How to prevent a migraine?

Headaches often get ignored as nothing more than a common complaint, a quit-your-whining-and-start-working type of thing…if only high. However, handling chronic migraines is a little more challenging and a lot more frustrating than the ordinary headaches. How do you tackle a migraine that is just about to start? How do you divert it?

Preventing a migraine or reducing its intensity is possible only through a holistic approach. Also, since there isn’t a known cure that could ultimately treat a migraine, the migraine sufferers have lost hope in the possibility of being completely cured. It results in more stress and an even more painful migraine.

What is Migraine?

A recurrent throbbing headache, often disrupting one side of the head, frequently accompanied by nausea, vomiting, and extreme sensitivity to light and sound. Migraines may include a stage called aura, which is marked by visual disturbances (flashes, splotches, zigzags, or shimmering colored lights surrounding a blind spot).

Commonly known symptoms for migraine are nausea, vomiting, suddenly increased sensitivity to light and sound and blurred vision. Migraines are of two types: migraines with aura and migraines without aura. An aura brings sensations that are experienced by the patients prior to the migraine attack.  These sensations include an unusual sense of smell and touch, seeing unusual lines, etc.

Read on to find out how you can keep your arch enemy at bay:

1. Trigger management: If you're prone to migraines, certain stimuli may bring them on. Track your headaches on a calendar to look for patterns and potential catalysts that precipitate the pain.

2.  Eat healthy...REGULARLY: Eating healthy food regularly and on time can be really helpful when trying to keep migraines away. Try to eat six small meals a day to keep the supply of glucose constant in your body since empty stomach is one of the potent triggers for migraine.

3. Get Enough sleep: Try to get at least 7 hours of sleep per day. Also, make sure you sleep and wake up at the same time trying to balance your circadian rhythm. This will not only keep you fresh every morning but also is helpful in preventing migraines.

Pharmacy to my Door

4. Keep your medications handy: There is always a specific symptom that every migraine patient experiences before the onset of migraine, for e.g. nausea, feeling light headed etc. Whenever you feel like the pain is about to begin, immediately pop a painkiller since they can divert the pain faster. Try Migraleve. It is a combination of 4 yellow and 8 pink tablets that effectively manages different stages of migraine.

5. Get the endorphin pumping: Regular exercise is just as effective as migraine medications at preventing attacks. Scientists believe that about 40 minutes of aerobic exercise three times a week releases feel-good chemicals like endorphins and increases the amount of oxygen in your body, which could help prevent the pounding headaches.

6. Avoid MSG: Monosodium glutamate (MSG) is added to several food items to enhance its flavour. Also known as glutamic acid, it is derived from an amino acid which occurs naturally in various foods. It is considered that MSG triggers headache in people suffering from migraines and other type of headaches, possibly due to the fact that it excites our neurons. Make sure the packaged foods you consume are free from MSG. Watch for some of these words, which represent “hidden” MSG, and be extra cautious around Chinese food, processed meats, canned veggies, gravy/soup/dip mixes, and soy-based items.

-Gelatin

-Yeast extract

-Anything “hydrolysed”

-Textured protein