Migraine pain can make life challenging, but there are numerous strategies to ease symptoms and prevent an episode.
Stick to a regular sleep schedule, avoid foods known to trigger migraines and drink plenty of water. Exercise may also provide some relief while medications like beta-blockers or calcium channel blockers may reduce blood pressure while relaxing muscles to help alleviate headaches.
Ice Packs
Applying cold temperatures directly to the head can reduce migraine-associated pain and inflammation, as well as reduce sensitivity to light, sound and smell triggers that contribute to headaches.
Ice packs, reusable ice bags or simply wrapping damp cloth around some ice cubes can all be effective home remedies for migraine. Each of these remedies should be used for 15-20 minutes at least three times each day and is considered safe by healthcare providers.
A 2013 study discovered that using neck wraps containing silica gel ice packs that remain frozen for 15-20 minutes proved the most effective means of relieving migraine pain. Although smaller than wearable ice caps available today, these gel packs still fit tightly around the head and neck to deliver targeted cold therapy, and offer greater convenience over cold water ice baths in terms of less spillage risk.
Over-the-Counter Painkillers
No matter your source of discomfort – whether that be backache, migraine or toothache – over-the-counter painkillers are often the first line of defense against pain. But be wary – too much medication overuse headache can occur which could prevent certain medicines from working effectively or make your discomfort worse. Read labels carefully; overusing certain painkillers could cause medication overuse headache causing the painkiller to stop working effectively altogether and even make things worse!
NSAIDs like aspirin, ibuprofen and naproxen can help alleviate headache pain by reducing inflammation and swelling while simultaneously blocking pain receptors in your brain. Many over-the-counter migraine and headache medicines contain aspirin or acetaminophen with or without caffeine to ease symptoms – caffeine acts as a natural pain reliever while increasing absorption of other ingredients in medicines.
Older drugs known as triptans can help relieve migraine and headache pain immediately as it’s occurring, while two newer antibodies known as Aimovig and Emgality provide relief by blocking CGRP proteins known to trigger headaches – these injections should be given on a monthly or quarterly basis to patients.
Cold Compresses
Migraines can be caused by environmental changes, like storms or changes to barometric pressure, as well as internal issues like hormone fluctuations, sleep disruptions, stress or diet. Recognizing and attempting to avoid triggers will reduce both frequency and severity of migraine attacks.
Ice packs or frozen gel packs can help relieve migraine pain by constricting blood vessels, and cold compresses applied directly to neck and shoulders can relax tight muscles.
Migraine pain relief medications range from over-the-counter medicines like acetaminophen and ibuprofen (Advil, Motrin IB) to prescription options like ergot alkaloids, dihydroergotamine and triptans; all can be helpful as part of a comprehensive treatment plan including identifying trigger factors, getting enough restful sleep and staying hydrated – massage therapy has even been shown to relieve migraine headaches by releasing chemicals that block pain signals from reaching the brain
Medications
There are various medications that can help prevent or treat migraines. These include antiemetics (metoclopramide, domperidone and prochlorperazine). These antisickness medicines (antiemetics) can be taken either alone or combined with painkillers and triptans for maximum effect.
These medicines work by blocking CGRP in the brain and constricting blood vessels to stop an attack, often prescribed to those who have tried over-the-counter treatments without success or when other measures such as NSAIDs and paracetamol have not worked.
Antiemetics such as metoclopramide and domperidone can be effective in relieving nausea and vomiting during a migraine attack, either taken orally (tablet or sublingual suppository), buccal forms of these drugs such as Prochlorperazine are available if someone does not want to swallow a pill directly. NICE also recently recommended another new migraine medicine called Rimegepant which should only be used if all other options have failed while not having heart or blood vessel issues or heart conditions affecting other medications rimegepant.
