technique that utilizes real-time feedback on physiological processes such as heart rate, breathing rate, muscle tension and skin temperature to teach individuals how to take control of these involuntary body functions and achieve greater physical wellness overall.
Studies have proven that yoga can help alleviate migraine and other headaches by helping relax your muscles, while simultaneously decreasing frequency and severity. Yoga also can teach stress management techniques that will improve sleep patterns for an ideal solution to reduce dependence on medications. It makes a fantastic alternative choice if anyone looking for ways to decrease medication dependence is interested.
Healthcare professionals can help you determine whether biofeedback is suitable for you. They’ll take into account factors like developmental stage, cognitive ability and motivation before suggesting biofeedback as a solution.
Cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT)
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) is an evidence-based psychological approach to helping manage migraine symptoms. CBT challenges irrational thoughts that contribute to more stress and disability by teaching healthier ways of thinking – helping individuals change behaviors such as activity pacing, exercising regularly and managing personal migraine triggers.
Studies have demonstrated the effectiveness of CBT for managing migraine attacks and decreasing their intensity, as well as how often they recur. CBT can be combined with medications or administered alone; both adults and kids have benefitted from its implementation.
To identify the optimal cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) treatments for migraine, studies must use a randomized controlled trial design with headache/migraine as an inclusion criterion and describe diagnosis; outcomes must also be measured over long-term follow up; additionally studies reporting multi-component CBT which includes both cognitive coping skills and relaxation responses should also be given consideration.
Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS)
TMS (Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation) is a noninvasive nonsurgical method of altering brain activity using magnetic pulses, disrupting abnormal brain waves that contribute to migraine. Magnetic field changes are administered using a figure-of-eight coil positioned above motor cortex and delivered at different frequencies (in hertz or Hz), locations, and sessions as desired.
TMS has been shown to suppress cortical spreading depression (CSD) in animal experiments and reduce duration, severity, or frequency of migraine headaches. TMS therapy is safe, noninvasive, and drug-free and can be combined with medications.
TMS may also be useful in treating other conditions that cause discomfort, including depression and OCD. Unfortunately, some studies have limitations such as small sample sizes, blinding issues, heterogeneity of treatment design parameters and inconsistent outcome measures; and possibly adverse reactions like scalp pain in some individuals. It is wise to discuss TMS with your healthcare provider prior to beginning.
