If you have had one, you know that a migraine is a special type of headache that can be utterly debilitating. It interrupts your life, often at the worst times, with some or all of the following: visual disruptions, sensitivity to light, sensitivity to noise, sensitivity to smells, nausea and vomiting, and that pain that convinces you it might be possible for your head to actually explode at any moment. You may also experience speech difficulty, mood changes, confusion, muscular weakness, tingling in the limbs, and clumsiness either before or during the headache.

Western medicine and Eastern medicine both recognize the following as potential triggers for a migraine: sensitivities or allergies to certain foods, fluctuations in blood sugar, hormonal changes, too much or too little sleep, changes in barometric pressure, emotional stress, exposure to sun glare or flashing lights, smoking, and muscular tension related to postural imbalances.

Treatment for migraines through Chinese medicine is individualized. Two people with the Western diagnosis of migraine headaches can receive completely different treatments because we are treating the person not the disease. The goal is to bring the body back into balance to prevent migraines from occurring in the first place. We do this through acupuncture, herbal medicine, nutritional suggestions, meditation, qi gong exercises, and postural exercises. By helping your body become less sensitive to your precipitating factors, I like to say we increase your margin for error. We give you more room to live your life without a migraine breathing down your neck at every turn.

While treatment plans are individualized, there are some suggestions that are generally pretty useful, and I offer them in the spirit of empowerment. The following are some simple tools that you can use on your own. Many of my patients have found them helpful.

1. Eat small meals regularly throughout the day, and don’t go more than 3 hours without eating. These meals should contain protein of some sort to help keep your blood sugar stable. A drop in blood sugar can be a HUGE (yet sneaky) trigger of migraines, and the lower the blood sugar the worse the headache.

2. Keep your hands and feet warm, especially at the first sign of a headache. If your hands are cold and you feel a headache coming on, this can really help. Warming your hands and feet tricks your nervous system into a more relaxed mode and also drains blood away from the inflammation in the blood vessels of your head.

3. Sleep regular hours and do not cheat yourself out of enough sleep.  Not getting enough deep, restful sleep can undermine your body’s ability to regulate its blood sugar and hormone levels. Fluctuating blood sugar and hormones can both spark a headache.

4. Engaging in regular, moderate exercise helps regulate all systems of your body.  It decreases stress, stabilizes mood, and helps sleep quality, all of which help decrease the likelihood of a migraine. Adding gentle stretching also helps release stress and alerts you to muscular tension that you may not have noticed

5. Eat food rich in omega-3 fatty acids. Fish (salmon, trout, mackerel, sardines), flax seed, walnuts, and dark leafy greens (kale, collard greens, brussel sprouts, spinach) are all good sources. These fatty acids have an anti-inflammatory effect in the body and are also important for brain function.

6. Eat organic foods and avoid pesticides (like home sprays). I suggest this because fluctuating hormones can be one of the biggest triggers for migraines in women.  Certain pesticides are interpreted by the body as hormones. Also, toxins in general give the liver more to do when it should be helping to regulate levels of your own hormones.

It is important to address your migraines in some way. In a recent NPR story a UCLA researcher suggests that each migraine may increase the chances of having another migraine and that frequent migraines may actually cause permanent changes in the brain.

Even if you feel you can just grit your teeth and suffer through your headaches, you may be setting the stage for bigger problems down the line.