The Best Remedies to Help You Find Migraine Relief

If you’ve ever suffered through the torment of a migraine, then you understand how one can easily ruin your entire day—and why finding migraine treatment that quickly helps you feel better is so important. In addition to debilitating head pain, migraines cause a slew of other unpleasant symptoms that can make you feel really sick, like nausea, irritability, and weakness. And if you experience sensitivity to light and sound in the midst of a migraine, then working, being in school, or even just leaving your bed can feel nearly impossible.

Migraine is a chronic condition that can occur at any age, but usually first appears during a person’s teen years and peaks in their 30s. (It’s also worth noting the condition disproportionately affects people assigned female at birth.) If you have migraine, you could have several episodes a month, meaning you might need lots of downtime and rest—and that’s not exactly easy for many people to get.

There is no cure for migraine, but thankfully, there are many effective treatments, so if you do suffer from the condition, you can try and get the frequency of your symptoms under control. Here’s what you need to know about finding migraine relief so you can live your life with less pain and worry.

What is a migraine? | Migraine symptoms | Migraine treatments | Home remedies to treat migraine | Migraine prevention 

You may think of a migraine as a really bad headache—but the pain that accompanies it is far more severe. Migraine is actually a neurological disease. During an attack, groups of your brain cells become overactive, your blood vessels narrow, and blow flow to your brain shifts, which may contribute to the onset of symptoms, per Johns Hopkins Medicine. To be diagnosed, you have to experience the attacks repeatedly, which means having at least five excruciating headaches lasting 4 to 72 hours each per month, according to the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke.

Migraine has specific hallmarks to distinguish it from everyday headaches: The pain usually throbs, pounds, and/or pulses (which is often located behind the eyes or around the ears or temples, especially on one side of the head). This is usually accompanied by an upset stomach, nausea, or vomiting, which gets worse with physical activity. Migraine can also cause sensitivity to light, noise, and smells.

Migraine headaches can be brought on by triggers and these can vary wildly—anything from specific foods to stress to dehydration can spur an attack. However, not all migraine episodes have triggers, and if they do, you might not know what your individual triggers are. The headaches often feel dull and achy when they begin and gradually become more severe, eventually causing intense, throbbing pain. At their worst, migraine can make your whole head, face, jaw, and neck pulsate with pain.

Migraine progresses in four distinct phases, although not every person who gets migraine will go through all of them. That said, you might experience, according to the Cleveland Clinic:

Prodrome: This is the “preheadache” phase when you may start to see some warning signs like neck stiffness, mood changes, and frequent yawning. The prodrome phase can happen about 24 to 48 hours before the headache starts. Approximately 30% of people who get migraine experience these preheadache symptoms.

Aura: Up to 20% of people with migraine will experience sensory changes known as an aura. Most commonly, an aura changes how you see things, so you might notice sparkles, dots, flashing lights, wavy lines, or blind spots in your vision. Aside from affecting your eyes, an aura can make you feel numb, tingly, and cause ringing in your ears. These symptoms usually disappear just before the pain in the head begins. Headaches that occur with auras are known as “migraine with aura,” and headaches that don’t are known as “migraine without aura.”

Attack: This is when the actual migraine head pain hits—and you may also have nausea, vomiting, and sensitivity to light or sound, as we mentioned above.

Postdrome: After an attack ends, some people get a “migraine hangover,” meaning they feel depleted, fatigued, and just out of it for a day or so. Postdrome is more common than prodrome, with roughly 80% of people who deal with migraine getting to this stage.

The entire sequence can last anywhere from eight hours to three days, depending on how many stages you experience, the severity of the migraine, and whether you treat your migraine symptoms.

Migraine treatment is very individualized, so you’ll want to speak with your doctor about how to find the best option for you and your symptoms. In some cases, your doctor may refer you to a neurologist, who better understands the intricacies of brain disorders.

“When patients have headaches that are not being well controlled, we take into account their medical history, what other medical problems they may have, and what the possible side effects of each medication are,” Anne Csere, D.O., an assistant professor in the department of neurology, pain, and headache medicine at the University of South Florida, tells SELF. For example, certain migraine treatments are not recommended for people who plan to become pregnant or who have a history of heart disease, she explains. Price is also an important factor because some medications are expensive and not covered by insurance.

Here’s a breakdown of the most common treatment options for migraine relief:

Abortive medications are designed to stop migraine once it has started, and these can include both prescription and over-the-counter drugs. “The important thing with these medications is to take them soon after the headache starts,” says Dr. Csere. “These medications work best early in the migraine’s phase.”

Abortive medications include OTC pain relievers you probably already have on hand, like ibuprofen, naproxen sodium, and acetaminophen. Your doctor might recommend taking one of these medications with caffeine if you aren’t sensitive to it because it causes your blood vessels to contract, which can help relieve some of your pain. (This also makes the medications more effective.)

However, OTC pain medications are best for people who have infrequent, mild-to-moderate migraine and don’t need to take them more than a couple of times per week. “If you take these medicines too frequently, you can risk making your headaches worse,” Dr. Csere says, as this can cause rebound headaches.

“If the over-the-counter medicines are not helping or you’re having rebound headaches, you need to talk with your primary care doctor or see a neurologist,” Dr. Csere says. “They can help you pick some other medications that will be more effective.”

If OTC meds don’t work for you, there are several prescription drugs under the abortive medications umbrella your doctor might prescribe. These include:

• Triptan drugs, which work on receptors on your blood vessels and nerves to stop pain signals from being sent to your brain. (Again, these are most effective if you take them as soon as you notice migraine symptoms coming on.)
• Dihydroergotamine, which is available as a nasal spray or an injection for people who have a migraine attack that lasts longer than a day. These work by preventing your body from releasing certain substances that contribute to migraine pain.
• Gepants are a new class of medications that target a protein that contributes to migraine.
• Lasmiditan works by targeting specific nerves in your brain to stop pain signals. It can make you very sleepy and you shouldn’t drive for eight hours after taking it, so it’s best used before bed or when you don’t need to be anywhere.
• Antinausea drugs like chlorpromazine, metoclopramide, or prochlorperazine can help treat nausea and vomiting symptoms.

If you have very frequent or severe migraines that happen like clockwork, then you may want to ask your doctor about whether a preventive medication would be right for you, according to Dr. Csere. Generally, she recommends these for people who:

• Have two or more migraine days per month that are “can’t-get-out-of-bed debilitating”
• Have at least four migraine days per month that significantly impact their day-to-day activities
• Have at least six moderate migraine days per month

Keep in mind that each doctor may have different recommendations and ideas about when you should try preventive medications, so it’s always worth getting a second opinion if you’re unsure about your treatment plan and are able to do so. According to the Mayo Clinic, some common preventive medications include:

• Tricyclic antidepressants, which a person would take as a daily pill in very low doses. This category of antidepressants helps you maintain a consistent amount of the neurotransmitter serotonin in your brain. Serotonin, which helps regulate your mood, appetite, and digestion among other things, is much lower during migraine, so keeping levels consistent can help you avoid attacks.
• Beta pressure medications, including Beta Blockers and calcium channel blockers, have also been shown to help prevent migraine.
• Antiseizure drugs work by increasing the brain’s threshold for initiating a migraine attack.
• Calcitonin gene receptor peptide (CGRP) antagonists, which are available via pills or injections, target and reduce the amount of the CGRP protein in your blood. CGRP is a protein that occurs naturally in the body, and during migraine, you have higher levels of it, which may contribute to an attack.
• Botulinum neurotoxin injections—yes, Botox!—may also be helpful if you have chronic migraine or at least 15 headaches a month. Experts don’t fully understand why it’s so effective, but researchers believe that botulism may prevent your body from producing chemicals involved in migraine headaches.

You can’t relieve a migraine attack instantly—if only! But many people use home remedies in addition to their OTC or prescription medications to help make the pain more manageable.

It’s important to have a plan in place, even when you don’t have a migraine headache. This can just outline what you’ll do whenever you feel one coming on because early management can help squash your symptoms before they become debilitating. Keeping your medication handy in multiple places (like your office, your car, or your bedroom) can be invaluable. Then consider trying these pain relief strategies:

• Rest in a dark, quiet room. This can be beneficial because movement, light, and sound can be particularly unpleasant when you’re in the throes of a migraine attack.
• Treat it like an injury. Applying a cool compress can help numb the pain in your head, Dr. Csere says: “But some people prefer warmth, so if you’ve tried cool compresses and it doesn’t help, warm ones may.” That’s because warm temperatures may help relax tense muscles in the head, neck, or shoulders, easing any pain that may be associated with that tension.
• Hydrate, hydrate, hydrate. Becoming dehydrated can make you feel much worse.

The best way to prevent migraine is by sticking to a routine that works for you. This is because keeping things predictable—even down to what time you eat or how long you sleep each night—can help you identify potential migraine triggers. Put simply, if something is off in your routine, and then you get migraine, you have an obvious suspect for the cause. Even though it’s impossible to prevent migraine 100% of the time, the tips below can make them less frequent for some people:

• Reconsider your daily caffeine intake, as the substance may help some people with migraine but trigger an attack in others. “One of the things we typically suggest is to have about the same amount of caffeine around the same time every day,” Dr. Csere says. “You run into problems when you have three cups of coffee one day and then none the next day and then an energy drink the day after that.” This is because the blood vessels in your body become used to the amount of caffeine you have, and migraine has been known to happen if that amount starts to vary too much. Talk to your doctor about whether caffeine may be helpful or harmful for you.
• Exercising regularly can help suppress stress hormones, which may trigger migraine for some people, so it’s a good idea to stick to a consistent fitness routine if you can. There is good evidence that frequent, regular movement—particularly high-intensity workouts like jogging or biking—may help prevent future migraine.¹
• Avoid certain foods if they are known to trigger migraine for you—aged cheese, alcohol, chocolate, lunch meats, and fermented foods are some biggies that can prompt an attack, according to the Cleveland Clinic. If your migraine attacks are frequent, you can try keeping a food log to see whether there are any repeat offenders that tend to end up on your plate before your symptoms hit. Skipping meals can also trigger migraine in some people, so it’s important to note when you eat too.
• Getting quality sleep each night can also help prevent migraine. If you’re tossing and turning all night and believe it’s triggering your pain, talk to your doctor. You may benefit from taking sleep medications or you might have an underlying health condition that you may not be aware of. “For example, if someone snores, we want to rule out sleep apnea, because that can cause headaches or make headaches worse,” Dr. Csere says.
• Optimizing your workspace is also important, especially if you have a desk job. If you work in an office, consider asking to sit somewhere without fluorescent lighting, as it is known to exacerbate migraine in some people. Wherever you work, make sure to take frequent breaks from staring at your computer or phone, because the blue light can also be a trigger. Having a comfortable desk setup—a comfy chair that enforces good posture and a monitor that sits at your eye level—can also ensure you don’t overwork your head, neck, and shoulder muscles on a daily basis.

Migraine is awful, no doubt, but it doesn’t have to control everything you do. Having a consistent schedule and routine is helpful, but you don’t have to go overboard with it. In fact, doing so can make you feel overwhelmed and stressed out, which, ultimately, is a migraine trigger itself. “Sometimes people get very preoccupied with journaling,” Dr. Csere says. “It can kind of take over your life.”

Just stick to the basics: Write down when you have a gnarly headache, note if it was mild or severe, and consider any obvious triggers that could have been linked to it. Even these general notes can help provide your doctor with valuable information without overloading yourself with homework.

Remember: You shouldn’t have to live with the pain. With a personalized approach—which will likely include a little bit of trial and error—you can develop a treatment plan that can give you relief and make migraine feel much more manageable so you don’t have to live in fear of the next attack.

Sources:

1. Current Pain and Headache Reports, Exercise and Migraine Prevention: a Review of the Literature

Related:

• 5 Things That Can Help You Avoid Migraine Attacks
• Understanding Ocular Migraine: Symptoms, Diagnosis, and Treatment
• We Need to Talk About Migraine Stigma