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In lieu of medication, here are 8 effective home remedies to help prevent headaches.

8 home remedies for your headache

Take a deep-dive look at what happens to your brain and body during a migraine with this virtual journey video.

Migraines and Stress: A Virtual Journey

NARRATOR: After a long stressful day, you find yourself feeling tired, moody. Something feels off, but you know exactly what this is. 

[MUSIC PLAYING] Another migraine is barreling towards you like a freight train. 

And for millions of people around the world, these recurring and painful headaches can be severe enough to disrupt everyday life. 

The brain is capable of generating trillions of electrical messages every second, but stress, both daily and from major life events, 

can be so harmful that it wreaks havoc not only on the mind but the body. Those seemingly innocent moments of everyday stress 

caused the body to flood itself with hormones. The heart pounds faster, blood pressure rises, lungs breathe quicker, and muscles tighten, 

and we're essentially revving up for no reason. Stress is the most common trigger for people with migraines and has the power 

to initiate, worsen, and increase the frequency of attacks. During the first phase of a migraine, called the prodrome, 

brain activity becomes abnormal and erratic. Like a warning sign of an oncoming attack, migraine sufferers commonly experience the prodrome 

as neck stiffness, mood changes, and fatigue. As the prodrome loosens its grip, a rolling wave-like blackout may sweep across the surface 

of the brain as an aura. Along with tingling and numbness in parts of the body, those experiencing an aura may see visual disturbances, 

like flashing lights, zigzag lines, or blind spots in their field of vision. Less than an hour later, chemicals in the brain 

turn the aura into a migraine attack. Just the stress and thought of suffering through a throbbing 

headache, along with other symptoms, like dizziness, nausea, vomiting, and sensitivity to light and sound, can worsen and intensify a migraine. 

After the attack, the brain is in such dire need of recovery that it undergoes the last hibernation-like phase 

of a migraine called the postdrome. For some, the postdrome may be as disabling as the migraine attack itself, leaving the person 

in a worn-out hangover-like state of achiness and weakness for hours or days. 

It's hard to predict when a migraine will strike again, but with doctor-recommended treatment, smart lifestyle 

choices, strong social support, and stress-reduction strategies, like relaxation techniques, biofeedback, 

and cognitive behavioral therapy, you can be better prepared when it does. 

With new therapies and management, Marina is able to stop the cycle and become a powerful advocate for her own migraine care as well as inspiring others. 
IG: Instagram.com/parentingwithmigraine
Web: www.parentingwithmigraine.com

My Story: Marina and Migraines

WOMAN: Migraine impacts every part of my life. I never know when it's going to strike. 

I was diagnosed with migraine when I was 13 years old. I went through high school, college, law school. 

And then I became an attorney. When I got married, and my husband and I got pregnant with our first child, 

my migraine disease all of a sudden took a turn. Hormones were one of my big triggers. My migraine was also complicated by rebound headaches. 

And the medications were not working anymore. I was barely walking down the hallway. I had to hold on to walls just to make it. 

I had to stop working as a lawyer. The pain was devastating. When people often think about migraine, 

many think of it as just a headache. But it's so much more than that. It's an assault in your entire body. He's wide awake. 

You don't know when sleep is going to happen. BOY: What? WOMAN: Hm. That's parenting with migraine for you. 

I found a Facebook group called Migraine Strong. And there, I found other people who 

experience chronic migraine, whose experiences were so much similar to mine. 

I've talked to my doctor about some of the treatments I've heard from the group. I was able to stop the cycle of the [INAUDIBLE] headaches. 

I continued getting Botox injections. I started different preventive medications. 

I began getting nerve blocks. I started chiropractic treatment from a chiropractor 

that my neurologist referred me to. And things just slowly started to come together. 

And going through this experience has taught me the importance of being my own advocate. 

I felt like it made me a better patient. There are treatments coming out for migraine. 

It hasn't happened in a long time. But now, all of sudden, we're getting all these treatments, which means that there's research happening, which 

means that people are paying attention to migraine. And that's wonderful. [MUSIC PLAYING] 

John Lipman, MD of the Sharecare Advisory Board assures there is no risk associated with the SPG procedure. Watch this video to learn more.

Is There Any Danger to the Sphenopalatine Ganglion Procedure for migraine?

Some beans can trigger migraines in susceptible people - including fava, navy and garbanzo beans - which all contain tyramine, a known trigger for migraines. Watch nutritionist Janet Brill, PhD/RD, discuss this connection between beans and migraines.

Can Eating Beans Trigger Migraine Headaches?

 Some beans-- not all of them-- can actually trigger migraines in susceptible people. [MUSIC PLAYING] 

There are three types in particular-- fava, navy, and garbanzo-- that can trigger these migraines. 

And that's because they contain a high concentration of a substance called tyramine. Tyramine actually affects the level of brain neurotransmitter 

signaling molecules. And scientists think that changing these levels of the neurotransmitters can trigger migraines. 

So if you're prone to migraines, obviously you want to be careful with your consumption of these three types of beans in particular. 

Or if you're getting unexplained headaches, then you know what? It could be the beans. So check into it. 

Some food triggers of migraine headaches, would be foods like alcohol, foods containing tyramines, and that would be anything like an aged cheese or a processed meat, caffeine's a big trigger. So all that kind of foods that will do are things like pizza, sausages, any kind of food containing nitrates so it can be wine or could be dried nuts and seeds or dried fruit rather. 

Those are really the big ones. 
  

Certain foods are notorious migraine triggers. In this video, Dr. Stephen Atkins, an integrative medicine specialist, discusses the numerous foods that can cause colossal pain in the heads of migraine sufferers.

What Are Some Food Triggers of Migraine Headaches?

Well migraine is usually the result of a combination of factors, so one thing has to do with the circulation. If patients have periods of high blood pressure alternating with low blood pressure, that tends to bring on a migraine. Another thing is that the nerves can be very irritable, and a third things is that there can me a lot of muscle contraction that worsens the pain, so the botax and botulinum toxin works on the last part of that process. 

It work on decreasing the muscle tension and decreasing the muscle contraction associated with migraine. 
   

Botox may best be known as a wrinkle-treatment, but it can also relieve a migraine, says pain management expert Dr. Devi Nampiaparampil. To find out how Botox can be used to treat a migraine, watch this video.

How Is Botox Used to Treat a Migraine?

Symptoms of migraines and headaches can overlap. Here are 4 questions to help you tell the difference.

Migraine or just a bad headache?

Well, studies have shown that caffeine can actually have a great effect on pain because of its effect on the blood vessels. So you can make your own at home headache medicine that costs a lot less than some of the expensive migraines medicines you can buy over the counter. Take a CEDRO medicines which is a generic pain medications. 

You can add in an 81 milligrams of aspirin in about 100 milligrams of caffeine, or about the equivalent of a cup or two of coffee, take those all together with a glass of water so you don't get dehydrated and you'll find that it helps your headache even more. 
  

Caffeine can be useful for headache pain, because of its effect on the blood vessels. Watch as emergency medicine physician Darria Long Gillespie, MD, explains how to make an at-home headache remedy including acetaminophen, aspirin and caffeine.

8 home remedies for your headache

headaches migraines