Treating Migraine Headaches

This article is used with permission from the new book, PAIN RELIEF in 4 Simple Steps by Jacob Teitelbaum, MD. If you’re interested in this topic and would like to see all the articles published so far, visit Healing from Chronic Pain, a Multipart Series.

Background

Migraine headaches can be very severe and usually last for several days. Migraines are often preceded by an “aura,” which may consist of visual disturbances such as flashing lights. The headaches are often associated with nausea, sweating, dizziness, and light and sound sensitivity.

The cause is still controversial, with muscle contraction, low serotonin and the relaxation (dilation) of blood vessels all playing a role.

Treatment

After 3 months of being on the supplement regimen below, continuing to use a good multinutrient powder alone may be enough to keep your migraines from recurring. Natural approaches can commonly help reduce the frequency and severity of even frequent and severe migraine problems.  But remember that these usually take 1–3 months to see the effect—so give them time to work.

Recommended Supplements to Stay Headache-Free

• Multinutrient Powder. Take a high potency well designed multinutrient drink mix. It should have 75 mg of riboflavin (usually enough for maintenance) and 200 mg of magnesium.
• Vitamin B2. 300 mg of vitamin B2 (Riboflavin) each morning decreased migraine frequency 69% after 6 weeks in two placebo-controlled studies. Take it for 6–12 weeks.
• Magnesium. 200 mg of magnesium (it’s in a good multinutrient powder).
• Butterbur. Butterbur (Petadolex®) can both prevent and eliminate migraines. I use 50 mg 3 times a day for 1 month and then 1 twice a day to prevent migraines. One can take 100 mg every 3 hours (for a maximum of 300 mg in a 24-hour period) to eliminate an acute migraine.
• Magnesium IVs. In the hospital emergency room or holistic doctor’s office, research shows that 1 gram of intravenous magnesium over 15 minutes can often effectively eliminate an acute migraine within minutes (to find a holistic physician, visit The Institute for Functional Medicine®).
• Melatonin. 10 mg of a sustained-release melatonin at bedtime.

Medications

During migraines, medications are also reasonable (and can be taken with natural therapies). Though the tendency may be to wait to see if you really need it, the earlier the migraine is treated, the more successful the treatment is—and spending 2 days with a migraine is a lot less healthy than taking the medication!

• Aspirin, Tylenol and Caffeine. In the U.S., medications in the Imitrex® family remain the first choice that physicians use for the treatment of acute migraines. But the old combination of aspirin, Tylenol and caffeine (cost approximately 20 cents vs. $10–$25/dose) is equally effective. So don’t forget that you can use these if needed (e.g., 3 Excedrin Migraine® tablets or Excedrin Extra Strength®—the dose recommendations on the bottle are, in my opinion, fairly low).
• Triptans (e.g., Imitrex). The Imitrex family of medications is OK to use. A fascinating study can guide you on when to use Imitrex family medications vs. when to go with other therapies. About 75% of migraine patients get painful sensitivity to normal touch around their eyes (e.g., wearing eyeglasses). If you use Imitrex before you get the pain and tenderness around your eyes, it will knock out the migraine 93% of the time. If the pain and tenderness around the eyes have already set in, Imitrex only eliminates the migraine 13% of the time (although it still helps the throbbing).

  In other words, if you are one of the lucky ones who does not get pain around the eyes, the Imitrex can knock out your migraine at any time. If you are one of those who do get pain and tenderness around the eyes, it is a race against the clock to take the Imitrex before that pain starts. This means that you should take the Imitrex early in the attack (within the first 5–20 minutes) before the skin hypersensitivity gets established.

Other Therapies & Advice

Food Allergies

Avoiding hidden food allergies can reduce or eliminate migraines in 30–85% of patients. In one study, the most common reactive foods were wheat in 78% of patients, oranges in 65%, eggs in 45%, tea and coffee in 40%, chocolate and milk in 37%, beef in 35%, and corn, cane sugar and yeast in 33%.

Clinical experience also suggests that the artificial sweetener aspartame (NutraSweet®) can trigger migraines and other headaches (although this is controversial).

You may find that instead of avoiding foods that trigger your migraines for the rest of your life, you may be able to eliminate the sensitivities/allergies using a simple yet powerfully effective acupressure technique called NAET®.

Estrogen Patches

In women, if migraines are predominately around the time of the menstrual period (or ovulation) or associated with taking estrogen (birth control pills), the key is to prevent fluctuations in estrogen levels. One way to do this is to use an estrogen patch for 1 week beginning a few days before the period is expected (e.g., a Climara® 0.025 patch) and continuing through the period to decrease the severe estrogen drop. These hormonally related migraines may be less responsive to other standard treatments. They can also be seen in women on birth control pills, usually in the morning, when hormone levels drop before taking the next day’s dose.

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