Do you suffer from frequent, severe headaches? If your headaches are debilitating and include vertigo, vomiting, disturbances in vision, or extreme sensitivity to noise or light, you may be experiencing a migraine. Migraines involve both your neurological state and your vascular system, which is why you experienced such a broad range of terrible symptoms. Sometimes the symptoms are so bad they find yourself needing emergency care or visiting urgent care centers for immediate relief. While getting to the ER or the urgent care in your area can provide fast relief, sometimes you can manage your migraines at home. Here are a few tips for reducing the occurrences of migraines and managing them when you get them:
Avoiding Migraine Triggers:
- Look for a common denominator in your migraines. Keep a diary of the days you get migraines, including what you ate that day, and any unusual events that you had. After you have several migraines, you may see a common link that could be the stimulus causing your migraines.
- Manage your blood sugar. Many times, the root of migraines is related to fluctuating blood sugar. If you go longer than three hours between meals, you may find that your migraines become more frequent. It’s also helpful to include a lot of lean proteins in your diet, which helps stabilize your blood sugar levels in between meals.
- Watch your caffeine intake. Caffeine causes increased blood flow to the brain, which is what gives you that increase in energy. However, people who suffer from migraines are more sensitive to changes in their brain’s blood flow, so caffeine could be to reason you get migraines. If you already are a coffee drinker, abruptly changing your habits could lead to more migraines. Try to gradually reduce your intake to one 8-ounce cup per day.
- Take Dietary supplements. Studies show that participants who increase the their riboflavin intake (such as vitamin B2) for three months experienced a sharp reduction in migraines.
- Make sleep of priority. Fluctuation in your sleep habits, or becoming sleep deprived is a common trigger of migraines. Try to create a healthy routine of going to sleep and waking up at approximately the same time.
Coping With a Migraine:
- Administer ice packs. The inflammation of the blood vessels in your brain that are wreaking havoc on you can be reduced with the application of a cold ice pack.
- Use herbal treatments. There is strong evidence of several ingredients you probably have in your pantry will improve your migraine. Such ingredients include peppermint, cayenne pepper, chamomile, and ginger.
- Help yourself relax. Releasing tension in your muscles can help reduce the restriction of blood flow, and stabilize your headache. Practice massage, meditation, yoga, or other relaxation techniques.
When to Seek Medical Care
If your migraines are ongoing and and the techniques mentioned above do not help, you should see a doctor for effective migraine management plan.
You should seek immediate attention at an urgent care in your area if your migraine symptoms are different or worse than you usually experience, or you lose consciousness. It’s also imperative to get to urgent care in your area if you believe your migraine is a result of dehydration, as you will need immediate intravenous fluids that your doctor will not be able to provide.
You should go straight to the emergency room if your migraine is a result of a traumatic head injury, is accompanied with a stiff neck seizures or fever, or abruptly gets worse.