Home Herbal Migraine Remedies by Brian B. Carter, MS, LAc
This is one of my favorite topics! Wanna know
why?
Because I've suffered from migraines for 2 years, and my unique position as an
herbalist and acupuncturist has allowed me to learn about and experiment with a
number of home migraine remedy you may not have heard of.
Chinese herbal medicine is still new and unknown to most westerners. I've found
some effective solutions from China that few people know about.
And now I get to share them with you!
On this page, I'm going to talk exclusively about home migraine remedy - if you
want to read more about migraine symptoms, causes, and acupuncture, check out my
previous articles:
What is a Migraine, anyway?
It's more than a headache. It's a neurological configuration - any number of
symptoms can show up, and more than one thing can cause it.
It's as if you tend toward this neurological configuration, called migraine -
like you're already on the edge of it, and certain things can push you over.
Or, it's like you're filling a water glass, but you can't stop pouring, and it
overflows. In this analogy, the water is all the factors that cause your
migraine, and the overflow is the migraine itself.
How do you stop the Migraine tendency?
The way to prevent it is to balance the imbalances that lead to migraine. Your
home migraine remedy should take care of at least one of these imbalances.
I'm going to suggest our basic home migraine remedy, called "Relieve Constraint"
that will help with a number of the causes of migraine.
Here are the major migraine contributors,
with at least one home migraine remedy each:
1. Stress and emotional constraint: Relieve Constraint herbal formula
2. Sinus congestion and sinus headaches: Relieve Constraint herbal formula, and
possibly a sinus infection home remedy
3. Indigestion and dysbiosis: Relieve Constraint herbal formula, get any
complicated or chronic digestive problems diagnosed and treatment by a natural
medicine specialist
4. Inflammation: Relieve Constraint herbal formula
5. Neck misalignment and tension headaches (this is your author right here,
sitting at a computer): Chiropractic and acupuncture, stress reduction, and
Relieve Constraint herbal formula
6. Food allergies: Get good IgG and IgE food allergy tests, make sure you don't
also have systemic candida, and avoid/rotate the foods you are allergic to.
If you can't afford the $100 food allergy test from your alternative medicine
provider, you can instead try going 1 month each without wheat, dairy, and
yeast. Those are the most common offenders. If any of them is involved, you
should notice a difference!
7. Irregular eating: Eat more regularly. Identify and deal with hypoglycemia -
research shows, and specialists know that hypoglycemia can cause rebound
migraines. See below for eating tips.
If you don't have a regular appetite, Relieve Constraint will help somewhat, but
you may want to consider medical-quality enzyme supplements.
8. Fatigue or lack of exercise: If exercise makes you worse, then you need
strengthening herbs. However, you may have to wait til #1-6 above are better
before you can tonify yourself.
If exercise makes you better, then you're stagnant. Keep exercising, especially
aerobic like basketball, running, or swimming, and take Relieve Constraint.
Dietary Home Migraine Remedy Options:
As mentioned in the chart, hypoglycemia can lead to rebound migraines. There's
some research to back that up - see the references at the bottom of the page.
How to control your hypoglycemia:
* Increase the amount of protein in your diet (meat, poultry, fish, nuts, beans)
and eat smaller meals more frequently during the day to sustain energy.
* Never go for more than four or five hours without eating — preferably no more
than three hours.
* If you sleep in on weekends, but find you wake with the beginnings of a
migraine, keep a starchy snack by the bed.
* Eat small, starchy snacks, but not sugary or processed foods, on a regular
basis. Crackers, rice, bread, and pasta are all good, as are fruits and nuts.
* Many migraine sufferers find that strenuous or prolonged exercise lowers their
blood sugar levels and makes them more prone to attacks. Try taking a glucose
tablet (or a teaspoon of glucose) before exercising, and a starchy snack within
half an hour of finishing. This may help compensate for lost energy. However,
once your diet has been corrected, glucose tablets shouldn't be necessary.
Not having an appetite is a problem!
Most people worry about their weight and want to get rid of their appetites. But
for a migraineur, not having an appetite is a problem. Whether you are enzyme
deficient, or your gastrointestinal system is all backed up, or both, you need
to fix it.
If you don't have an appetite, you won't eat enough (leading to hypoglycemia),
and even if you do eat enough, you won't be able to digest it properly.
Indigestion will create more problems, like acid reflux or intestinal
stagnation. Since everything in your body is connected, and migraineurs are so
sensitive, all of these things can contribute to a migraine.
Herbal Home Migraine Remedy Options:
Let me tell you about a modern migraine formula, called
Relieve Constraint.
This is a modern Chinese herbal formula, a home migraine remedy. It comes from a
book by Philippe Sionneau, a famous European Chinese medicine translator and
author. Philippe translated it from the Chinese article written by Dr Cao De
Ting in the Shan Dong Chinese Medicine Journal (1988, #1).
The full name of this home migraine remedy is the "Order the Qi and Resolve the
Depression Decoction." It's based on what has become one of my favorite Chinese
herbal formulas, "Yue ju wan," also known as the "Escape Restraint Pill." This
formula was written by herbal master Zhu Dan Xi in the 14th century A.D.
The Relieve Constraint home migraine remedy relieves all 6 types of constraint
(with the herb for each):
qi (cyperus)
blood (ligustici)
dampness (atractylodes)
food (shenqu)
phlegm (atractylodes)
heat (gardenia)
Added to the basic Escape Restraint Pill (to make the Relieve Constraint home
migraine remedy) are several other herbs for emotional constraint, nourishing,
moving the excess qi and blood down out of the head, relieving tension, and
stopping pain. These herbs are chrysanthemum, cassia, tribulus, uncaria, peony,
and licorice.
How do you use it?
Take it when you know a migraine is coming, or even before that after one of the
migraine contributors has occurred in your daily life. It can help once the
migraine is already there, but as with other home migraine remedy, it's much
more effective the sooner you take it.
Depending on how bad and how frequent your migraines are, you might use this
home migraine remedy every day, or every few days. If they're really bad, I'd
take it every day for a while (2-4 weeks) until it's much better. Then, you
still may need it occasionally unless you eliminate all migraine triggers, move
to the countryside, and live a perfectly relaxed life ;-)
Nutritional Supplement Home Migraine Remedy Options:
Here are some nutrients suggested to be very important in the Balch's
Prescriptions for Nutritional Healing:
Calcium and Magnesium: 2000 mg daily Ca, 1000 mg daily Mg
CoQ10: 60 mg daily
Essential Fatty Acids
Multivitamin and mineral formula
Vitamin B3 (niacin) plus niacinamide: 200mg 3x daily of niacin, 800mg daily of
niacinamide - but do not take if you have a liver disorder, gout, or high blood
pressure
Rutin: 200mg daily
Acupuncturist, herbalist, and medical professor Brian B. Carter founded the alternative health megasite The Pulse of Oriental Medicine (http://www.PulseMed.org/). He is the author of the book "Powerful Body, Peaceful Mind: How to Heal Yourself with Foods, Herbs, and Acupressure" (November, 2004). Brian speaks on radio across the country, and has been quoted and interviewed by Real Simple, Glamour, and ESPN magazines
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