Does anyone use Migraine treatments that are an alternative, or addition to, medication?

I have Migraines about once a month. All meds I have ever been on knock me out and I have a medication hangover the next day. I hate it, but it is necessary thing sometimes. There are other times I would like to get along without the meds.

I am looking for anyone who has actual experience with alternatives. Although websites have been somewhat helpful, I am really looking for tried and true remedies!

THANKS SO MUCH!

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Nutella,....
proving some of the best things in life come in a jar.

I get several migraines every month. I am currently using Relpax, and it does help. You take it only when you feel a migraine coming on. I have had no side effects with Relpax, but I did have many problems with some of the other migraine meds. I also have found that if I apply heat to my forehead it sometimes helps ease the pain. I have an herbal pack that you can heat in the mircowave that comes in very handy! It doesn't make it go away, but it does help. I wish I had some other advice. Hopefully, you will get some other opinions.

I don't have a great deal of experience using complementary medicines for migraines, but I suppose I should do more research, as I use this type of medicine a lot. What specific symptoms do you get, what time of day do you start to feel symptoms, and what specifically seems to trigger them? I'm asking those questions because I wonder if any homeopathic remedies might help.

I've found that if I can pay attention to how I feel, and start to treat anything as soon as I think I might be feeling it, I can often ward off headaches of varying degrees. I've used Head-On, and roll on mint and lavender oils, and they help, but you need to use them before you're even certain you've got a migraine. I mean at the point where your forehead might be getting tense, or you might be feeling not quite perfect. If you can get rid of light, scent, and noise at that point, that really helps too.

MSG and shellfish set mine off...but nothing else I can pinpoint. I used to have them more often but in the last few years I have been drinking 64 ounces of water day. My DR says that really has nothing to do with it, but I think it does.

I see auras around people and light starts to bother me a few hours before they start. I also see flashes of light at times, but that is pretty rare.

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Nutella,....
proving some of the best things in life come in a jar.

I have tried all the prescription stuff that is currently out and have found that Excedrin Migraine works the best for me if....I take them as soon as I get any sign of a migraine (I typically get black spot type auras). I also keep a bag of frozen corn handy and take the pills and lie down with the corn on my head and I can usually stop it before it starts.

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#3 Gone To Race In A Better Place...

I'm using imitrex now but it really knocks me on my behind! I have to drink a pepsi and smoke a ciggarette... and I'm not a smoker.

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Too many people spend money they haven't earned to buy things they don't want, to impress people they don't like. - Will Rogers

I so agree with Excedrin Migraine and ice. I suffer about once a month, I am now tracking as I wonder if it might be hormonally driven and I am not real good at keeping up with my cycle. I use the EM and place ice on the back of my neck in a dark quiet room and I am usually good after an hour or two.

I also use Excedrin Migraine in addition to an ice pack. I found this is one of the most effective over the counter med for a migraine. When the migraine is really bad, a cool/cold dark room also helps.

The only thing that works for me is Excedrin Migraine! I love it! I see the above posters agree with me too! This and steam, steam, and more steam. Put your face in one of those facial steamers and just sit there with your eyes closed for awhile. You will definitely start to feel better. ~Lisa

I have tryed several Presc. Drugs also but they have many side effects in alot of them. My latest one I use is Zomig.

I have suffered with Migraines for 18 yrs now since I had a Hyst which brought them on .

I also take the Herb FEVERFEW and I think it works great.. It has cut my Attacks down alot.

My mom suffered with headaches (migraines, cluster, tension, sinus, etc.) for years and years. She tried several different prescription medications, over the couter medications, herbal and homeopathic remedies, eliminating caffeine, changing her diet, different doctors, etc. Nothing seemed to work for her and she just learned to live with the headaches. It was to the point that she didn't remember what it was like to not have a headache. I finally convinced her to give my chiropractor a try since she really had nothing to lose. After several appointments, she is now headache free! She still gets an occasional sinus headache, but that's pretty much it.

I have a large family of migraine sufferers. We ALL take Topamax in varying strengths for our migraines.

It seems to help, but the thing that works the best for all of us is Acupuncture. I am deathly afraid of needles but was desperate for options when nothing else was working. They are generally very much non-invasive, I don't have to get undressed for the treatment. The needles are very small and if you are uncomfortable with a spot, there are lots of other places they can try. I had a really hard time with the needle placement between my fingers (it hurt me) so we agreed we would try less painful spots. MOST of the needle placements do not hurt anymore than putting your earring in your ear daily. You can feel it go in but no pain.

Some insurance companies do cover it, when done by a physician. I would recommend that you try a local accupunture school (they tend to be cheaper) if you want to try it. Good luck and it works!

I would recommend keeping a food journal. I am convinced that preservatives and dyes in the foods we eat create many of our health problems, migraines being at the top of the list with ADHD. I would be there is a trigger for you that will become apparent if you start to journal your food. Good luck, I used to "feel your pain".

My sister has been on prescription meds for migraines for years. Even missed her son's graduation due to a migraine. Well she came down for the nascar race a couple weeks ago and was getting a headache. I toldher to take two goody powders with caffeine. She said it would mess up her stomach so I didn't know what else to tell her. I guess it got bad enough cause she finally took 2 powders and drank a mountain dew. 20 minutes later she was saying WOW that really worked. She basically lived on goody's (every 4-5) hours she was here but she went to the race and yelled with the best of em!

It may or may not work for you. Goody powders is the only thing I take for my cluster, stress headaches...works everytime within 20 minutes... the key is with caffeine!

My dh used to get migraines and he started seeing a new chiropractor for different issues and found out he is sensitive to certain foods. He pinpointed it down to citric acid. Now he only gets them if he's had a food slip up. I was also having migraines and went to the same chiropractor and they worked on my low back and haven't had one since I got that taken care of. I went through 3 different chiropractors till I found this one. He's also a neurologist so he was a little different.

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Mommy to Kalyn (9/4/99), Saige (3/20/02) and Alexander (8/10/04)

Thanks for all the tips MyCoupon peeps!

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Nutella,....
proving some of the best things in life come in a jar.

ferver few/ no more problems.

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I get both allergy migraines and hormone migraines. For prevention of the hormone related ones, I take soy isoflavones (found them cheap at Walmart). Seems to really help, but isn't always completely effective. It definitely cuts the severity and/or duration though. I tried Inderal for prevention but I was not functional on that...made me SO tired. Heat/Cold seem to make mine worse so I try to avoid them. I don't take triptan drugs because of the risks associated with them. Excedrin helps if I take it in time...and sleep is a must to truly get it gone.

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The real destroyer of the liberties of the people is he who spreads among them bounties, donations and benefits. -- Plutarch

I have had migraines for a long time. I've tried about all the presciption preventative medicines. Topomax made me feel like I was in a fog, most days I probably couldn't have told you my name. I had the same problem with all the pain medicines, they all put me to sleep and I feel like crap the next day. I've found that if I can manage to get to sleep and not have to take them, I do better (not great, but better) the next day.

Figuring out what triggered mine helped a lot. Your doctor can probably give you a food allgergy list (it has the most common food triggers for migraines). You stop eating all of them on the list for a period of time, then add them back one at a time and see if there is a difference. I'm allergic to MSG. I've also found that if my sleep schedule gets messed up I get a migraine. Allergies can also make a difference. I do take feverfew and it seems to help.

What is odd is that since I have started treatments for thyroid and Epstein Barr I haven't had near as many headaches as before.

Good luck. I know how horrible they can be!

I've had migraines for over 20 years. I get them almost daily. With the help of Depakote, it is limiting the number of them that I get, but I am still having trouble with controlling them when I do get hte migraines. I have an uncle who is a "nature-path" doctor. I saw him last year, and he had me on a slew of this "natural stuff" which included some hard to get Asian herbs....didn't do a thing. So I do best with trying to take medication when I first start seeing those flashing lights and praying that I don't puke again! Sorry, I wish I could be of more help, but all of my experiences with alternative medicine turned out to be negative. None of it worked for me at all.

I suffer from migraines also. I haven't found anything to make them go away completely but I have found that I am having much less of them since I have been taking Acaiplus. Its got acai berry, goji and mangosteen and 100 other nutritional ingredients. Its like a super free radical scavenger product. If you'd like to know more about it feel free to email me.
Clifftown6@msn.com