I have lived with migraines for over 20 years and often spent days in hospital or laid up in bed in unbearable pain.
During these years I have come up with a list of ways to control or reduce the instances of migraine and I would love to share them with you.
First up natural therapies, there are many options available to choose from if you prefer to keep things drug free.
The most popular are Feverfew tablets this is a natural preventative and has shown to reduce instances in some people also the smell of mint as oil or grown naturally around the house seems to reduce the pain.
If you are unable to obtain mint or the oil most Chemist' will sell something called a migrastick which has the oils in and all you need to do is dab it on when you get a migraine.
Stress is often a cause of migraine and there are many ways to reduce it, the best ways I have found are taking time out to read a good book, having a massage or going for a stroll down the beach.
Of course many people work hard and often do not have time for these activities, but how effective are you at work when you are in pain? surely half an hour a day on a stress reducing exercise could be seen as a sound investment.
Also diet can have an affect on migraines and can often cause them to come on, if you are unsure of your trigger and you think food may be involved keep a food diary and jot down everything you eat and when you get migraines.
You may be able to find a trigger and removing that food from your diet may just remove your migraines, the most common food causes are chocolate, wine, caffeine, peanuts and many others.
If these options are of no help then the only option may be to get professional help from a Doctor who will no doubt ask you try the natural options first, so please do.
If you already have your Doctor will give drug options, I highly recommend you try and avoid drugs with Codeine in them as this can cause nausea, something that migraines can also cause.
The most common option given will be Imigran which comes in tablet form or as a nasal spray, I found the very best way to use this drug is to get both options.
I would use 1 tablet and 1 spray at the same time as the spray kicks in fast but is often weak but the pill takes longer but works better giving you an even spread of relief over time.
The second drug I know well is Naramig which I am currently using, I would only recommend it to those who have a precursor as the pills can take up to 45 minutes to effectively start working.
They are best taken with a pain killer as the drug seems to halt the pain getting bad but it wont get rid of it completely.
There is of course many other drug options if these 2 do not work for you as they all work slightly different to each other and you just need the correct one for you, just persevere relief is out there.
I hope at least one of these options work for you.