Natural Remedies for Migraines

The other day one of my co-workers was sitting at her desk with her head lowered, cupping her forehead in one hand and massaging her head and neck with the other. I asked her if she was all right and she said I have a migraine. So I logged in to see what Earth Clinic has posted for migraines and saw the remedy of 2 Tbsp. of ACV and 2 Tbsp. of raw honey in a glass of water.

I asked if she usually takes something for it and she said she takes Excedrin but that she did not have any with her. So I told her that my #1 resource for natural healing recommends ACV and honey in a glass of water and told her that I had both of them if she would like to try it. She looked up at me and said let's do it. I mixed it up and she drank it. About 20 or 30 minutes later another co-worker asked her how she was feeling and she said she felt a lot better! And for the rest of the day she was her usual bubbly self.

What is particularly interesting about this is that I work for a tribal government and these folks are Native Americans who, for the most part, have lost or forgotten the old ways, replacing them with medical services provided by the federal government through Indian Health Services. But many of them have witnessed my journey and have come to me for help for themselves and for their animals. They are re-discovering that Mother Nature has provided all that we need!

Thank you to all who post on this website, you are changing and saving lives! Flower's Mom

During covid lockdown I'd been cooking our food from scratch, just because I had more time and couldn't get to the supermarket. It then became apparent that I was only getting migraines after ordering Dominos pizza as a treat, like clockwork. This led me to research msg and omg what a difference! Msg is only the starting point, and I've been trying to avoid most processed food with glutamates added (or manufactured) under different names, as other posters have noted. It means no more takeaways for me, or restaurant food, but it's so so worth it. The only migraines I've had since are monthly hormonal ones and they've been mild headaches only. More recently I've been looking at whether I've got too much copper/slightly oestrogen dominant but that's another story.

I'd recommend that everyone avoids msg. Even if you don't have migraines, it's probably doing untold silent damage.

I've been vegetarian since I was a child and all those meat replacements are loaded with msg, and all the takeaways over the years must have done so much damage too. Still, onwards and upwards!

I hope this helps others out there xx

I've had chronic migraine for decades, not associated with medicine overuse nor unhealthy habits. Over the years I've tried most remedies without success. Propranolol as a preventive did seem to halve the frequency for the first year or two of use, at the heavy cost of lack of mojo and brain fog. But in the third year migraine days crept back up to 11/month. I experimented with increasing the dose a little but even 10 mg more caused disabling lethargy. By this year status migraine developed. I had some initial success in breaking that with a Cefaly device. This was expensive and again the efficacy waned after a few weeks.

The stated dose for Magnesium L-Threonate is 3 capsules a day. I tried just one at first, mid morning, with an additional sprinkle of magnesium citrate (400mg) daily with breakfast and within 2 days ,not only was the headache gone but also the brain fog. First clarity I've had in 3 years. I reduced the Propranolol gradually and so far so good. I've now had 2 weeks of clarity and only one mild headache. Early days but even two weeks off is a major breakthrough.

Then I took 200 mg of Nattokinase because it was throbbing in spite of all this and started in the middle of the night while I was sleeping, so to take all this again was a bit too much. After about 1 hr pain stopped. In the morning I had just a vague sensation of throbbing maybe 1-2 out of 10.

So I took 200 mg of Nattokinase more and NO PAIN. AND I DID NOT TAKE ANYTHING FROM THE LIST ABOVE.

I am so happy! I will continue to have Nattokinase 100 mg as a support for the next few days. I am an emergency physician myself and I can say this supplement is miraculous. In the way to replace Aspirin, but now with Elaine's 2011 post (nattokinase page), it saved my life. Thank you.

I filled a gallon bag half full of ice and wrapped that in a t-shirt and sat with the ice pack on my neck. Slowly relief was coming. I kept it on for the better part of 2 hours and even tried to prop to up to my neck when I got into bed, though by the time I went to bed it had lessened significantly. Usually if I go to bed with a headache I wake up with one.

I was thrilled to wake up with no headache. My ice pack was still cold and one part of my shoulder was cold.

~Mama to Many~

Our experience is that cayenne pepper or other herbs in capsules (when I make my own using NOW brand empty capsules) is that you begin to taste the herb in under ten minutes. Maybe even faster. (Taste, as in you taste it if you burp.)

If you are using cayenne as a rescue remedy for a heart issue (while waiting for further help) you want the cayenne to get into the blood stream as fast as possible and may not have minutes to wait while the capsule dissolves. If you have with you cayenne capsules, you could always empty them into water and drink it down. Not pleasant but, as my mother in law would say, "It beats the alternative! " Also, Herbalist Dr. Christopher recommended an entire teaspoon in the event of a heart attack/stroke. That would be 4-5 capsules.

Hope this helps!

~Mama to Many~

It goes like this...

If you are not digesting your food properly, then it will sit in your stomach and rot, in more pleasant terms, it ferments. Needless to say, fermentation is the creation of gas. This gas is then absorbed into the bloodstream and when it reaches your head it expands resulting in a migraine. Now, the fun part is that when one consumes these hot peppers the heat will expel these gasses, and in turn, relieves the migraine. With that in mind, digestive aids, probiotics or simply mindful eating may do the trick to alleviate your problems on a more permanent and effective basis. I hope this information is helpful, I have found alot of helpful information on this site for myself, and simply wanted to give a bit myself.

I have a strange story to tell. Early last week I developed a blistering headache/migraine after working on a sick person (if I had known they were sick, I wouldn't have gone near her). I had never experienced so much head pain before in my life and everyday to got worse. Even my hair hurt to touch it. I had to stop wearing my baseball cap it hurt so bad.

None of my usual tricks to heal myself were working. I had a brain storm and decided to go completely of the reservation. Rosemary oil!

I took a 2 oz. sprayer, filled it with 1 oz. warm water and 20 drops rosemary oil. Shook it til mixed and went to the shower. Ran hot water over my head for awhile, then sprayed my wet hair with the rosemary mixture. Moving my hair around so it makes contact with my scalp. I have short hair so 1 oz. did one treatment for me. Adjust formula according to your needs. After the spray bottle was empty and my hair was completely saturated including my scalp, forehead, around both ears and neck. I got out of the shower and left the mixture on my scalp to air dry and went to bed. Expect to have crazy dreams… I did.

When I woke up. The pain and brain fog I was experiencing had decreased by about 50%. So I decided to repeat the experiment again the following night. Again the head pain and fog decreased again.

Tonight is my 3rd night and again decreased.

What I noticed over the past few days is that rosemary oil does help a lot with headaches/migraines and brain fog. Also, my hair was really soft and thicker too.

Now, how did I come up with this?

The first records of rosemary's use as a medicinal herb date back to ancient times in the civilizations surrounding the Mediterranean Sea. The herb was thought to have strong effects on memory and in strengthening the mind.

Rosemary has a tremendous variety of folk uses and mythology associated with it and a number of snippets from folk lore. It has particularly been strongly connected to memory and remembrance since ancient times. The main historical medicinal uses of Rosemary have been as a tonic to the brain and as a gently cleansing liver medicine.

Andrew Chevallier writes 'Rosemary is a well-known and greatly valued herb that is native to Southern Europe. It has been used since antiquity to improve and strengthen the memory. To this day it is burned in the homes of students in Greece who are about to take exams. Rosemary has a longstanding reputation as a tonic, invigorating herb, imparting a zest for life that is to some degree reflected in its distinctive aromatic taste'

Chinese physicians used Rosemary for headaches, indigestion, insomnia and malaria. Rosemary is also much used in European traditional medicine to strengthen the heart and blood vessels and there is a keen appreciation in this old culture of Rosemary being a herb that clears congestion in the liver and gall-bladder thereby lifting the mood and resolving 'liverishness'

Rudolph Weiss says 'Rosemary has a general tonic effect on the circulation and nervous system, especially the vascular nerves; it is therefore effective in treating all chronic circulatory debilities, including hypotension (low blood pressure). It is particularly effective in asthenic young adults who are pale and lack physical stamina...' Rosemary can be used for treatment of general and post-infectious debility in older patients'.

Thomas Bartram writes that Rosemary's actions include 'antibacterial, anti-depressant, antiseptic, circulatory tonic, diffusive stimulant, diuretic, sedative, mild substitute for benzodiazepine drugs. Used in European pharmacy to strengthen the heart and allay arteriosclerosis' and he suggests its uses can include 'migraine headaches, or those from high blood pressure. Headaches of gastric origin or emotional upset, psychogenic depression, cardiac debility, giddiness, hyperactivity, tremor of the limbs, flitting pains from joint to joint. To strengthen blood vessels by decreasing capillary fragility and permeability'

The medical properties may have been over-rated by old Parkinson the herbalist (John Parkinson 1567–1650), but some are recognised even to this day. Thus rosemary is used as an infusion to cure headaches, and is believed to be an extensive ingredient in hair-restorers. It is also one of the ingredients in the manufacture of Eau-de-Cologne, and has many other uses in the form of oil of rosemary. ‘The rosemary is for married men, the which by name, nature, and continued use, man challengeth as properly belonging to himself. It overtoppeth all the flowers in the garden boasting man's rule; it helpeth the brain, strengtheneth the memory, and is very medicinal for the head.

Rosemary worn about the body was believed to strengthen the memory and to add to the success of the wearer in anything he might undertake.

It is as an emblem of remembrance that rosemary is most frequently used by the old poets. Thus Ophelia:

‘There is rosemary for you, that's for remembrance; I pray you, love, remember.'

And in The Winter's Tale:

‘For you there's rosemary and rue; these keep Seeming and savour all the winter long; Grace and remembrance be with you both.'

In the 17th century, Nicholas Culpepper wrote in his herbal that rosemary helps “diseases of the head and brain, as the giddiness and swimmings therin, drowsiness or dulness, the dumb palsy, or loss of speech, the lethargy, the falling sickness… It helps a weak memory and quickens the senses.

Also, some cloths or clothing are good in a pinch. I know when I was little, I would instinctively put my shirt neck up over my nose and breathe that way whenever I had a migraine coming on

I read all of Hulda Clark's books and she said that migraines are caused by a microscopic wormlet called Strongyloides, commonly called threadworm. Horses and cats are their preferred hosts, and we get the worms from them. Women get migraines much more often than men, and its probably because we associate closely more often with cats than men do.

Dr. Clark said that Coriander would kill them and stop migraine headaches. I found some corroboration for this theory in some ladies who live in India and Pakistan. They take it in tea form and it dispels migraine for a long time. Its a common remedy there. I tried it and my migraines stopped.

If I am reinfected by being in close proximity to carrier cats or horses, the migraines will begin again. A couple of days of coriander tea, and goodbye migraines.