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Migraines occur more often than they should, with 1 out of every 6 adults suffering from this condition. Even worse, half of women with migraines experience worsening symptoms due to their menstrual periods. People suffering from migraines are rarely given natural options for helping their migraine symptoms even though, most of the time, natural options really help.
In this post, learn about natural ways to help manage migraines, including menstrual migraines and vestibular migraines.
Table of Contents
What is a Migraine?
A migraine is a type of headache that causes severe, throbbing pain that often is accompanied by other symptoms like nausea, vomiting, aura, dizziness, or sensitivity to light and sound.
Menstrual migraines are a type of migraine headache that is triggered by hormonal fluctuations, particularly the drop in estrogen and inadequate progesterone that can occur before and during menstruation.
Vestibular migraines can include the previous migraine symptoms, loss of balance, and also dizziness and/or sensitivity to motion (motion sickness).
Causes of Migraines
Some contributing factors to developing migraines can be genetics, environment, sleep, diet, and nutrient deficiencies.
Migraines, regardless of the type, are often an outright sign of nutritional deficiencies, so the root cause isn’t a lack of a pharmaceutical. It is a lack of adequate nutrients.
These nutrient deficiencies at the root of migraines can be multifactorial, including magnesium deficiency, vitamin B2 deficiency, vitamin B6 deficiency, vitamin B12 deficiency, carnitine deficiency, and others.
A lack of healthy fats in the diet can also contribute to migraines. Women who eat more omega-3 fats from fish while limiting processed meats and aged cheeses (tyramine foods) and alcohol tend to also have less severe migraines and less frequent migraines.
Diet for Migraines
Many people with migraines experience relief from optimizing their diets. Research shows that a ketogenic diet can dramatically reduce migraine symptoms and frequency. Ketogenic diet reduced migraine attacks by >90% in one month, while standard low-calorie diets showed no effect. 52 patients on keto saw dramatic drops in both headache frequency AND painkiller use.
Even better, food sensitivity testing called MRT testing can get to the root cause of migraines and help you prevent these horrible headaches.
Another recent study found that a ketogenic diet reduced migraine frequency, severity, and also reduced fatigue symptoms in people with chronic and frequent migraine episodes.
Addressing mitochondrial health using the mitochondria diet is also beneficial in many cases of migraines.
Natural Migraine Remedies
There are a whole host of safe and natural supplements that help reduce migraines that also get to the root cause of these debilitating headaches. Herbs, vitamins, and dietary supplements can help migraines by naturally dampening down inflammation, correcting deficiencies, increasing antioxidants, and creating hormonal balance in the body and mind.
If you have migraines, make sure to first rule out any other causes of your symptoms with your health care provider. Once you have determined that you have migraines, the best bet is to first tackle the condition nutritionally by using a high-quality natural B complex, magnesium, omega-3 fats, and coenzyme Q10. There are a lot of natural options for migraine relief. Here are some examples.
High dose fish oil: a meta-analysis of 40 clinical research trials with over 6000 people shows that fish oil is superior to other modes of migraine prevention. Cod liver oil absorbs better than most fish oil supplements, so lower doses of cod liver oil can be used than purified fish oils.
Coenzyme Q10: reduces migraine pain and duration as well as reduces migraine frequency. As small of doses as 100 mg per day are effective and have virtually no side effects. This speaks to one of the major root causes of migraines; a lack of antioxidant balance. Further, coenzyme Q10 reduces all kinds of migraines including vestibular migraines.
Magnesium: a deficiency of magnesium can be a causal factor for all migraines, including menstrual migraines. While eating magnesium-rich foods like nuts, seeds, dark chocolate, and leafy greens can help, a deficiency is hard to correct with food alone. A meta-analysis of 21 clinical studies concluded that both supplemental magnesium and IV magnesium reduced migraine symptoms, duration, and frequency. Doses of 400-600 mg of magnesium are effective and I suggest getting magnesium in powder or capsule form, not tablet form, for improved absorption. Magnesium glycinate is the most readily available and best form of magnesium for migraines.
Butterbur: an herb with a great safety profile, reduces migraine frequency by almost 50% when taking 75 mg of it twice daily according to research.
Vitex; is a great option for menstrual migraine relief because it naturally increases progesterone, and research shows that progesterone is likely helpful for reducing migraine symptoms.
Ginger: helps reduce migraines as much as the prescription medication sumatriptan and as well as ibuprofen according to research.
Pine bark extract, when combined with vitamin C, pine bark extract is effective for many kinds of pain; the doses used in studies for migraines is 1200 mg pine bark daily.
Feverfew: a type of daisy, feverfew is an anti-inflammatory herb. Most research shows that feverfew is effective for pain conditions like migraines but is also effective for reducing allergy symptoms. Doses of 100-300 mg up to 4 times daily are sometimes used. Another study examined feverfew and ginger given under the tongue (sublingual) and found this combination to be effective for migraines. Be aware that some people have a sensitivity to this plant and if this is you, please avoid using it.
Ginkgo biloba: helps reduce migraines in young children. Impressively, ginkgo biloba even helps reduce the symptoms of vestibular migraines. Personally, I notice that a combination of ginkgo biloba and coenzyme Q10 combined with natural B vitamins is very effective for reducing my vestibular migraine symptoms.
Riboflavin (vitamin B2): doses of 400 mg per day of riboflavin reduce migraine days, pain intensity, and duration.
Carnitine: deficiency of carnitine can cause migraines. Supplemental L-carnitine is also a very safe option if other strategies don’t work and it has no known toxicity. I wrote an extensive blog about L-carnitine.
Vitamin B6: helps reduce migraine severity and duration according to a double-blind clinical trial.
Turmeric: as nano-curcumin with Coenzyme Q10 has synergistic benefits to help reduce migraine symptoms according to a double-blind clinical trial of 100 patients.
DAO enzymes: help break down histamine in the gut. Histamine are a common trigger of migraine headaches for some people.
Probiotics: several studies demonstrate that multi-strain probiotics reduce the duration and severity of migraine headaches. The benefits may be enhanced by correcting vitamin D deficiency.
Peppermint: As a quick fix for migraines, using peppermint nasal spray at 1.5% concentration reduces severity of migraines quite quickly for many people. Lavender aromatherapy is also a great option for reducing migraine according to many women.
Related post: The Best Magnesium Supplement for Sleep
When to Seek Help for Migraines
According to the Mayo Clinic, the following signs indicate a need to seek emergency help:
- Abrupt, severe headache.
- Headache that accompany fever, stiff neck, confusion, seizures, double vision, numbness or weakness in any part of the body.
- Headaches after a head injury.
- Ongoing headache that is worse after coughing, exertion, straining or a sudden movement.
- New headache type of pain after age 50.
Summary
Natural options for treating menstrual migraines can be a huge help. These options include many herbs and spices like feverfew, turmeric, vitex, ginkgo biloba, pine bark extract, and butterbur. Nutrients should also be a cornerstone of migraine treatment, including natural B vitamins, coenzyme Q10, magnesium, fish oil, and Just keep in mind that tackling the root causes nutritionally should be the cornerstone of migraine treatment and not a last resort.
