Skip to main content

Headaches and Migraines


I’ve seen a lot of questions out there about headaches lately. This actually used to be a huge issue for me.
 

  

Many of the following supplements are herbs. Herbs should not be taken with medications, prescription or over the counter, because herbs can be very interactive with different chemicals especially if they are focusing on the same ailment. Here is an example to make this more clear. If I am going to take Ibuprofen, I don’t want to take butterbur, feverfew, or ginger during the 6 or so hours Ibuprofen would be active in my body. If you have any questions about taking natural supplements and you are on prescription medications, I recommend you ask your doctor or a pharmacist before taking them. The natural supplements and life tips that are well known for helping headaches and migraines are as follows:

Natural Supplements:
Butterbur - This herb helps alleviate inflammation and tension which oftentimes cause headaches or migraines. Usually, 75mg twice daily for a long period of time can help lessen the number of migraines and reduce the severity of them. This Solaray product is the only one I could fine with butterbur by itself.  
Magnesium - This is a mineral which relaxes the muscles. This is best used for a tension headache. Magnesium is good to take when you have frequent headaches to help relax your muscles which cause that tension. Sometimes, a symptom of deficiency of magnesium is headaches. Usually, 200-400mg of magnesium before bed is good to start with. If you try this and end up with loose stools the next day, you can try to break a tablet in half and take a half dose. Magnesium Glycinate by KAL or Magnesium Taurate by Cardiovascular Research are both good products that I have used.
Riboflavin - This is Vitamin B2. It also has an effect like Butterbur where it can help reduce the severity and frequency of the headaches or migraines if taken for a long period of time.

Ginger - Ginger is an herb that is well known for many things. One thing it is known for is pain and inflammation. It also can help spasms which can be the cause to some tension headaches.

Feverfew - This herb is well known for helping inflammation and muscle spasms, but you should be careful with it because it shouldn’t be mixed with other blood thinning medications much like those taken for heart disease. You should also not take Feverfew if you regularly take other pain killers.


Life Tips:

Chiropractic Care - one thing I’ve been told over and over again is that chiropractic therapy is so beneficial for your health. I have learned that this is true. I used to get frequent and sometimes debilitating headaches or migraines. I started going to a chiropractor and I learned that my neck was very misaligned which was causing most of my headache discomfort. It was a slow process, but after a few years of going regularly, I am 99% headache free. I personally recommend chiropractic to everyone I meet. 

Water - Stay hydrated. A symptom of dehydration can be headaches. 

There are many other healthful hints for headaches and migraines, but like I’ve said before, everyone is different and the same thing may not work for everyone. I personally like to test things out on myself to see what works best for me. I pay attention to every part of how I am feeling to determine if I like using a product. I also test stuff out that I’ve been using for a while by not taking it and seeing what differences I see. That tells me what that product has been doing for me.


I understand there is a lot of information out there and it isn’t always right here. Do you have something else that works for headaches or migraines?  Leave your comments below! Thanks for reading my post!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Allergies

Don’t you hate waking up in the morning unable to breathe? Usually only in the spring and summer or at the change of seasons? Allergies are very common. Especially the seasonal ones. I, for one, am basically allergic to spring, summer, and fall. I’ve actually started coming down with asthma because of the allergies. Allergies are just an inappropriate response by your body’s immune system toward a usually harmless substance. Some allergies have symptoms that are just annoying, such as coughing, sneezing, running or stuffy nose, itchy or watery eyes, or even a skin rash. Allergies can be life threatening to some people and can cause anaphylaxis which can cause your esophagus to swell, cutting off the airway. One of the most common culprits of a life threatening allergy is peanuts. People with peanut allergies should be diligent in making sure they do not come into contact or consume peanuts and should carry an Epipen at all times in case contact with peanuts or another allergen causing...
Post a Comment
Read more

A Short Story

You ever feel depressed suddenly? And you know it is most likely due to stress or anxiety and you just don’t want to do anything but think about the problems you face or long list of things you have to accomplish in a short period of time? I’m sure most people run into this feeling at some point during their lives. I know I have. I remember a customer who came into the supplement store I worked at who was running into this quite often one year. This person was going through a lot in their life at that time. They told me they were feeling down in the dumps and even though they knew they had a lot to do, they didn’t have the motivation to begin those tasks. They knew this wasn’t how they usually felt and they didn’t like feeling this way.  Right away, I knew what was going on. I confirmed with them that they were feeling extremely stressed and started feeling more depressed as of late and recommended they start taking an amino acid called 5-HTP. It is a form of L-Tryptoph...
Post a Comment
Read more