As if Crohn's
Disease wasn't enough, I suffer from some seriously bad migraine
headaches. There are some great prescription medications for migraines,
and I recommend that you go see a neurologist to get checked out. But
here are some of the home remedies I use while I am waiting for the
medications to work.
1. Dark and
quiet can bring blessed relief. Tell everyone to leave you alone,
let them order themselves a pizza for dinner, and go off duty.
2.
Cold pack. I like the "Peas" brand you can get at CVS. My
migraines start in my upper back and neck and I will put an ice pack
right on my skin on the back of my neck and shoulder blade and leave it
there until it melts. This is super cold but at this point my head
hurts so bad that the pain from the ice is a nice distraction. This
seems to "freeze" some of my nerves and can really help my head. I will
at the same time put another ice pack on my head where the headache is,
but for this one I like to wrap it in a silly scarf to take some of the
chill off of it. I also tend to move this one around as you will get
ice cream brain freeze if you leave it in once place.
3. Hot feel, cold head. A friend of mine recommended this one to me. It's a bit dicey because I am personally afraid I might pass out, but what she does is put her feet in a tub of very hot water while she puts an ice pack on her head. I've done this with a heating pad on my feet and ice pack on my neck. I think the trick here is to draw the blood away from the head and to the feet, thus relieving some of the pressure and or inflammation.
4. Rice hot pack wrapped
around your ears. I like to do this one after the cold packs have
melted. I have a long tube filled with rice that I microwave for 3
minutes. I have found that it is just long enough to cover both ears
and I wrap it around my head so it goes over my eyes and coveres both
ears. For some reason this is very soothing. I think covering the ears
helps even out the pressure in my sinus cavities which in turn helps
ease the pressure on the nerves. Plus the warmth is relaxing.
Hopefully by this time my painkillers are kicking in and I can relax.
5.
Home tens unit. I have a little device I bought in a mall in
Dallas that is sort of a home tens unit/massages. You stick these
little sticky gel pads on your skin and place the electrodes on the
muscles and get a massage. This actually seems to work, including the
acupressure feature with two little pads you are supposed to put on the y
of your hand in the headache acupressure spot. Mine is the Be Smart
Mini Massager.
6. Caffeine can help. I
have found that the little energy shot drink "5 Hour Energy" works
well. It contains caffeine and also B vitamins and Niacin. The
caffeine is a vaso-dilator, and the niacin is as well and I think that
is why this works.
7. If my headache is not too
bad, I find going out to the local nail spa for a spa pedicure
is a great way to make myself feel better. Get a deluxe pedicure with
foot massage and see if the concept of reflexology can make your
headache feel better.
8. Similarly, a relaxing
massage can help. I like to ask for a light pressure and have them
try stretching the back muscles that get shortened by the migraine,
rather than try to knead out the knots. Me and my knots are friends at
this point, and working at them too much will just make me very sore the
next day. A stretching treatment on the other hand can really help.
9.
Take a very hot bath and dunk your head under the water. When I
told my mom about this she proceeded to tell me to "go soak your
head." Very funny mom. It does help, though. Except the hot water
makes my feet itch so that's a whole 'nother problem.
