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Migraine Relief

Migraine headaches happen to both men and women. The first step to migraine relief is to identify your cause of migraine. Migraine headache relief starts with you. Recognize your own migraine symptoms. With today's technology and research some measure of migraine pain relief is available for all migraine sufferers. But you yourself can help prevent or help reduce the headache pain.

Analyze your own signs of a coming migraine headache. The migraine symptoms can be nausea, vomiting, loss of appetite and so on. Anticipate migraine attacks from tension, stress, back pain, menstrual pain and so forth.

Some triggers not easily recognized are food, environmental changes, weather changes, and the amount of sleep. Use a journal to log things that happened just before your migraine headaches. There may be more than one trigger. See how much you can control your environment. This step is your first natural migraine relief resource.

You may be unable to prevent migraine headaches by staying away from its sources. The next step is the treatment of the migraine pain. First see if you can still pinpoint the cause of the migraine. Your self diagnosis and treatment will be focused on the source. The goal is to reduce or eliminate pain. No one wants to see nausea and vomiting.

 Some migraine sufferers report that they feel better when they stop to rest. This is simple natural migraine relief. They find a quiet place to rest and shut down the body. Being at home in your own bedroom is often the best place.

Otherwise any place that is comfortable and safe will do. Darken the room and turn off any noisy appliances. Migraine headaches place the body in a sensory overload. Light and sound are over amplified.

Cool down the room. Smell can also trigger a migraine. Even the sweet scent of perfume can provoke a worsening condition. Work at identifying what causes migraine headaches for you. Then minimize all of these sources. Migraine relief may lie in your hands.

A simple migraine treatment is to cool the body with an ice pack on the back of the neck and base of the skull. Perhaps a wet cold washcloth over the head and covering the eyes helps. Migraine headaches are different than regular headaches. Blood vessels become larger or dilate. With normal headaches the blood vessels constrict or become smaller. Putting ice on a headache can make it worse. But on migraine headaches you counter act the enlarged blood vessels.

Sleep works like a reset button. Lie as quietly as possible, relax your body, quieten your mind, and try to fall asleep. Sleep tends to reduce the pain and make the migraine go away.

Some migraine sufferers find migraine pain relief from over the counter medications. These can be ibuprofen, aspirin, acetaminophen, and caffeine. Other require medical advice and prescription strength pain relief.

Anyone using over the counter medications needs to use caution. There can be side effects. Read the label and the instructions carefully. Do you need to drink lots of water? Do you need to take the medication with food?

Overuse may promote worse migraine headaches and the worsening of the migraine symptoms. If you see no results from over the counter drugs after a reasonable period of time, get help. Get medical advice from your primary care physician.

Pay attention as to how your body responds to medication and other alternative treatments. You may be able to notice quickly if something is not working. Do not assume any source of migraine relief you are using is the final migraine remedy. If there are obvious signs of a worsening condition stop the treatment.

Some medications are designed to provide symptomatic relief such as the headache pain or the migraine symptoms such as nausea. There are abortive therapies which are medications used to stop the migraine completely. For women the prescription may be designed to relieve menstrual migraines or pregnancy migraines.

For those who are able to recognize the migraine symptoms quickly, relief may be more direct. Perhaps you can manipulate your environment. Understand your body and what works best for you. If necessary keep a log of events that lead to migraine headaches. For your own safety consult a physician and certified professional specialists.

The previous article is on Symptoms of Migraines.

Other wiki resources:  symptoms of migraine; migraine relief; basilar migraine; cluster headache; fibromyalgia; sinus headache