Migraine management strategies aim to minimize migraine attacks, their severity and duration. Strategies may include taking preventive medications as well as lifestyle modifications – such as adding small amounts of caffeine into the diet or using herbs such as riboflavin, magnesium or feverfew for relief.
People suffering from pure menstrual migraine may benefit from using perimenstrual preventive therapy – this involves taking long-acting NSAIDs and triptans during the initial five days of menstruation as a preventive measure.
Avoiding Triggers
When migraines strike, it can be easy to look for quick solutions – like skipping meals or drinking too much red wine; or even sniffing too strongly at certain scents may appear to have direct causal ties to migraine attacks. But these methods often fail.
Avoiding triggers when migraines strike can provide effective acute treatment and lessen their frequency of episodes. Maintaining a diary may assist in pinpointing food and additives that set off migraine attacks; also it is crucial to limit high risk times like before or during your menstrual cycle.
Staying hydrated and managing stress levels are also effective strategies to relieve symptoms.
Keeping a Journal
An effective tool for tracking migraine/headache attacks and symptoms is keeping a migraine headache diary. There are templates available online, while popular headache/migraine apps provide convenient reminders to update the journal regularly.
Keep a journal to help your health practitioner identify the type and cause of headaches as well as any triggers or potential treatments that might help. Your diary can also assist in measuring effectiveness of preventative medicines and therapies prescribed.
Food may be a trigger for migraines in some individuals, so it’s essential that you track what you eat in a journal. Red wine, caffeine and foods containing monosodium glutamate or tyramine such as aged cheeses have been known to bring on migraine attacks for some individuals. Citrus fruits and artificial sweeteners may also trigger them.
Getting Plenty of Sleep
People living with migraine can often struggle to sleep due to either the headaches themselves, or difficulty falling asleep during an attack. But getting plenty of rest could actually help prevent future migraines!
If painkillers and antisickness treatments don’t relieve your migraine symptoms, your doctor may suggest prescribing “triptans”, such as sumatriptan, almotriptan, eletriptan, frovatriptan, naratriptan and rizatriptan – which work within minutes when taken by injection or tablet; although these drugs tend to be more costly than standard painkillers but may work faster.
Changing Your Diet
Studies suggest that following a migraine diet could help mitigate its severity and frequency. One such plan, LIFE diet, involves eating lots of fibre-rich and whole foods – such as vegetables and fruit, nuts, fish and olive oil while restricting starchy vegetables and meats to reduce attacks.
Dieting can also reduce salt and certain dietary additives that have been known to trigger headaches, including nitrites, nitrates, monosodium glutamate (MSG) and tyramine. Other known headache-causing foods include aged cheeses, chocolate and caffeine.
Keep a food diary to identify possible dietary triggers. Be careful, however, not to restrict or avoid certain food groups altogether as this could result in malnutrition.
Exercise
Exercise can be great for overall health; however, certain forms of physical activity can trigger migraine headaches. It’s possible to find the ideal balance that allows exercise without increasing risk for migraine headaches.
Walking can help to enhance blood circulation, lower stress levels and enhance sleep quality while simultaneously decreasing pain intensity. Other exercises that could prove useful include acupressure and yoga – particularly the latter, which has proven particularly helpful in soothing migraine symptoms.
Relaxation Techniques
Studies have demonstrated the efficacy of specific relaxation techniques to combat migraines, such as deep breathing (see our four different breath videos here) and meditation.
Research shows that visualizing relaxing scenes can also be helpful for soothing migraine storms, and has the same physical effect as actually experiencing them first-hand.
Studies have demonstrated the effectiveness of massage in alleviating stress-induced headaches, which are one of the main triggers. Other behavioral treatments that have proven their ability to prevent headaches include acupuncture and cognitive behavioral therapy.
Keeping a Diary
Keep a diary to record details such as the frequency and severity of migraine attacks, how they interfere with daily functioning, patterns (for instance a migraine attack arising after eating certain meals or experiencing weather changes) as well as hormonal fluctuations that might trigger attacks. Keeping track of menstrual cycles is also helpful as hormonal fluctuations can often trigger migraine attacks.
Your diary can be as basic or detailed as you’d like; just try to incorporate it into your day as part of a regular practice. Providing more details will enable your doctor to develop an effective treatment plan more easily.
