Treating Migraines

sweetcurlz67

looks like you've gotten some great advice. like others have stated, stay hydrated, be careful with taking OTC meds too much as it negatively affects other organs, see a neurologist, & try to find your triggers. sometimes there might not be any triggers and they could be random, but stay on top of your treatment.

good luck!

Dragonwolf

You might want to look into a ketogenic diet. It was originally created to treat seizures in people with epilepsy, for which it's been used for nearly a century with great success, and in the meantime, they've found promise in a number of neurological issues, including migraines (particularly migraines, actually, due to the considerable overlap in the underlying neurological causes of both migraine and epilepsy). From what I've seen, it works with cluster headaches, too, for those reading this that have them (I've dealt with both throughout the years).

I've personally found this to be one of the best long-term solutions. I went from 800mg Ibuprofen (Advil) nearly every day just to function (Excedrin Migraine did nothing, as Acetaminophen didn't touch it), to rarely needing any, and if I did trigger a headache, 400mg was sufficient to deal with it and even the pre-medication severity was greatly reduced.

Here's some of the research:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3321471/
http://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/1129-2377-14-S1-P219/fulltext.html
http://jama.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleid=245128
http://www.lanutri.de/media/Publikation_Koenings.pdf

You really should note that this isn't something to just try lightly. This diet does have side effects and carries some risks. It requires supplements to make up for deficiencies in many nutrients, can raise cholesterol levels significantly, can cause long-term bone health issues, among other things. This is definitely something that should be tried under the supervision of a doctor.

While I agree that no one should dive into it willy-nilly (any lifestyle change shouldn't be undertaken without at least some research) -- hence why I said "look into" it, as in, "do some research on it" and provided several links to get started -- none of your assertions are true when approached with a little bit of education and real food.

The problem with the studies that claim the issues you mention are that the subjects were fed a formula and had their calories, protein, and fluid intake unnecessarily restricted (in some cases, pretty severely). In at least some of the cases, very bad formulas, too. They also tend to be lower in protein than a more practical ketogenic diet (a modified Atkins diet is generally used in these cases in the studies). These are often referred to as "classic ketogenic diet," and receive quite a bit of criticism from even other ketogenic researchers, because the implementation itself is often deficient and artificial in many ways.

A real-food ketogenic diet actually improves cholesterol when looking at more than just the total number (which does go up, by virtue of the change in particles), by raising HDL, lowering triglycerides, and increasing the size of LDL particles. All of these are very, very good things. The increased LDL size renders them inert, or nearly so. The studies that claim dislipidemia are generally feeding the subjects soybean oil or other Omega-6 heavy oil based formulas (disproportionately high levels of Omega-6 in any diet is, by itself, one of the main contributors to dislipidemia).

The high-fat nature also makes a large amount of nutrients more bioavailable, including the ever so important to bone health, Vitamin D. Vitamin D is required for proper absorption of calcium, and fat is required for proper absorption of Vitamin D. Additionally, low-carb does NOT mean zero-carb. Even if you do less than 50g of total carbohydrates per day, that's enough to get a fair amount of non-starchy vegetables, which can single-handedly supply you with more Vitamins A, C, and E, as well as magnesium (also important to bone health), manganese, and other minerals, than most people get on the standard American/western diet. Since most ketogenic diets use net carbs and not total carbs, the amount of non-starchy vegetables available to a dieter increases significantly (enough so, that one can even add low-sugar fruits, such as berries, for added micronutrients). Oh, and as for calcium? Green vegetables rival the calcium content of milk, as do bony fish and a number of other foods that are allowed on a real foods based ketogenic diet. So calcium intake really isn't an issue, even if one decides to go dairy free.

Additionally, the higher protein nature of a modified Atkins diet does not have the demineralizing effects that the classical ketogenic diet has. Initial hypotheses suggest that protein, itself, is actually bone-sparing, though I surmise that the lack of calorie restriction doesn't hurt.

Here's some more resources addressing the various issues brought up (in no particular order):

http://perfecthealthdiet.com/2011/03/ketogenic-diets-2-preventing-muscle-and-bone-loss-on-ketogenic-diets/
http://pwsnotes.org/index.php/Ketogenic_Diet#Bone_Density
http://eatingacademy.com/how-low-carb-diet-reduced-my-risk-of-heart-disease
http://charliefoundation.org/
http://www.hindawi.com/journals/ert/2014/404202/
http://www.proteinpower.com/drmike/weight-loss/low-carbohydrate-diets-increase-ldl-debunking-the-myth/
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1528-1167.2006.00438.x/pdf
http://eatingacademy.com/cholesterol-2/the-straight-dope-on-cholesterol-part-ix
http://lowcarbdiets.about.com/od/faq/f/lowcarbboneloss.htm

mg1123

I have had periods of time where I had migraines every single day. For a while now, my migraines have tapered off, mostly through regular exercise (cardio, weights). I just completed an elimination diet, and during the 8 weeks or so that I was on it, the only times I've suffered from one was during a test challenge of foods or allergens that I am permanently eliminating (like benzoates).

I understand reluctance to take medications, although not for weight loss reasons. For quite a while, I used fiorinal, but I feel like I was addicted to them. I didn't start getting migraines until 32, which is late to get your first, but after that, it came on regularly. The first time I had one, my sister gave me a half a percocet, and it worked really well, but a pharmacist told me that they used to prescribe percocet for migraines until they found that your body will actually produce migraines in order to get more.

I currently have maxalt for the times I have serious migraines. The problem that I have with migraine pills that actually kill migraines is that I feel really sick after taking it. Like nausea and even head pain until they wear off. They work, but at a high cost - and a high monetary cost, as you only get like 6 pills at a time. Fortunately, I rarely need migraine pills anymore, as a result of diet and exercise.

FatFreeFrolicking

I have vestibular migraines. My neurologist prescribed Topamax and it was a miracle drug for my migraines. He also gave me Imitrex. Prior to starting Topamax, I had daily migraines that kept me in bed. Unfortunately Topamax made me extremely nauseous 24/7… to a point where I was having to take 20 mg of Zofran and was only able to get down about 500-600 calories a day. I had no choice but to come off Topamax. Since coming off, my migraines have returned with a vengeance.

I do not recommend prescription drugs for migraines. The side effects are not worth it.

OTC drugs don't work for my migraines. Although some get relief from Excedrin Migraine. Instead I use essential oils… mainly peppermint oil. I also use ice packs and heating pads.

Certain foods trigger migraines. The most common are cheese, alcohol, food additives such as preservatives, caffeine, and cold foods. Birth control pills can also trigger migraines.

I would recommend asking your GP to refer you to a neurologist just to make sure nothing more serious is going on.

dbmata

I saw the thread about trigger foods but I am looking for some help for treating migraines. Have had a bad couple of nights and I would like not to ruin everything I have acomplished by having to take two advil and two benedryl when they come on.
I am looking for natural (none weight gaining and water retaining )solutions.

I manage mine with two supplements:
Optimum Nutrition ZMA
Magnesium

Reason being: about 600mg+ of magnesium daily keeps my migraines at bay. (Seems to work with most people I suggest it to as well.)

Prior - My neuro had me using a sublingual tab that would dissolve and abate the migraine if I caught it early enough.

mommyrunning

How is your protein intake? I kept trying to figure out what changed to bring back my migraines and thought maybe I wasn't getting enough nutrition in one area so I looked back at my food logs. Right around the time my migraines came back is when pregnancy nausea kicked in and I started eating lots of carbs to control it. That led to a decrease in protein. I have started ensuring I get as close as possible to the proper protein amount and have seen a big reduction in my headaches. Also some people have problems with artificial sweetners which are common in "diet foods".