The Best Treatment for Migraines

When you have a migraine, your whole world stops while you suffer from symptoms, including pain. Frequent migraines cause problems in not only your personal life, but your work life as well. Treatments for this disorder vary, but finding the right one is vital to living a productive, pain-free life.

At Integrated Body and Medicine, our team helps you find the solution to your migraines. Our providers analyze your symptoms and perform tests to determine which treatment is best to manage your migraines.

Migraines — what are they?

Migraines are a complex neurological problem that usually results in severe headaches, along with other unwanted symptoms. Migraines can happen at any time, but often are brought on by certain triggers. 

You have a higher chance of having migraines if someone in your family also suffers from them, and they can strike at any point in your life. Women are much more likely to suffer from this disorder than men, but it affects children and adults.

Migraines usually go through four distinct phases, but not everyone experiences each phase. You may also have migraines that are atypical and don’t fit into one specific category. The stages that you may experience if you suffer with migraines include:

• Prodrome
• Aura
• Attack
• Post-drome

Each phase has its own specific symptoms, but everyone’s phases and symptoms can be different. If you’re dealing with migraines, understanding your symptoms helps us figure out a treatment that works for you.

Migraine symptoms

Symptoms of this neurologic condition varies greatly from person to person. For example, you might experience painful and debilitating headaches when you get a migraine, while someone else might not have much pain, but may suffer from vomiting. 

Other symptoms that may accompany a migraine, including:

• Nausea
• Light sensitivity
• Depression
• Irritability
• Neck stiffness

These symptoms could show up days before you actually feel the migraine. You could experience only one or two of these symptoms, or more than that if it’s severe. 

If you suffer from migraines with auras, you may experience trouble speaking, a temporary vision loss, tingling in your face or arms, and/or visual disturbances.

You might not even realize that you’re dealing with a migraine. Keep track of your symptoms, and  log which treatments worked and which ones didn’t, so our team knows where to start with your treatment plan.

Treatments that help

In most cases, patients can manage migraines conservatively with lifestyle changes. We focus your treatment on avoiding triggers that bring on your symptoms. Although migraines can’t be cured, the proper treatment plan helps you manage your pain so you can get through each day.

We start migraine treatment with conservative measures and lifestyle changes that help you suffer less severe symptoms. Some of these lifestyle changes include:

• Counseling
• Meditation
• Diet changes
• Stress management

You may also benefit from acupuncture and, in more severe cases, specific migraine medications that help control your attacks and their severity. Over-the-counter pain medications may also be beneficial when a migraine hits. 

Other home treatments you can try include lying down in the dark and putting a cool cloth on your neck.

But if home remedies don’t work and you’re having trouble managing your migraines, call our Highland, Indiana, office or schedule an appointment through our online system.