Migraine and Natural Cure for Migraine

Migraine is a neurological disorder, which is mostly confused with headache by people who don’t have correct knowledge about it. Headache can be cured very easily by some mild dose of drug but migraine patients need special care and treatment.

When a person is suffering from migraine, he is in such a condition where he can not perform regular activities for a certain period.

They become very much sensitive to light, sound and smell stimuli. Other common symptoms seen are nausea, vomiting and blurred vision. 

Migraine can last from a few hours to a week time.

Symptoms

• Intense throbbing headache, often on one side of the head only.
  
• Nausea and/or vomiting and/or diarrhoea.
  
• Increased sensitivity to light (photophobia)
  
• Increased sensitivity to sounds (phonophobia)
  
• Increased sensitivity to smells (osmophobia)                                                   
  

Causes

• Stress (or sometimes the relief of stress)
  
• Lack of food or infrequent meals.
  
• Certain foods including products containing monosodium glutamate, caffeine, tyramine or alcohol.
  
• Overtiredness (physical or mental).
  
• Changing sleep patterns (e.g. weekend lie ins, sleeplessness or shift work).
  
• Hormonal factors (e.g. monthly periods, the contraceptive pill, HRT or the menopause).
  
• Extreme emotions (e.g. anger, grief etc.).
  
• Physical activity.
  
• Environmental factors (e.g. loud noise, bright or flickering lights, strong perfumes, hot stuffy atmosphere, VDUs etc.).
  
• Climatic conditions (e.g. strong winds, extreme heat or cold).
  

Natural Cure for Migraine:

  -- Have a bath or shower.

 -- Lie down to rest in a dark room.

 -- Avoid bright or flashing light.

 -- Put something cold on the back of your neck, such as a cold, wet cloth; or alternate hot and cold cloths where the pain is.

 -- Put a cold compress on your forehead and your feet in a container of warm water.

 -- Have a drink of water or natural juice, especially tomato juice.

 -- Have some food, or a nutritious drink, if you haven't eaten for a while.

 -- Massage your own face, head, neck and shoulders, or get someone else to do those and your back.  Relax your muscles. 

 -- Press on two pressure points at the back of the neck.  These points are about two inches apart, just below the base of the skull.  Press for a minute or two. This releases endorphins that help against pain.

 -- Massage or press on the fleshy area between thumb and forefinger.

 -- Gently lean the head to left or right to stretch the neck muscles. Massage and relax any tense muscles.

 -- Avoid sources of stress.  Cancel activities so there's less to worry about.

 -- Avoid exercise during a headache if it makes throbbing pain in the head and neck worse.  On the other hand, generally exercise improves health, and it may help you relax during a headache.

 -- Take some niacin (a form of vitamin B3).  Taking enough niacin to cause a flush (blood rushing to the skin) can provide relief from headache pain, but this much niacin can also have side effects (flush, nausea, heartburn,liver damage, etc.) Niacinamide doesn't have such bad side effects, but isn't as much use against migraines, either. Smaller, safer amounts of niacin are also helpful. Niacin can trigger a migraine, though.

 -- Take some vitamin C, vitamin B6, choline, tryptophan and niacin and/or magnesium.

Videos

• How to cure Migraine using Pressure Points
• Another Cure for Migraine

Indian offers hope of migraine cure

A new surgical procedure developed by a US-based Indian medical researcher could result in a possible new treatment for migraine headaches, one of the most painful neurological conditions known to mankind, and one that affect hundreds of millions around the world.

Dr Sandeep Amin, an ansthesiologist at Chicago’s Rush University Medical Centre, has pioneered the use of what he calls “occipital nerve stimulation”, a surgical procedure in which an implanted neurostimulator delivers electrical impulses to nerves under the skin at the base of the head at the back of the neck. 

This may help migraine sufferers who do not respond to other available therapies, or who cannot tolerate the side effects of existing medications.

Says Amin: “Occipital nerve stimulation has the potential to provide relief to the large population of migraine sufferers who currently have no other medical treatments available to them that bring them relief.

If effective, the implantable neurostimulator would provide a new treatment option to free these patients from their long-standing headache pain.” 

The study is being called PRISM or Precision Implantable Stimulator for Migraine, and will involve 150 patients in a nationwide study led by Amin to be conducted at 15 research sites across the US.

“The purpose of the nationwide study is to evaluate the procedure’s safety and efficacy,” says Amin, who surgically implants the FDA-approved device in the two-visit operation.

Estimates by various agencies in the US suggest that the economic impact of migraine can be immense.

In the last such study conducted in 1994, the medical cost of migraine was calculated at over $1 billion while annual loss of productivity was estimated in the region of $13-17 billion. And these figures are just for US-based sufferers.