If you’ve been living with your headaches for a long time, then it is more likely that you have explored methods beyond simply drugs. While medicines may alleviate some of the symptoms of your headache pain, they are not aimed at solving any of the underlying causes. Let’s talk about a few of those causes here.

With classic migraines, there are usually triggers. These triggers can include things like bright lights, certain foods, alcohol, smoking and other environmental factors. When we are talking about tension type headaches, then there are more insidious causes, like stress from work, relationships, physical injury, and other structural components of your physiology.

Photo by Sarah G…

Chiropractic has been helping people get rid of their headache pain since 1895, when it was first discovered or developed. There are many forms of this healing art. Network Chiropractic is just one style that involves very gentle contacts made at specific places along the spine. This gentle and effective form of chiropractic care helps the body to unwind the tension that is being stored in the muscles and tissues of the spine and related nervous system, thereby allowing your body to reset itself.

This style is offered worldwide by many different chiropractors, though their numbers are small in comparison to more traditional forms of chiropractic care. At the time of this writing, only a handful of practitioners are located in Arizona. One Gilbert chiropractor has been serving his patients with this form of care since 1998 and reports very impressive results and happy patients. If you are suffering with headaches, this form of care may be something you should look into as well.

In the 1980s, neurologist Bernard Bihari began experimenting with Naltrexone. It is an opioid blocker (so it reduces any pleasure alcoholics get from drinking), but can also block beneficial opioids that the body naturally produces, such as endorphins. This can cause undesirable side effects, but Bihari decided to experiment with very small doses of the drug taken at bedtime. This only partially blocked the receptors, and encouraged the body to make more of its own opioids. When using this treatment on HIV and AIDS patients, the immune system greatly improved. In some cases, the viral counts dropped so drastically they could not even be detected. Naltrexone has since been used against cancers, Chron’s disease, fibromyalgia, multiple sclerosis, and autism. It is also very cheap to manufacture, and when taken at such low doses, it has very few side effects.

Naltrexone for migraine treatment has been successful. People who get migraines are known to have low levels of beta endorphins, which is just one of the natural opioid the drug can stimulate production of. In addition, the lists of medical conditions Naltrexone can be beneficial for continue to grow. Because it is an opioid blocker, it can not be taken with any opiate-based medications. Studies suggest that low doses of Naltrexone can be beneficial to the entire immune system, and results can be felt in as early as a day. So you won’t just be getting relief from the migraines, but you may feel in better general health. Some may need to take the drug for a longer period of time before experiencing the full effect, but advocates claim it is worth the wait.

What if I told you that there was a home migraine remedy that actually worked?

Next time a migraine hits you, try this home migraine remedy:

Applying Heat or Cold for Migraine Relief

Many people who suffer from migraines find relief from the pain by a generous application of heat or cold to the area of pain. This works especially well when you don’t have any type migraine medication handy or if you are unable to take some of the common migraine medications.

There’s no sure way to know if heat or cold will bring relief to your migraine as it varies from person to person. Cold may feel great to one person, but may make the headache worse for another. Conversely, heat may relieve the pain for one and worsen the pain for another.

The heat or cold should be applied to the center of where the pain is. The easiest way is to make a compress from a kitchen towel. Common places to place the compress are the temple or the forehead. If the migraine is centered behind one of your eyes, simply place the compress over your eyes. This should also help if your migraine is sensitive to the light.

This tip and dozens of other home migrane remedies can be found in an incredible book called The Migraine Relief. It’s my go-to resource anytime that I have a migrane. I highly suggest that you check it out.