Holistic Healing For Migraines

Anyone who has ever had a migraine knows the devastating pain and incapacitation that are the headache's signatures. Migraine sufferers around the world have developed a number of holistic therapies for dealing with both the symptoms and causes of the painful headaches. These techniques allow relief and rehabilitation without the use of drugs that often have unwelcome side effects.

Migraines are a specific type of headache that targets the blood vessels in the head. The vessels either expand or contract to cause pain within the brain. When the blood vessels expand, they put pressure on nerves. When the vessels contract, blood flow is restricted. Both actions cause extreme pain, usually on one side of the head, though some people experience pain on both sides. The pain is generally in the temple area or behind the eye or ear.

In addition to pain, migraines are often accompanied by dizziness, sensitivity to light or sound, nausea or vomiting, an olfactory hallucination (phantom smell), and visual abnormalities known as "auras." These symptoms frequently act as an early warning system to migraine sufferers that a headache is on its way. By heeding the body's warnings and taking quick action, a migraine can frequently be diminished or averted altogether.

For many people, food and environmental triggers initiate the change in blood flow that is characteristic of migraines. These triggers vary by person, but there are a few that tend to be common culprits. Changes in sleeping and eating patterns, hormonal fluctuations, stress and eyestrain are among the frequent environmental and behavioral triggers. Chocolate, red wine, aged cheeses and meats, nuts, freshly-baked yeast breads, MSG, artificial sweeteners, and any food product that is pickled or fermented are among the common dietary triggers.

In order to best utilize the warnings of the early migraine symptoms, and to determine an individual's specific triggers, the use of a migraine diary is a helpful and informative tool. A chart that includes space for recording notes about sleep, meals, weather, emotional and physical stresses, menstrual cycles, and miscellanea can be very telling in the process of finding and avoiding an individual's triggers. Including additional space for attempted treatments and their results can point the way to holistic migraine management.

Identifying and eliminating triggers is an effective proactive practice for many people, but when a migraine manages to take hold despite all possible vigilance, these holistic techniques might ease the pain or even eliminate the headache.

1. Lavender tea eases tensions and soothes pain, in addition to being an antiseptic and antibacterial.

2. Deep breathing relaxes the muscles and calms the mind while delivering healing oxygen to all of the body's cells and systems.

3. Hot and cold packs on the pain site can offer relief. Cold will relieve expanded blood vessels, while heat will relieve constricted ones. One or the other is likely to offer more relief, but some people find the best results by alternating hot and cold.