Migraines can be debilitating. But there are treatments available that can help get you back up on your feet after an attack.
Over-the-counter pain relievers may provide temporary relief, but your doctor may need to prescribe stronger drugs in the form of CGRP receptor antagonists like rimegepant (Nurtec) and ubrogepant (Ubrelvy) which act by blocking certain chemicals responsible for migraine symptoms and pain relief.
Avoiding Triggers
Although individual triggers for migraine may vary, some common ones that affect many are: stress (both good and bad), certain foods, skipping meals, alcohol consumption, sleeping patterns changes due to weather or barometric pressure changes, hormonal fluctuations in women, medications both over-the-counter and prescription, and medication changes (both over-the-counter and prescription).
Some patients can identify their headache triggers by keeping a diary. Each time their migraine symptoms appear, including pain severity and cause (for instance red wine or caffeine withdrawal). This way, their headache triggers can be identified more effectively and avoided in future episodes.
Other patients can manage headache triggers more effectively through behavioral management techniques like biofeedback, relaxation training, hypnosis, meditation, exercise and getting enough rest and eating healthy diet. This helps avoid attacks altogether or reduces their severity if one occurs.
Getting Plenty of Sleep
Migraines can often be caused by lack of sleep, which lowers your brain’s pain threshold and makes migraine attacks more likely. Therefore, those who are vulnerable should prioritize getting at least seven to nine hours of quality rest each night to enhance overall health while also helping prevent migraine attacks.
Reducing daytime naps and going to bed at the same time each night can ensure your body gets enough restful rest. Disrupted sleeping patterns may trigger migraines, so keep to your schedule even on weekends.
Aromatherapy before bed can be very helpful; various scents have been known to promote relaxation and enhance sleep quality. You should also avoid caffeine or alcohol within eight hours before sleeping as this will prevent adequate REM sleep which helps decrease pain perception and headaches.
Avoiding Stress
Migraine brains are highly responsive to change, and maintaining a schedule that fits your natural rhythms may reduce both the number and severity of migraine attacks. A good night’s rest, regular meal times and avoiding additives such as aged cheeses or monosodium glutamate can all help, as can eating smaller meals more frequently rather than skipping meals or fasting – these steps could all have benefits for managing migraine attacks.
Stress relief techniques such as meditation, mindfulness and biofeedback could provide considerable assistance. A headache diary may reveal patterns to help identify triggers, while mobile apps like CeCe can make monitoring symptoms easy. You could try creating your own mantra (such as “This too shall pass” or the classic, “Serenity now”) for instantaneous stress relief; or join a migraine support group so you can share tips with people who understand your condition.
Changing Your Diet
Migraine sufferers frequently experience food triggers. Limiting sodium-rich processed foods (such as heat-and-eat frozen meals, canned soups and salty snacks) as well as eliminating artificial sweeteners like aspartame found in diet drinks and low calorie desserts may help protect some individuals against migraine attacks.
Avoid eating large quantities of carbohydrates at once and spread meals out evenly throughout the day, drinking plenty of water and 100% fruit juice to remain hydrated as dehydration can trigger headaches in some people.
An elimination diet can help identify possible migraine triggers by eliminating all or some suspected foods, and gradually reintroducing them. Alongside diet changes, some patients can benefit from daily prescription medication like Timolol, Amitriptyline, Topiramate or Naratriptan – though no matter which medication or combination, daily adjustments alone might not always suffice.
Exercise
Migraine prevention and coping strategies during an attack are of equal importance, including resting in a dark and quiet room and applying pressure to the area affected. Meditation or yoga may also help relax and manage stress levels more effectively.
Exercise has been shown to reduce migraine headache frequency through multiple studies and trials, according to many meta-analyses of such trials. One such meta-analysis conducted a meta-analysis and determined that all forms of exercise were more efficacious than placebo; strength training being the most successful of them all followed by high intensity aerobic exercise and then moderate intensity aerobic exercise.
If you are interested in starting an exercise program, speak to your physician first and get their approval before beginning to build up to it slowly and easing into it gradually. High intensity interval training (HIIT), including running or weightlifting may trigger migraines for some individuals; therefore it’s wise to avoid these types of workouts whenever possible.
