I wish you a Happy and migraine-free New Year.
Did you manage to survive the festive period without a migraine? I have to confess I had a bad day or two, but now I’m back to a more stable (and wholesome) diet, and my regular routine, I’m feeling fine again.
It just goes to show that your diet and lifestyle does matter!
Reviewing my most interesting articles from 2008 I was reminded of this one, published with permission, that 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
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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.