This has turned out to be one of my most viewed posts – it works for me time and time again. And if I do get a migraine, which is unusual now, this is the tip I try first – even though it’s probably rather naughty!
The article, published with permission, includes a rather controversial suggestion of ‘salt’ consumption as a migraine abortive. It was new to me at the time, although I had sometimes noticed cravings for savory food when an attack is pending or in progress.
Over a few months I’ve occasionally tried a salty food (e.g. peanuts) when migraines threatened and have had some success, so it’s something you may like to try.
Obviously too much salt can be dangerous – so moderation is the key word here!
The full article is included below, but I’d be most interested to hear from anyone who has success with the salt method!
Migraine Home Remedy – Migraine Headache Symptom Relief Ideas
by Dee Cohen
Sometimes a migraine can be treated without a person having to resort to prescribed or over the counter medicines. In this article we will look at some migraine home remedy treatments that you may wish to try in place of traditional western medicines. Such treatments are commonly known as alternative medicines and migraine home remedies are not made up of complex chemical compounds but rather are based on common sense and know how.
One of the most inexpensive forms of treating a migraine at home is the ice wrap. The types you can buy in your drugstore are meant to be placed on either the forehead or neck of the victim but you can easily produce one of these at home. What you need to do is get a towel and wet it liberally then squeeze (but do not wring out) some of the water. Next fold the towel until you can easily place it in your freezer and leave it for about 5 minutes or until the towel has begun to stiffen. Unfold it and then refold it and placing the frozen sections in the middle and the wet parts of the towel to the outside. Once the towel has become reasonably frozen then place it around your head and eyes. For some this offers migraine headache symptom relief.
Some people have found salt consumption can abort a migraine. If you feel a migraine beginning to start then eat a pack of corn chips (Fritos are good) or get some fries and add some salt (or any other type of salty food) as these will help to calm a migraine attack. Although sometimes this method may not work it can provide you with a period of time in order to prepare the frozen towel treatment.
It’s not often we’re told to eat salt! But this is a popular migraine home remedy and there are people who claim migraine headache symptom solutions from it.
The next migraine home remedy treatment we will look at for a migraine will need the assistance of another person. What you need to do is go into a quietened dark room and relax as someone massages your scalp for you. They should massage your head and not your temples and 10 minutes of this treatment should do the trick. See how it works for you and if it offers migraine headache symptom help.
However a great way of relieving a migraine is to prevent it and so closely scrutinise your lifestyle and see what could be causing your migraines. It may be a certain food you are eating or because you have not had enough sleep. Whilst others find that bright or flashing lights, loud noise or stress can cause a migraine attack. By defining what is causing your migraine attacks will go a long way to helping controlling and relieving them in the future.
As you can see there are plenty of migraine home remedy treatments to choose from and it’s best to find what’s suited for you.
Dee Cohen is a writer and publisher of health topics.
Stop by Home Remedy for Migraine to learn effecctive tips for relief at http://www.headache-tip-news.com/1/migraine-pain.html
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Dee_Cohen
Tags: migraine and salt, migraine attacks, migraine cure, migraine remedies, salt
Salt overload CAUSES migraines! Too much salt is like a poison and the migraine is the body’s way of saying “STOP EATING SO MUCH SALT.” A hangover is a mild version of a migraine–alcohol is a poison, too.
Yes, you’re right, it IS a controversial suggestion and I’ll repeat that “moderation is the key”. No-one is suggesting a heavy salt intake on a regular basis. Just the possibility that sometimes a salty snack might be something the body needs.
With a rather outdated PhD in biochemistry and physiology I read this
article with interest and instinctively feel you could be on to
something here.
My studies were a long time ago, but I wanted to try and come up with a
mechanism whereby this could happen. So here goes.
As far as I remember, the brain autoregulates its blood flow (preserves
it even when pressure drops). This is useful as when the peripheral
circulation is in shock, the brain still works!! Likewise the kidney
does the same so that we can still excrete. These are the ‘normal’
scenarios but in ‘disease’ states, cerebral and renal function can fail.
So when we are talking about possible mechanisms in migraine, we have to assume that things are transiently abnormal.
As far as I recall, in migraine we are talking about dilated throbbing
blood vessels in the brain, so autoregulation has briefly been thrown
out of whack. The blood vessels have lost their tension. The ions in the
body responsible for blood vessel tension are Ca++ (but there are also
lots of other molecules involved like angiotensin and Kinins and
prostaglandins, nitric oxide etc to name but a few). Sodium and
Potassium regulate electrical balance across cells in blood vessel wall
via a Na+/K+ pump powered by ATP. It is true to say that Na+ in the
blood drags water with it so maybe a delay in salt regulation
accompanied by changes in other vasodilator mechanisms could be happening.
When you eat a salty snack, the supra-optic nucleus in the hypothalamus
reduces its production of ADH and effectively dilutes out the salt to re
establish osmotic balance.
All these mechanisms have a ‘time constant’ ie how fast are they able to
be engaged so maybe this is important. As an example of what I’m talking
about, think of after you’ve eaten a meal: lots of us keep eating for
too long after we are physiologically full because there is a delay in
the brain’s registration of ‘satiety’. The more sensible amongst us (not
me) can see how much they’ve eaten and stop, but others, because they
don’t feel full yet carry on eating!!!!!
The problem with trying to evaluate what is happening is that processes
are too multifactorial, but there could be something in it.
To re-iterate the obvious, we’re not talking about a hefty and regular
increase in salt intake, just a salty snack and see what happens.
“Snudge” PhD
Thanks “Snudge”.
It’s good to know there COULD be a mechanism – and it’s understood that this is just your thoughts of a possibility, rather than definitive research.
Tell you what – I’d love for anyone who feels a migraine coming on to just give this tip a try and see if your attack aborts. Just a SMALL salty snack. Not a regular diet of salt.
Hope it works for someone, and if you try it, please comment here whether it works or not!
Great post! As we all know salt is really bad for our body if we take more than is recommended then it can definatelycause bad migraines as that is what used to happen to me when I was a salt lover…but I hate the stuff now and my migraines are much better for it.
I just found this post when I was doing a search for salt and migraines. I have suffered from migraines for years. Recently, I discovered, quite accidentally, that eating salty sunflower seeds seemed to relieve my migraine pain considerably. I can’t quite figure out the why of it but I figured it must be from the salt. That’s what prompted me to do a search. Very interesting post. Thanks for posting this. I can’t find a lot of info on this.
Glad to have been of help. It was new to me too! There’s always something to learn.
Found this completely randomly while researching my migraines. I can also confirm – completely anecdotally, of course – that a hit of salt mid-migraine (for me it’s usually a few bags of plain Hula Hoops) almost always reduces the pain to a more manageable level. I have a very low sodium diet the rest of the time.
I experienced what I thought was a miracle one night while at work. I worked 2nd shift and when I went into work, I already had the beginnings of a headache. This was before Imitrex, which I usually take now.
My migraine worsened, but I had an office I could go to, turn out the lights, and put my head down on my desk. At some point in time I decided to try and eat something, went to the vending machine and selected a bag of Frito’s.
I really wasn’t hungry, but I noticed as I lay next to the bag of chips, my pain started to ease. The aroma seemed to have a positive effect on my headache. I continued with just breathing very near the bag, and my migraine was completely gone within approximately 45 minutes.
Believing that experience was a fluke, for the longest time I did not attempt to use a bag of frito’s for my headache. About 2 weeks ago I bought a six pack Frito’s snack pack to see if they would have any impact. The good news is that on 2 occasions, breathing in the aroma from one of those bags has reduced the pain. The first occasion was over a week ago, when the pain subsided, but the headache did not go away. These bags are smaller than the one I got from the vending machine, and as I feel better, I eat the chips, so I don’t know if there is a direct correlation between effectiveness and chip quantity. On that first occasion I did not open a second bag to see if the migraine would cease.
Today, I have another migraine and I have a bag of freshly opened Frito’s. I take some deep breaths from the bag, every 3-5 minutes or so, and there is some reduction in pain. I am going to open a second bag if I feel the pain is continuing to subside, and I run out of chips.
So, I don’t know if Salt is really the answer, it may be the aroma from spices in the bag of Frito’s. I will report back the results of today’s experiment. 2/23/2011
I tried the salty snack this morning after waking up with a worse migraine than when I went to bed. I don’t eat a lot of salt or salty foods, but I had some Parmesan and Garlic pita ships in the pantry! I ate two servings of pita chips, (one serving is equal to 350mg of sodium) drank water and used the freezer towel on my head for about 10 minutes. I still have the migraine an hour later, but it is tolerable and I think the salty snack trick helped! I have also often drank Gatorade at room temp. to help my migraines and it seems to help a lot.
I have eaten a big mac meal (or similar) to block migrane attacks for at least 15 times by now, and it has worked every time. Its not that easy to down a hamburger when on the verge of migrane-vomiting, but the salty fries have this miraculous quality that allows sthem to be the tastiest thing even when in this awfull condition…
I have been suffering with migraines for years and have been very aware of the fact that I crave salt and sugar during a migraine episode. Recently, I was munching pepperoni sticks during an attack and my Wife sarcastically suggested that I may as well just eat pure salt. She was kidding but I realized that this might be just what the doctor ordered!
I took 1/4 tsp (600 mg) and shoved it down the hatch. It tasted awful like the sea but eureka it worked beautifully. I actually felt the migraine melt off. For safe measure I took a couple of aspirins and pounded back some coffee.
It’s amazing, thought would google salt and migraines and see if other people discovered the same effect salt has on easing migraine pain as me. It works and together with flat coca cola works.
Salty chips seem to make my migraines all but disappear in under an hour! Gatorade helps, too. It has worked for me three or four times now…. And I used to be completely reliant upon excedrin migraine.
This seems to be the experiences of many people, myself included on the salty stuff. (Never tried Gatorade.) It’s a bit of a conundrum, since I’m supposed to be telling people that excess salt is bad for you! However, the most sensible explanation I’ve heard is the comment from Snudge, above! If anyone else can throw any light on an explanation, please do so.