Migraine Headaches: Medication and Treatments

Migraine afflicts about 30 million Americans and increasing by the day due to our more stressful and hectic lifestyles. More women than men get migraines and a 30% of all women with migraines suffer three or more attacks a month. Each migraine can last from 3 hours to 3 days, sometimes even longer.

What Triggers Migraine

A migraine trigger is anything that causes your headache. The exact causes are unknown, although they are related to changes in the brain. Not all migraine sufferers can correctly indentify a migraine trigger. Migraines can be triggerred by stress, sleep disturbances, fasting, hormones, bright or flickering lights, odors, chocolate, cigarette smoke, monosodium glutamate, alcohol, nitrites, aspartame, and caffine in coffee or tea. For some females, the drop in the blood level of estrogen during the onset of menstruation is a trigger for migraine headaches.

Migraine Headache Treatments

Migraines can be treated using these 2 approaches: preventive and abortive. Preventive treatments involve taken medications regularly while the goal of abortive therapy is to stop it once it starts like administering an injection to the thigh or taking a medications like triptans.

The treatment of migraine begins with simple painkillers for headache and anti-emetics for nausea. Of course if you know what triggers your migraine it is best to avoid it if possible. Specific anti-migraine drugs can be used to treat migraine. If the condition is severe and occurs more than once a week, your doctor will usually recommend the preventive approach. Preventive treatment medications include medications that are used to treat high blood pressure like Beta-blockers, Antidepressants and some antihistamines and anti-allergy drugs. Always check with your doctor regarding these medications.

Curing Headache Without Medication

Elizabeth Hayden suffered from migraines and headaches for 10 years. Now she no longer suffers from recurring migraines. Elizabeth has compiled 5 years of research findings in a concise guide on how to get rid of migraines without using medications. She uses very simple steps to reduce the pain and prevent them from striking again. Imagine being able to get rid of your migraines in 10 minutes without using medications, pills or spending a fortune on expensive treatments and specialists. This is the most complete guide you’ll read about migraine headaches.

Herbal Treatment

The herbal supplement feverfew (more commonly used for migraine prevention) is marketed by the GelStat Corporation as an OTC migraine abortive, administered sublingually (under the tongue) in a mixture with ginger. An open-label study (funded by GelStat) found some tentative evidence of the treatment's effectiveness, but no scientifically sound study has been done.

Some people think that migraines can be treated by getting decreased stress, proper sleep, and dealing with underlying psychological issues, and to some extent, this is true. Anything that weakens the body makes you more susceptible to conditions that prey on it, and so if you can strengthen your body and soul with rest and nutrition, you may suffer less migraines.

Migraine Headaches and Treatments