How to successfully manage your migraines

This is a collaborative post

If you’ve never had a migraine before, consider yourself very lucky. Often confused with a being just a bad headache, severe migraines can actually be hugely debilitating, incredibly painful and manifest themselves with far more physical symptoms than your average bad head; including nausea, blurred vision and even sensitivity to light and sound. If you’re unlucky enough to experience migraines regularly, you may find yourself asking what you can do in terms of medication and practical intervention to manage the symptoms of a migraine attack.

Table of Contents

Medication for Migraines

The most severe migraines will normally require some form of medication to manage, reduce or control your symptoms. These can range from painkillers to control the headache, anti emetics to prevent or reduce vomiting and nausea and/or triptans to reverse the changes in the brain that can trigger your migraine.

If you are experiencing them regularly you may want to speak to your GP, or if you feel safer doing so, seek the advise of a fully registered online pharmacy such as Oxford Online Pharmacy. Using their online consultation, they can recommend a number of effective migraine treatments and provide specific advise from their team based on your individual circumstances.

If you feel a migraine starting (quite often you will learn to recognise the signs of an aura or feel your head starting to throb), try and take the medication as soon as possible, as this can often slow or prevent the onset of a full attack.

Medication isn’t the only way you can help manage your migraines however, you can also help by managing your environment and lifestyle to help prevent them in the first place.

Find a quiet dark room

If a migraine hits, taking yourself off to a calm, quiet environment can really help. Draw the curtains and lie down and close your eyes if possible. Often it is the vision irregularities that can cause a feeling of dizziness and nausea, so closing your eyes and taking lots of deep breaths or even sleeping can help reduce the impact of such symptoms.

You may also find holding a cold flannel or compress your head can help.

Track the triggers

More often than not, there will be a common trigger for your migraines, so you may find it helpful to keep a diary of when they occur and any important factors that may have contributed or caused the onset.

Examples of triggers can include:

Hormones – Many women in particular find that migraines occur at a particular time of the month, or a point within their menstrual cycle. This can be due to hormone changes and the level of oestrogen within the body. Whilst knowing this can’t automatically counter act their occurrence, it can help to understand when they may occur and plan accordingly.
Emotional Triggers – Stress and/or anxiety can also be big triggers for migraines and if you are particularly tense or frustrated you may find that you are more likely to experience a migraine. Try and practice self care and look after your mental health as much as possible. Knowing when to step away and take a break (whether that’s from work or general mental load) can help keep your emotions in a better rhythm.
Tiredness – Some migraines can be caused by a lack of sleep, poor quality sleep or even sleeping in a bad position. Try and ensure you get a good nights sleep by listening to your body, keeping tech out of the bedroom and avoiding blue screen devices before bed!
Dehydration or Caffeine Withdrawal – If you are reducing the amount of caffeine you are consuming and aren’t drinking enough water, this alone can be enough to trigger a migraine. Whilst most of us consume some caffeine, manage your intake and mix it up with fresh water or other water based drinks instead.
Diet – Believe it or not, there are some foods that can trigger migraines and they may vary from one person to the next. My sister for example learned that blackcurrant seemed to be a regular trigger for her migraines and once she stopped anything blackcurrant related in her diet, the number of migraines she experienced dramatically reduced. Keeping a food diary can be a good way to track whether there are any foods or drinks that seem to induce these symptoms.
Physical Environment – It is also possible for some people to have migraines triggered by their environment – simple things such as glaring lights, the sun flicking through the clouds whilst driving, or even strong smell are known to trigger some migraines. Once this has been established, simple changes such as wearing shades whilst driving or with lighting that you know may trigger a migraine can be helpful.