How to nip migraines in the bud without risky meds

If you suffer from migraines, it looks like mainstream medical treatments will have you trading one pain for another.

In this case, that throbbing, pulsing head pain can have you stumbling right into an addiction to opioids.

A shocking new study from the University of Michigan Medical School has found that if you go to your doctor seeking relief from these disabling headaches, you stand a good chance of leaving with an Rx in your hand for an opioid drug.

Even worse is the fact that these dangerous, addictive meds can actually lead to chronic migraines! That’s certainly the last thing you want to risk!

But despite the fact that the mainstream seems to be hopelessly hooked on Big Pharma’s drugs, these killer headaches might be a sign that you’ve got a deficiency — and since what your body is missing isn’t an opioid, there are some other, very effective ways to treat and even prevent them.

From the frying pan into the fire
With all we know already about the dangers of opioid drugs, it’s hard to believe that doctors are still handing them out to migraine sufferers.

Yet that’s exactly what this new research from Michigan found.

Looking at the records of close to 3,000 migraine patients who sought help from their doctors, the researchers discovered that around 450 of them were given one of two kinds of opioids for relief: either an oxycodone or a hydrocodone drug.

Now, while it might seem logical to hit that kind of pain hard with a heavy-duty drug, experts say that opioids are a “last resort” (if even that) for migraines.

The lead author of this new study, neurology professor Dr. Larry Charleston, commented that opioids are not only risky meds to start taking (a bit of an understatement!), but that they’re not even all that effective in treating migraines.

And on top of that little detail, opioids can cause you to start having migraines more often — a lot more often, said Dr. Charleston.

In fact, according to a migraine specialist at Mount Sinai’s Center for Headache and Pain Medicine, the most common “cause of chronic migraine is medication overuse.”

Of course, I wouldn’t try telling someone lying in a dark room, hoping that ice pick is removed from their head soon, that they need to watch out for medication overuse!

That’s why stopping these attacks before they hit is the best medicine there is, with several recent findings showing we know enough right now to be able to do that.

Of course, unlike drugs, there’s no risk involved, so there’s no reason not to start adding these nutrients to your daily routine:

• CoQ10 and vitamins B2 and D: After looking at nearly 8,000 kids and young adults suffering from migraines last year, researchers at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital discovered that most were deficient in these three nutrients. And the scientists who conducted that study said that those deficiencies may be what’s causing the lion’s share of those migraines in the first place!
• vitamin B2 (a.k.a. riboflavin): Another study on B2 found that those who suffered regular migraines were able to significantly reduce the number of attacks they had by taking 400 mg of it for just three months.
• magnesium: Supplementing with around 200 to 600 mg a day has also been found to be a very effective way of decreasing monthly migraine episodes.

Other drug-free techniques involve the use of a transcranial magnetic stimulation device called Spring TMS that requires a prescription, as well as other products that stimulate various nerves in the neck, forehead and eye area. Such devices have been shown to be able to nip migraine attacks in the bud for many people.

And if you suffer from frequent migraines, now is the time to find a licensed acupuncturist nearby and start taking treatments. Acupuncture, the ancient art of using needles to stimulate the body’s own healing mechanisms, can lessen attacks in as few as six sessions.

Because waiting until one strikes and then popping a pill — especially an opioid — is the worst possible way to try to find relief.

“Many migraine sufferers given unnecessary opioids, study finds” Amy Norton, August 25, 2017, HealthDay, consumer.healthday.com