Healthy Diet Plans

Migraine treatment is essentially a partnership between the doctors, researchers and the people afflicted with the migraines. While researchers try to find causes and treatments, and doctors try to administer those treatments, the migraine sufferer forms another line of migraine defense. This is because they alone are able to make the connections between certain kinds of food or other triggers and the onset of their headaches. And once they discern those triggers, they can take steps to eliminate them.

But when the headache strikes, steps need to be taken to bring relief, which is where some migraine drugs enter the picture. The non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), such as acetaminophen or ibuprofen, can help to some degree, though they work only with mild migraines. A group of drugs known as triptans have a better effect as a treatment for migraines, although they too have some limitations and may not work as well with extreme headaches. When heavy duty treatment is needed, doctors may combine medications, such as barbiturates, acetylsalicylic acid (i.e. Aspirin) and caffeine. A Sumatriptan/Naproxen Sodium combination has recently been shown to be very effective.

Migraine treatment is sometimes rather an odd process, perhaps because so many of the symptoms themselves are unusual. No one, for example, would normally expect caffeine to be both a trigger for the headaches and then a potential relief for them. Yet that appears to be the actual case. While caffeine can worsen the widening of blood vessels in the brain that is part of the headache, it can then turn around once the headache is there, and help the stomach absorb medication more quickly. Meanwhile, another odd treatment is botox injections in the scalp. This doesn’t eliminate the causes of the migraine, but prevents tension in the scalp from contributing to the severe headache.

Migraine specialists often tend to think in terms of medical solutions alone, but many people also swear by herbal migraine remedies, such as feverfew or Coenzyme Q10 supplements. The latter has been acknowledged, even by strictly medical practitioners, as something that has been shown to help. The person who is afflicted with a migraine might not particularly care where their migraine treatment comes from, just so long as it does something to ease their condition. Medical or herbal, wherever a cure or effective treatment can be found, it’s all good.

Beth Kaminski is the co-author of Curing Your Anxiety And Panic Attacks which detailed end panic attacks as well as tips on the various anxiety disorder medications available at anxietydisordercure.com.