Home Remedies for Migraine

There is no single cause of migraine. Many different factors can be involved in controlling the size of the arteries in the brain, whose initial constriction causes the warning symptoms, and whose subsequent dilation creates a crashing headache. It is not at all surprising that a treatment which works miraculously for one person might be ineffective for another. Standard medical drugs are certainly effective for many. Mrs Constance Benton from London reduced her monthly 96-hour ordeal to eight hours with Imigran injections. Mrs Marjorie Wells of Bristol reports that 'after years of migraine attacks and having every tablet' she found that Cafergot suppositories — combining caffeine and ergotamine — provided "instant relief".'

Three contributors discovered, by accident, that drugs taken for a different condition altogether combated their migraine. Mr Clive Mills from Nuneaton who has suffered migraines for 30 years says CI used to lose three days of my life at ten day intervals'. Then he was given Diltiazem for his angina and has had no migraine attacks since. He writes that he can even 'eat chocolate and drink red wine with impunity'. Mr P. Mason found that Prozac had the same effect, and Mrs Penny Bullivant of Salisbury found that the betablockers she took for her raised blood pressure stopped her migraines immediately. In fact, betablockers are a well recognised migraine preventive treatment as indeed is a small dose of daily aspirin. Dr R. M. Miller of Sussex particularly recommends aspirin as being beneficial in a major attack, quite independent of its analgesic effects.

Home Remedies for Migraine
Two simple remedies suggest some relationship between stomach biliousness and migraine, where treating the former prevents the onset of the latter. Mr A. L. Baker of Dorset suggests a heaped teaspoon of E no Fruit Salts in half a glass of water. Mrs Rosemary Stanbury of Swindon swears by the same thing in the form of two pints of soda water. She writes: 'within ten minutes the eyes are better and the following headache is negligible.'

Mrs Marianne Ticehurst from Essex observes: 'one of my many (symptoms) was a swollen left eye and congested left nostril.' She started to use the nasal decongestant Otrivine9 tight at the beginning of an attack—or when she anticipated one was on the way. She observed, 'gradually the attacks reduced in number and now I do not have migraines at all.'

Dentist, Mr Rory Linden-Kelly has discovered an association between migraine and increased muscle spasm around the jaw. The treatment involves wearing an acrylic appliance over the teeth at night to prevent the subconscious grinding habit. This reduces the muscle spasm and can prevent migraine.

Despite the disparate nature of these remedies a common theme seems to be that along with the well known dietary precipitants of migraine, disturbances in the stomach, nasal area and muscles may also be a contributory factor. Thus treatment directed at these areas may prove effective.