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Daily Headaches

Athene

ihateticks.me
Messages
1,143
Location
Italy
I used to have about one day every 2 weeks when I DIDN'T have a headache.
My doctor put me on grapeseed extract which is an natural antiinflammatory and the headaches went away completely. PLEASE try this stuff.
Sadly it upset my tummy (I am allergic to grapes) so I switched to green tea extract, which is almost equally as effective. I now get a headache about one every 2 weeks and so far it has not been particularly bad. Green tea makes your blood pressure go down so I have to take it at bed time, this way I am fine.
I cannot recommend this stuff strongly enough!!!!!
 
Messages
36
Location
NY
Thanks for all of the suggestions.

I personally stopped seeing doctors to perscribe me migrane meds because everything they tried I wound up being allergic to- and they never found the "cause" of them- just more wasted money. I will try the herbal supliments as I wont have insurance till January to see an actual doctor. Im also going to a Lyme specialist soon so hopefully she can give me some other suggestions. Thanks again.
 

Victoria

Senior Member
Messages
1,377
Location
Melbourne, Australia
Just looked up one of my herbal medicine books & was suprised to find that "one of the most effective treatments for headache and migraine is often overlooked in this drug-conscious age; a hot bath"

"Take a bath a the hottest temperature you can comfortabley stand, relaxing in it for 20-30 minutes with the lower body and limbs immersed. This treatment, which induces relaxation, sweating and dilation of the blood vessels in the lower body, has relieved more severe headaches and even migraines unaffected by other treatments."

I admit I never would have thought of a hot bath to treat headaches & migraines. (despite having a hot bath every day, myself - as it reduces my stiffness & back pain which is present when I wake up each day).

I would suggest also adding 3-4 drops of Lavender essential oil in the bath & swirled around. Sometimes headaches can be relieved by rubbing a couple of drops of Lavender essential oil on your temple area.
 

Athene

ihateticks.me
Messages
1,143
Location
Italy
Good points about the bath and lavender, Victoria!
I find hot baths help but I actually find a hot water bottle pressed against my head even better.
I also bought a herbal migraine reliever which is a half-half mix of lavender and peppermint oil, and you are supposed to rub this under your chin so you constantly smell it. Amazingly, if you catch the headache in the early stages, it can completely cure it. I find the prescription migraine meds, and things like codeine and ibuprofen, just do not work at all any more, in fact sometimes they even make my headache worse.
 
Messages
18
Location
Leeds, UK
My number one go-to thing for a migraine is my 4head stick - Im in the UK though and don't know if it or similar is available elsewhere? You just rub it on your forehead and it has a weird cooling/menthol/tingly sensation that I find helps a lot (but then when I get migraines I am usually also too hot). Something similar to try is a Chinese remedy called Tiger Balm which is usually used for sore muscles and can help to relieve tension caused from migraines/headaches if you just rub a bit on your temples - I must warn you though I have had a really bad reaction to this one time (Ive used Tiger Balm for years but only had a bad reaction once) it just exacerbated my fever and sickliness. And finally I find a cold compress really helps sometimes too.
 

Nielk

Senior Member
Messages
6,970
I too suffer from constant migraines.
One thing i know is that when I take too many painkillers, it compounds my headaches and make it worse.
I have to hold back as much as possible because if you take to much it has an adverse effect.

Pure peppermint essential oil rubbed a tiny bit on the temples gives me short intervals of relief. (no cure)
 

Athene

ihateticks.me
Messages
1,143
Location
Italy
Hi flamingo,

Interesting about the tiger balm. I love that for insect bites, I'll try it for headaches.

Do you know what's in the 4head stick? The peppermint and lavendar thing I use is called Migrastick - I got it from Holland and Barrett.
 

meadowlark

Senior Member
Messages
241
Location
Toronto, Canada
I began to get a hemiplegic migraine--meaning the pain goes from the left side of my head down the left side of my body--in 1983. It appears five or six times a week, and lasts six to eight hours. That said, it disappears whenever I have a fever, as quick as a light switch. When the fever returns, the migraine disappears again. I used to pray that I'd get the flu or a nice, long cold. And now that I am in a fullblown ME/CFS crash, I pray for any kind of fever.

I now mark 1983 as the beginning of my gradual onset ME/CFS, because the headache had a viral connection. Also, the part of the hemiplegic migraine that occurs below the neck -- spasms/numbness/semi-paralysis--now appears on its own during fibromyalgia and flashes through me right before blackouts and seizures.

Throughout the decades, I've tried analgesics with codeine, anti-inflammatories, Tylenol, imitrex, fiorinal, tricyclics and other anti-depressants that help migraine, accupuncture, acupressure, hypnotism, self-hypnosis, massage, swimming/exercise, meditation, several changes of diet, cold packs, heating pads and aromatherapy. (Anti-convulsants don't help my seizures or my migraines--they found out about a decade ago, I think, that anti-c's can have that side effect.) When I was recovering from an operation in hospital, I was on a morphine drip--and had a migraine. So apparently, opiates don't touch it. As for acupuncture, it eliminates the headache for an hour, but costs much too much for just an hour's relief.

In my life today, I pray for fever. When I don't have one --about half the week -- generic imitrex works well for migraine, but stops working after 2 weeks, and I must take about a month's break. (In the end, that's fine, because I can afford imitrex only four times a year.) Otherwise, fiorinal (which is expensive, but not as bad as imitrex) works best. And my limbs feel better with tiger balm (the old-fashioned kind that smells like camphor. The odorless kind doesn't work for me at all.) There's a liquid/linament tiger balm, and when the migraine is tightening my scalp, I have actually poured it on my head, right through my hair. (Just don't get it in your eyes. And put a towel over your pillowcase.) You'll need to wash your hair a few hours later, but the sensation on your scalp is bearable, and definitely distracts from the migraine.

God knows all the analgesics are horrifying for my organs (thank god I don't drink, and never have), but my level of migraine is insane, and I am willing to live with this thoroughly bad solution because the alternative is worse. Meanwhile, I keep trying every solution that comes along, and retrying things that didn't work before.

The only solution I never tried was a chiropractor. I guess my belief that they can't cure headaches is pretty profound. I also can't afford to see one.

As Neilk mentions, taking too many analgesics can definitely affect the intensity of a headache and even give you migraines if you take them too regularly. In Canada this is called a "rebound" headache and every few years I do three months without analgesics to confirm that I don't have 'rebounds.' (And being a freak of nature, it seems that I do not have "rebound" headaches.)

Everything that I listed above, and that others have listed, seem to work for all sorts of people. It's a long road to find out which works for you, but keep going. You will find something.

To me, meditation, tiger balm and small, calming things like a lavendar pillow are essential. If I can't control what my body does, at least I can control my anxiety and nerves. A bit of self-hypnosis--somehow carving out a place inside that you lock away from the migraine's reach--is great too.

Finally, keeping a regular sleep schedule (very hard when you have ME/CFS, I know) really helps.
 
Messages
18
Location
Leeds, UK
Athene - I just had a quick look at the 4head website and it says that it contains 100% levomenthol, which it states is a type of peppermint. I like the sound of the stick you have with the lavender in. I might try that at some point!
 

Wayne

Senior Member
Messages
4,300
Location
Ashland, Oregon
I ran across a post (below) by Slayadragon a couple of nights ago where she mentioned her use of cholestyramine (used to bind with various kinds of toxicities in the body). After reading this, I decided to take two charcoal capsules before going to bed to see if it might "mop up" some toxicity in my body, and perhaps affect my chronic nightly headaches.

Lo and behold, my headaches the past couple mornings have been much less intense than normal, and it appears a lot of my head pain may be associated with nightime detoxification. Tonight I'm going to add a bit of bentonite clay to perhaps help things out a little more. I then plan to try a zeolite product that was recommended to me to see if that helps as well.

Best, Wayne


I've been taking csm (cholestyramine) for almost three years now, and at significant dosages (though rarely at four packages per day) for almost two years. At least for me, I don't think that Shoemaker is correct in suggesting that people take four doses, evenly spaced, during the daytime hours.

My own body seems to do most of its detoxifying at night. This seems to be the case for other people too (which could be why ME/CFS patients almost all feel like crap when they wake up). Thus, taking csm in the middle of the day isn't that sensible.

At first, I did try the evenly spaced method. But as time went on, I started shifting more and more to taking it in the evening hours, plus a dose in the morning. This usually turns out to be a dose an hour or two before bed, a dose before bed, and a dose in the morning. Sometimes I will wake up in the middle of the night and feel like having a dose. Occasionally I will feel like it's a good idea to do a dose in the middle of the day, but not too often.

Mostly I'm just doing this by intuition. I take it when it feels like a good idea, or when I feel sensations of heartburn (I think this is actually the presence of chemicals), or when I think of it. If I'm detoxifying fast for some reason (because I've recently had a big hit, because I'm in the Godforsaken wilderness, because I'm promoting detox heavily with methylation etc.), I'll take more. If it doesn't seem like I'm benefiting much, I take less.
 
Messages
2,565
Location
US
Have not read most of the replies yet. I have them daily too but have made some improvement by changing diet. I find I am very sensitive to almost every substance ingested, everything smell, things in the air, etc. I believe it is due to immune system getting all whacked out and hyperactive due to CFS. I have greatly reduced all the foods that are on the "migraine triggers" list so I get less of the intense headaches. Unfortunately it also has to do with food temp... cold foods and drinks can get me especially ice pops or ice cream. Hot foods cause me issues but I'm not sure if they cause headaches. Migraine sufferers are also triggers by strong scents and other things. I am and try to avoid those.