MAGNESIUM: A magnesium deficiency is a huge trigger for migraines.
B-2 (Riboflavin): Increasing your dosage of Riboflavin has also been shown to help prevent migraines.
Iodine: I recently found out that I had an iodine deficiency – isn’t super common like the other two, but can cause migraines, headaches, and prevent the ability to flush out toxins. I started adding iodine drops to my morning supplements. My iodine has increased by about three times.
Talk to your doctor and find one open to testing for these things (and a hormone panel for women) during your annual blood work. This can go a long way to helping figure out your triggers and taking steps to reduce quantity and severity of migraines!
I took Migrelief-M for a long time, which is one of the few supplements that combines both and Feverfew. I would recommend it for those who don’t have sensitivity to taking tablet form supplements.
A good friend of mine recently started taking Dolovent — This is a capsule form and also contains several of the ‘migraine’ fighting natural based supplements.
Pick one and try it out for a few months. I like to compare, especially when it comes to headaches and migraines, keep my headache log and stick with what helps me the most! Also, check the ingredients and make sure to stop other supplements if ingredients overlap!
The first really bad headache I remember was in the fourth grade. It woke me up from my sleep. I have seen countless doctors and countless tests. Doctors have done pain injections, put me on beta blockers, put me on low doses of anti-seizure medicine… you name it I have tried it. The fact is if I am going to get a headache, there seems to be no stopping it.
My allergist says that my blood tests were the ‘cleanest he had ever seen’. OK … not allergic to anything. Obviously, dust and pet hair and all that can bother any of us, but it doesn’t necessarily mean we are allergic.
My primary care doctor says I have problems with tension but he began to think that some of the tension headaches were actually triggered by that first headache and causing clusters.
In 2010, I found out I was pregnant. Early on, I had some headaches, but I felt better than I ever had from a migraine perspective. After I had my daughter, the doctor put me on birth control again and about 6 weeks following, the headaches returned 10-fold. I had a headache or a migraine 2.5 weeks out of the month. It was debilitating. I inadvertently found a doctor close to my home was open to trying some more natural treatments. I was tired of being on drug after drug that caused different side effects. When I got there, I told her some of my issues and that if she could make my body think it was pregnant all the time, my headaches may improve. She LISTENED, did some hormone testing and found that my progesterone levels were low and testosterone levels were low for my age, and my estrogen levels were high. Birth control was adding more estrogen on top of this — so, in affect, it was making the headaches even worse. She prescribed low doses of progesterone, a specific dosage based on the time in my cycle, no more hormone based birth control, and a headache log. Thankfully, she isn’t an extremist either, so she kept my current prescription options as backup.
After the first month of hormone treatment, my headaches had diminished by about 80%. My headache log mostly showed activity around the week prior to my menstrual cycle. On the hormone treatment, I would have some cluster migraines around 2-5 days a month. VICTORY!
Since then, I have experimented with Essential Oils, ItWorks! GREENS, and living an overall healthy lifestyle. As I have mentioned in other posts, I have reduced the severity and frequency even further by keeping up with these things. I have felt better than I have ever felt, even as a kid.
All treatments included, I went from 7 daily medications to 2 – one of these being Progesterone. My average Triptan use has lowered by more than half. It’s a process for sure but I am excited to have gotten here. I hope to help others get to their process sooner. I always try natural options first.
Essential Oil Recipes and of course my ItWorks! GREENS are a huge part of this plan.
Stretching, Foam Rollers, Hot Tub usage, Inversion Table, Ergonomic Office setup, and Exercise are a huge part of the plan for the tension.
None of these regiments keeps me from leading a very busy and packed day. From distributing three different products to real estate to contracting to being a mom, I need all the energy I can get. And as little headaches as possible!
Starting with essential oils as it helped start my new adventure –
When Tara passed away and the twins and her husband were with us for the summer, I was beside myself. I mean, I have a four year old who thought “Mommies don’t cry”. I was with family and friends at Potato Lake having a little picnic when I saw my husband and dad walking up with expressions you never want to see. I knew something was wrong. I never expected THAT was wrong. I turned to my doctor for help with sleeping and anxiety so that I could put on a strong face for her husband and beautiful twins. And for my daughter — who had so many questions about Heaven and where people go when the die and why it wasn’t just older people who ‘left us.’ Xanax had helped me in the past with insomnia, so it seemed natural to ask my doctor for this. However, then it became what I used to get me through the funeral and then the work days … and eventually EVERYTHING.
I had asked Tara about oils for my migraines just months before she passed. She helped me research some things and I was about at the order stage when life gets busy. A few weeks went by and Chris had been in contact with a colleague related to a new business opportunity. He came in to me and said “Its the oils!”. He was learning some of the business opportunities and also scheduled a call so I could learn about help for my tension & migraines. Then, our lives changed when we lost Tara, and, to be honest, I didn’t care much about business opportunities, my headaches, or my tension. It was easy to just pop another pill.
I was reminded of some of the things Tara had successfully used oils for when I was helping one of the twins one evening. I knew that the way I was taking migraine pills, Advil, Xanax, and the like, that I was not on the right path to help these kids grow stronger. At this point, I told Chris to get us started and order a kit. I would never know unless I tried and I really had nothing to lose at that point. Also, if I could help Kae like Tara was able to help her kids, I wanted to give it a try.
Three oil blends produced big results for me: BALANCE, SERENITY, & CITRUS BLISS
I use each both in the morning and at night on my wrists, back of my neck, and/or around my chest/heart. I also carry Balance with me if I begin to feel anxious. In a few weeks, I stopped taking Xanax during the day. Then, I began cutting it out at night. Now, it is rare I have to take it AT ALL.
Now for the headaches and tension… mixed results…
DEEP BLUE is amazing for tension. I like the roller bottle and the lotion the best. The tension in my shoulder blade causes what feels like little shocks all up and down my shoulder. After a couple weeks using Deep Blue, these are gone. The need for 2-6 Advil a day is non-existent.
Headaches/Migraines: If I catch a headache early enough, PAST TENSE is my choice. It will stop a headache for me 85% of the time.
If the headache surpasses that short window, my sense of smell seems to increase ten-fold. Then I can sometimes hardly stand to open a bottle of past tense without the urge to throw up. Sometimes I can use Frankincense on my temples to ease the pain. I cannot come close to Lavender during these headaches. For these times, no oil helps me and I will turn to my prescription triptan. Happily, I am down to about 2-4 a month of these vs. 7-9 before oils vs. 14-16 before hormone treatment. (I will talk about the hormone treatments in another post).
Now, I turn to oils first. Why not try natural options before turning to over-the-counter and prescription drugs? I will never be that person who takes an extreme route in any direction. In many cases, I can ease symptoms and avoid the side affects from taking medicine. I thank Tara for taking the time to research options for me. I thank Kacee for taking the time to listen to me. I thank Chris for keeping an open mind to try my ‘potions’.
