Migraines can cause debilitating headaches that last for days and make life challenging, making it impossible to function. Luckily, steps can be taken to control migraines.
Migraines can be caused by many things, from food and noise to strong odors and strong chemical scents. Maintaining a diary to identify migraine triggers will help you prevent future attacks.
Eat a Healthy Diet
Migraine sufferers should seek advice from a physician or nutritionist when making diet-related adjustments, to prevent potentially detrimental side effects like vitamin or mineral deficiencies. Eating frequent, small meals throughout the day helps decrease hunger which may trigger migraine attacks; and increasing magnesium consumption through greens, nuts and seeds or supplements to meet daily recommended allowance.
Other healthy habits to follow when it comes to diet include not skipping meals and sticking to a regular sleep schedule. A food and symptom diary may help identify possible migraine triggers like aged cheese, chocolate, caffeine or alcohol. If a certain food or drink appears to cause headaches, try eliminating it for one month and then reintroducing it slowly over time to see if headaches return; many find red wine can trigger migraines; fortunately some wines now come without added sulfites for those sensitive.
Get Enough Sleep
Studies demonstrate the importance of getting adequate rest to maintain good health, particularly for migraine sufferers. Poor sleeping has been proven to increase migraine attacks frequency and intensity.
Studies have revealed that people suffering from migraine tend to get less of the deep, dream-like sleep stage known as rapid eye movement (REM) sleep, when brain activity and dreams occur simultaneously.
Establish a routine around bedtime to help your body associate it with relaxation and restful slumber. Furthermore, try not taking naps during the day and make sure the room remains dark and cool when trying to sleep.
Also, try hiding clocks so they won’t tempt you to look at them; that can lead to increased anxiety and make falling asleep more challenging.
Avoid Triggers
There is an assortment of factors that can trigger migraine attacks, including red wine, caffeine, chocolate and histamines (found in aged cheeses and processed meats) as well as monosodium glutamate (MSG). Weather changes including fluctuations in barometric pressure may also play a part. Bright or flickering lights, excessive noise or smell can all play their part as can hormonal fluctuations in first trimester pregnancies for certain individuals causing migraines to flare.
Maintaining a headache diary can help you identify your own unique triggers. There’s even an app available on smartphones that tracks symptoms like when they begin and end, and what activities were happening at that moment in time. Once identified, try to limit exposure as much as possible by employing some stress management techniques like biofeedback, meditation and yoga; sleeping on a regular schedule also can help. Also try eating regularly without missing meals and drinking alcohol responsibly (remember to always drink with plenty of water!). If possible take part in some kind of stress reduction techniques that involve biofeedback for example).
Take Medications
Antidepressants, beta-blockers, calcium channel blockers and anticonvulsants taken to prevent seizures may also help to decrease migraine frequency and intensity by relaxing overactive nerve cells in the brain. Such preventive medications are known as preventive medication.
Triptans, a class of medicines designed to ease migraine pain, are among the most effective remedies available for treating an attack. The FDA has approved several drugs in this class including sumatriptan (Imitrex) and zolmitriptan (Maxalt).
Other abortive medications available for use during an abortion include nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs/acetaminophen, dihydroergotamine (Migranal/Trudhesa), and promethazine (Phenergan). All three can be found as pills, nasal sprays or suppositories.
New migraine medications are continually being developed. At present, preventive medication with demonstrated efficacy for children includes monoclonal antibodies known as calcitonin gene-related peptide antagonists or gepants such as Ubrelvy (ubrogepant) and Nurtec ODT (rimegepant). These can be given monthly or quarterly by injection.
