What is Good for Migraine? How to Relieve Migraine Pain?

Headaches are a health problem that a large segment of society complains about at certain periods of their lives, and are among the conditions for which expert opinion is frequently sought. Migraine headache is a very common type of headache. This pain is a disorder that usually occurs unilaterally and can seriously affect a person’s daily life. Migraine is diagnosed if certain symptoms are observed. Migraine diagnosis made by doctors is tried to be treated as the doctors deem appropriate. Apart from the treatment procedures applied by experts, some methods that a person can apply may also be beneficial. These methods are basically based on the principle of making lifestyle changes by creating a healthy sleep and nutrition routine. Since migraine is a health problem that can negatively affect a person’s daily life and reduce their quality of life, it is extremely important that the process is followed by a specialist doctor and an appropriate treatment plan is created in line with these follow-ups.

What is Migraine?

The most common neurological condition in the world is headache, and almost the entire society has experienced headache complaints at some point in their lives. Headaches are divided into primary and secondary, and common headaches mostly occur in the primary type. Following the most common primary type of tension-type headaches, migraine-type headaches come. Migraine is a primary type of headache accompanied by some other symptoms, especially if some neurological, gastrointestinal and autonomic changes develop.

Migraine is a disorder that occurs in attacks, lasts approximately 4-72 hours, is often felt unilaterally, is characterized by throbbing and squeezing pain, nausea, vomiting, and sensitivity to heat and light. Migraine occurs more frequently and with more severe attacks in women of reproductive age than in men. This condition is caused by hormonal changes that occur in women. According to research, the age at which migraine begins in women is determined as 22.7.

What are the symptoms of migraine?

There are also some symptoms and discomforts that accompany acute or chronic migraine attacks that people frequently experience. These symptoms and discomfort can also affect the severity of attacks. Additionally, these symptoms may vary from person to person. Migraine pain does not always occur with the same symptoms and findings. Even attack symptoms that occur at different times in the same person may differ. Migraine symptoms can be listed as follows:

• Sensitivity to light, sound and smell,
• Unilateral or bilateral tearing in the eyes,
• Loss of appetite,
• Weakness and fatigue,
• Increased frequency of urination,
• Challenging chest pains,
• Nasal congestion and runny nose,
• Tremors in hands, arms and legs,
• dizziness,
• Visual disorders such as double vision, vision loss, blurred vision,
• Nausea and vomiting,
• difficulty swallowing,
• Constipation (constipation) and diarrhea (diarrhea),
• Tachycardia (palpitations in the chest),
• Temporary hearing loss and hearing impairment,
• lack of coordination,
• Continuous or intermittent burping attacks,
• Sleeping disorders,
• weight loss,
• Difficulty breathing,
• A state of numbness and numbness.

How to Diagnose Migraine?

The diagnosis of migraine is made by a specialist doctor through clinical evaluation when certain symptoms are observed, and after the diagnosis is made, the most appropriate treatment procedure is determined. These diagnostic criteria are defined by the International Headache Society as follows:

• Having had at least 5 attacks within a 6-month period,
• Headaches lasting between 4-72 hours,
• Moderate or very severe headache,
• Unilateral occurrence of pain,
• Worsening of pain in direct proportion to physical activity,
• Development of pulsatile (throbbing) type pain,
• Noise and light sensitivity in addition to nausea and vomiting,
• There is no other cause of headache in the patient’s history or examination.

What Triggers Migraine?

There are some situations that trigger migraine attacks. For this reason, protecting individuals struggling with migraine disease from these triggering factors ensures that attacks do not develop, and even if they do, they can be overcome in the most comfortable way possible. The effectiveness of these triggers may vary from person to person. Triggering factors, which are generally associated with a person’s departure from routine or nutritional status, can be listed as follows:

• Menstrual period in women,
• Stress and hunger,
• weather change,
• smoke theme,
• sleep pattern disorders,
• Meal changes,
• Loud noise and noisy environments,
• pungent odors,
• Flickering and flashing lights,
• Foods containing monosodium glutamate and histamine,
• Foods such as sausages containing nitrites and meats containing preservatives,
• Foods and drinks that contain tyramine, such as wine and cheese
• Foods containing phenylethylamine, such as chocolate, garlic, shelled cookies,
• Sweeteners, food additives and dyes,
• Citrus,
• Pickles and vinegar,
• Tea, cola and coffee,
• aspartame,
• Fatty and fried foods.

What is Good for Migraine?

Migraine attacks are a disorder in which severe pain occurs, requiring bed rest and causing serious work loss. Therefore, the frequency of consulting a doctor is extremely high. Migraine patients seek solutions to relieve, control or alleviate these severe pains. Some methods that may be good for migraine can be listed as follows:

• Migraine patients generally need to adopt some lifestyle routines. Because migraine is a disorder that is sensitive to getting away from routine. It is recommended to maintain eating and sleeping patterns and to get support regarding this issue, if necessary.
• Migraine attacks may occur at the end of stressful periods. In this case, keeping a diary and uncovering triggers may be beneficial.
• Magnesium deficiency is observed in migraine patients due to reasons such as genetic insufficiency in magnesium absorption, magnesium loss from the kidneys, stress and malnutrition. For this reason, it is known that magnesium supplements used after consulting an expert are good for migraine attacks.
• It is known that elimination diets specially prepared for the individual reduce the number and severity of migraine attacks. For this reason, a diet that eliminates nutrients that are thought to trigger migraine from the nutritional routine may benefit the person.
• The frequency and severity of migraine attacks can be reduced with the use of products or supplements containing riboflavin, coenzyme Q10, coltsfoot and chrysanthemum.
• Avoiding stressful situations and relaxation techniques such as breathing exercises can also be considered good for migraines.

What is Good for Migraine During Pregnancy?

Migraine is a condition that can also occur due to changes in hormones and can be considered risky during pregnancy. In order to eliminate migraine that occurs during pregnancy, adequate, balanced and regular nutrition and a diet with a variety of nutrients are recommended.

Taking medication during pregnancy is a situation that may pose a risk to the health of the mother and baby. For this reason, before using medication, a specialist should be consulted and irrational use of medication should be avoided. As a result of the studies, it has been determined that there are many drug groups that pregnant women with migraine can use, but the use of these drug groups should be done with the advice of a doctor.

Due to the side effects that drugs may cause, an alternative method used during pregnancy is phytotherapeutic applications. There are various plants that have been used in the treatment of migraine since ancient times. However, contrary to popular belief, treatment methods using these herbs are not completely reliable and may cause many complications in the health of mother and baby. For this reason, the use of herbal medicinal products during pregnancy is not recommended unless recommended by healthcare personnel.

Due to the complications that may be caused by medication and herbal applications, treatment procedures other than these methods are generally applied during pregnancy. For example; Simple physical exercises, meditation and yoga-like relaxation techniques, biofeedback, acupuncture, some vitamins and food supplements can be considered alternative treatments for migraine. However, since the pregnancy process is extremely sensitive, any application should be carried out with the knowledge and permission of the doctor. It is also known that breastfeeding alleviates the frequency and severity of migraine attacks.

Natural Home Solutions for Migraine

Migraine attacks can sometimes reach a level that can affect a person’s work performance, educational life and social life. In this case, people are looking for solutions that they can apply at home.

• To rest,
• Getting enough sleep,
• To provide stress management,
• Benefiting from relaxation techniques such as meditation and yoga,
• Consuming sufficient amount of water,
• Drinking relaxing herbal teas,
• Benefiting from relaxing phytotherapeutics such as lavender and peppermint oil,
• Consuming dark chocolates rich in magnesium,
• Applying hot and cold compresses,
• Staying away from environments where light and sound are intense,
• Relieving sinus pressure by consuming foods rich in antioxidants can be considered among the natural solutions that can be applied at home.

How to Treat Migraine?

The basic principle in migraine treatment is that the person learns to live with migraine and cope with attacks. Even though they are experiencing severe pain, patients should be told that migraine is not a risky condition, and the person should be relieved and removed from the stress caused by the disease. Migraine treatments can be applied to terminate and prevent attacks.

If the patient keeps a diary and notes how long the attacks occur, how long they last, and possible triggering factors, it may be beneficial to ensure effective treatment. Various drug groups are used in the treatment of migraine attacks. These drug groups; They can be listed as anti-inflammatories, antiemetics, analgesics, triptans and ergot derivatives. These drug groups are used to prevent migraine attacks.

Preventive treatment methods can also be applied depending on the frequency and duration of migraine attacks. Patients who have attacks more than 2 days a week need prophylactic treatment. Calcium channel blockers, anticonvulsants, beta blockers, antidepressants, serotonin antagonists and nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs can be counted among the drug groups used for this purpose.

Migraine is a health problem that can have a very negative impact on a person’s life. If you are showing symptoms of migraine or have an already diagnosed migraine disease, you can get more detailed information about treatment procedures by consulting a specialist doctor.