Migraines, do you suffer?

[Mesquite]

Unfortunately I suffer from intermittent migraines which I have to take co-codamol and arthrotec 75 to control plus usually having to sleep them off.

I was just wondering if there's any fellow sufferers here who use natural remedies to help them when they're struck down with a migraine. If you do what do you use?

 

[Wayland]

No, but I've got toothache right now and my multitool pliers are looking awfully attractive at the moment.

 

[bonzodog]

used to get these folling a whiplase injury,went to a complementary health clinic,told there were three disks out of line,one session cured it.good luck.andy

 

[sapper1]

I'm one of the lucky ones,I suffer with occular migraine.If I don't eat regularly I get flashing lights and then I go blind,for a few days after if I cough it feels like I've been hit on the back of my head with a hammer.One thing I don't get is the headache and nausea associated with full blown migraine.
The only advice I can give is to eat regularly and drinkplenty of fluids.

 

[sapper1]

Wayland, the best cure for toothache is a bottle of strong spirits,whisky , rum ,vodka.
By the time you've finished the bottle if it hasn't been cured you don't care anymore.

 

[hiho]

good advise.. shame you have to work the next day though

 

[locum76]

eating a lot of dairy produce and chocolate can, apparently contribute to migraine problems. a cousin of mine cut out both and his cleared up.

 

[Dougster]

Mine are stress related. I get a few, we went up and up and up in the prescriptions and nothing natural goes near them. My current tablets cost the NHS £25 each, which is why they give me 3 at a time.

Mine are OK most of the time, but when they are bad.....phew, vomitting, starbursts, dizziness. Before and after, I forget my friends names, where I am going, I lose any strength. They do me in for days. The Welsh meet saw me on the way into one.

Lifestyle change coming up soon which is the only cure I can see.

 

[John Fenna]

Oh yes!
I suffer the b******** things, normally in clusters and on the last bushy w/e I had one on each day!
If I catch them at the onset and take Migraleive pink then I only get the flashing lights and blind spots. Like Sapper1 I get a residual headache - which can be mean, but one time I was in hospital on Pethadine for 4 days with a lulu of one....
Triggers for me are marmite, too much cheese, strobing light like a low winter sun through leafless hedges as I drive through a winter wonderland, very moderate altitude and my Mother-in-law.....

 

[jimmyh]

I suffer with cluster migraines, i don't know of any natural remedies apart from relaxation and time away from work.
It wasn't until a customer of mine told me to try Zirtek (available over the counter), even though i don't suffer with any allergies it worked really well for me and her.
I know its not a natural remedy but i know what a pig it can be.
I am also not recommending taking any drugs without professional advise

 

[hiho]

wasn't expecting the mother in law on the list.. and i still haven't learnt not to drink and read

 

[firecrest]

Yeah I get migraines. I used to think they were bad until I joined a migraine forum and realised I was rather lucky compared to some of the poor folk out there!

One thing I did learn from the forum is that the excessive yawning attacks I sometimes have are a pre-migraine symptom sometimes days in advance. I never put the two together but now Ive noticed the pattern as its been pointed out.
My migraines start in my arm, and my fingers go numb. I can get it to stay in my arm and neck with the use of paracetamol or ibuprofen and a hot water bottle works wonders, absolute wonders! The water bottle must be VERY hot. and I must lie down and not over use my right arm. Somebody commented to me that if a hot water bottle cured it then I cant have really bad migraines, but they are bad, Ive had to have an EEG scan for them and one nearly killed from from dehydtration whislt in Honduras because they last for 3 days at a time and make me very ill. It didnt help that I was stuck on a desert island at the time - it was triggered by my first dive trip, nobody told me how thirsty you get from the dry air breathed, and the headache turned into a migraine which in turn caused me to bring up any liquid I tried to drink. I began to become confused and unable to stand but I was so scared Id be sent home I hid my symptoms and just lay in bed. VERY silly.
If I dont catch it with the painkillers and hot water early on, Im afraid Im pretty much doomed - nothing touches them, so I can't give advice for that.

Anyway, I didnt realize that a migraine can be centered in other parts of the body other than the head until the doctors told me so. Does anybody else get this? mine start in my shoulder and go into my head, but for days afterwards my skin feels sore to the touch all over my upper body.

 

[firecrest]

I forgot to say - Olbas oil! pour it on yourself dont inhale it like your supposed to! Man thats the best stuff Ive come across for helping when I get pain in my arms and legs.

 

[Shewie]

There is one natural remedy for migraines which comes to mind but it`s not something I`d like to talk about on a family forum.

Try googling "Queen Victoria migraines" and you`ll get my drift

 

[John Fenna]

There is one natural remedy for migraines which comes to mind but it`s not something I`d like to talk about on a family forum.

Try googling "Queen Victoria migraines" and you`ll get my drift

My migraines often make my hands go numb so what do I do if alone.....this is not the first time I have heard this advice.....
Actually, each finger goes numb in turn, recovers and then the next digit dies....but this only rarely happens and usually at night when I miss the warning lights and I get a full blown painful head/distorted vision/wanna die migraine.

Evening Primrose oil works for some folk, but not for me.

 

[Dougster]

a full blown painful head/distorted vision/wanna die migraine.

My word John, that's a perfect description. Sorry you were bad at the last meet. I'd have made you a cup of Earl Grey.

 

[crazyclimber]

urghh, nope I don't have them (thank God) but by father does. We used to find it strange; doing a phyically hard job all week he'd be fine, then doing comparatively little on the weekends he'd get them so bad he'd also literally have to go to bed. Eventually we worked out for him it's a combination of low blood sugar level (different meal pattern) and dehydration (not having his regular cups of coffee like he does at work), solving those two means he doesn't seem to have them anywhere near as much now. I'm sure if you've had them you've prob tried all sorts of solutions, but if not maybe playing around with them might help too? I wouldn't wish them on anyone!

 

[Toddy]

Feverfew, and meadowsweet, Filipenula ulmaria both ease the damned things away. Not fast, but they do work. There are other herbs that hit the pain hard, but not advice that ought to be taken without the oversight of a medical herbalist, and I'm not one.

If I have the 'halo-ing' of flickering lights and the flutter in my tummy I know it's time to find the feverfew. Just eat the leaf, it's as bitter as oooh a bad thing , but it works. Make the meadowsweet flourish into a tea and drink that. If you can take liquorice (it's a vasodilator and it triggers a migraine for me) and it works the other way for you, then for some, liquorice and meadowsweet tea is a great kindness. And for heavens sake sip liquid, that salt/sugar mix that's given to stop dehydration is excellent.

The only saving grace is that the older I get the rarer the migraines have become

cheers,
Toddy

 

[malcolmc]

I get vision disturbance as a precursor to an attack. I’ve been prescribed Imigran, which I find effective, I still know I’m having a migraine but it’s not incapacitating. My GP knew I suffered from them but did not volunteer the info these pills are available; I only learned about them from a friend who also suffers. When asked my GP prescribed them straight away, I had a suspicion that cost was a factor. They do have some contra-indications and they don’t suit everyone but they’ve helped me.

 

[Dano]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/4793634.stm

I dont suffer from them but I remember reading this interesting article