In this post, I’m going to tell you about 6 simple, natural migraine remedies that real migraine sufferers report as actually giving them true relief.
If you suffer from migraines, you know how truly awful they can be. In addition to what is often debilitating pain, people with migraines can have nausea, vomiting, and sensitivity to lights and sounds.
It makes me so sad that anyone has to go through this kind of illness.
Honestly, there are so many unpleasant things a person with migraines can experience, it would take an entire blog post to talk about all of them.
Instead, let’s focus on things you can do today that will (hopefully) lessen your pain.
I hope you find these tips as helpful as people say they are.
Natural Migraine Remedies
Please have a chat with your doctor before you try anything new. Just because something is natural doesn’t mean it’s always safe or that it will work for your particular kind of a headache.
Cream of Tartar
We spotted this on Facebook from Shea Staggs-Houck. She says she puts a little bit under her tongue…then mixes together half a teaspoon of
cream of tartar with 8 ounces of water and putting it under your tongue could bring you instant migraine relief. She also says that within
minutes, she felt her migraine ease up. She had even taken her migraine medication twice with no relief. She wanted to share this
information with others because it truly did work for her.
Ice Pack
The research is ongoing as to why cold compresses help migraine sufferers, but the studies that have been done show promising results.
It may sound to you like an ice pack is one of the natural migraine remedies that is too simple to work. I encourage you to think differently about that.
A study in 2006 used cold “gel caps” on the heads of people with migraines. The results showed that it helps. (source)
If you’d like to try the same therapy, I found the ICEKAP on Amazon and it has some really great reviews.
Magnesium
There are thousands and thousands of people suffering from awful migraines who swear by this mineral.
The American Migraine Foundation says it can be highly effective.
Don’t buy just any magnesium supplement, though. Magnesium oxide is the one you want.
It has high levels of the mineral and is the one doctors recommend.
Vitamins B6, B9, B12 and Folate (B9)
Although a few studies have been done to determine whether these vitamins really work for migraines, doctors say more should be done.
However, some people who take the supplements to lessen their migraine frequency say it works. They feel they have fewer migraines and that they are much less severe when they do have one.
(B12 is found in meat, fish poultry, and dairy.)
If you’re vegetarian or vegan, or you don’t eat a balanced diet, it’s possible you may not be getting what you need. (Unless you’re eating other fortified foods.)
In any case, it’s definitely worth having a conversation with your doctor about whether you should add these to your arsenal of weapons to battle migraines.
Document Your Diet
If you aren’t keeping a list of every food you eat and drink along with any sort of side effect afterward, you may be missing something really important.
Your body could be telling you what’s causing your migraines, but because you can’t see the pattern, you’re missing the signals.
Of all the natural migraine remedies I found in my research, this one is the easiest to do that can really, really help.
Try keeping a notebook (or use an app like Google Keep) to track everything you eat and drink. Make a note each time you have a migraine.
If you see something that looks like a certain food correlates with having a migraine, take the info to your doctor and talk about whether you might need to dig a little deeper.
Lavender Lemonade
This Lavender Tea Recipe works wonders for relieving our migraines. Find the recipe from Good Living Guide HERE.
Butterbur
Butterbur is a perrenial plant that is in the sunflower family. The leaves are large and were used a long time ago to wrap butter.
Humans have used it for over 2000 years for all sorts of ailments.
People who use it to treat migraines say it’s one of the natural migraine remedies that truly works wonders.
Having said that, you should know that the American Academy of Neurology actually took away the endorsement they once gave Butterbur because of safety concerns.
Turns out there are some potential cancer-causing substances in a few brands – not all brands, though.
You should ONLY use Butterbur products that are certified and have a label that reads “PA-free.”
DO NOT use any sort of raw, unprocessed butterbur.
In short, before you take it you should talk to a pharmacist about which brands are safe and PA-free.
In closing, I sure hope you find something here that can give you a bit of relief. No one deserves to live in fear of getting a migraine, and no one should miss out on all the things that make life good because they have to be in a quiet, dark room.
Do you have migraines?
How do you handle them? I hope you feel comfortable enough to share your own struggles in the comments.
If you have found something that works for you, please tell us about it. No one wants to be in pain and it may be your story that helps someone find a solution.
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83 comments on “Natural Migraine Remedies that actually work”
Check your diet, find any thing recurring. I suffered from migraines for years. Debilitating, non functional for up to 9 to 12 hours, including vomiting. And I had with 4 kids under 6. I love onions, ate them almost every day in one form or another. I had developed an allergy to them. At my worst I couldn’t eat them even in something as simple as chicken salad. Now after years I still watch my consumption of them, and limit how much I eat or how many days in a row. I’m 70, and haven’t had a migraine in years. Good luck. I feel your pain
I’ve found that a teaspoon of Hymalayan salt and the juice of 1/2 a lemon in a glass of warm water can sometimes ease the pain.Â
I agree with the cold compress and I take a multi-vitamin with the magnesium oxide and B vitamins (you have to read the label). My migraines are a lot less often and then the compress is always in the freezer.
I had migraines for 25 yrs. I finally took Feverfew and it worked. I have not had a .migraine for the past 23 yrs.
Dramamine did the trick for me ..I carry it wherever I go ..takes away the headache and settles my belly
Hello all
I have suffered from migraines for years!
My magic bullet was…Dramamine…yup…I carry it with me wherever I go…just in case…it relieves my headache and settles my belly…
Since “mentalpause”,I have been migraine-free…thank GOODNESS
An ice pack on both sides of my head as I lie in a dark room helps a lot. Â Then every 15 minutes or so, move those ice packs to the front and back of your head. Â Eventually, you go to sleep and u wait up with no head ache. Â Tried an d true many, many times.Â
I have found that when I am struck with a migraine I take some Ibuprofen, lay down in the darkest and quietest place I can. I place a ice pack on the back of my neck/head and put a cool cloth across my forehead and eyes. It helps me to go to sleep and more often than not when I wake the migraine is gone.
When I had migraines, I found that food was not the cause. I suffer from chronic sinusitis and if my sinuses we’re stuffy, many times it would give me a sinus headache which, if there were weather fronts going through, would kick off a migraine.
I had bad MIGRAINES for 13 years everyday,, all the meds they gave me only worked for a while,, then someone saw me suffering from one and handed me a pamphlet about migraines,,, there was 17 different things to do try to get rid of them,,, I don’t like to read so I only read the first three things to try and ironically enough started to get one,, so I was finished reading,,,, about a month later while I was having another one,,, I remembered the last method that I had read about migraines,, and it said to try breathing through my mouth and not through my sinuses,,I figured why not try it,,, within 2 to 3 minutes,, the side of my head that was throbbing started getting warm,, then I felt this huge release of pressure in my head and BOOM,, IT WAS GONE!!!!! AND that worked every day for 15 years,,, until now,, this Camp fire has made it so stressful losing everything I can’t seem to shake them off anymore,, but I figured I let others know and hopefully it can give at least ONE person some relief like it did for me,, good luck!
Dennis
My granddaughter’s specialist told her to take magnesium oxide along with vitamin B1 together for her headaches and they help her .
I eat Ginger. About 2 TBSPs or roughly twice the amount you get with a sushi dish. Raw, capsule form, or candied doesn’t work nearly as well as picked, sushi ginger. Maybe I’m unique, but this has been VERY effective for me. Aura is gone in about 10 minutes and NO headache afterwards.
I’ve also had some success with 4 “rescue ginger” tablets.
Thanks for this blog post! I have suffered from migraines for the last decade. I am SO THANKFUL I finally found something to help me get some relief. I discovered something called Wearable Neuro-tech that stimulates neuro-points in the feet (by wearing the socks/insoles), to bring the brain and body back to a balanced state. This has helped me immensely! I have have been migraine-free for over a year now. I highly recommend people give them a try! I hope the rest of you can find some relief as well!
4 years ago my athletic adult daughter began suffering from migraines. We exhausted every avenue we knew of to get rid of them. Â They were non stop, 24/7, so bad she was mostly bedridden. Â She missed many many days of work. Â We traveled to the Head and Neck Institute in Ann
Arbor, Michigan.  They have their own wing in the towns local hospital.  They hospitalized her for two weeks, weaning her off of over the counter meds that never worked.  The lights were all very low, and the noise level was very low.  Through teams of Dr’s. And Nurses, we left the hospital pain free.  She now knows how to handle them should she get a migraine, and they’re not as scary.  We have recommended this place to several friends who suffer and they have also experienced success at HNI in Ann Arbor.  People from around the world have traveled there.  I am forever grateful to them for giving me back my daughter.  She hasn’t missed one day of work for a migraine.
I have had migraines since I was 16 and have never found anything that gave me relief except for imigran in the last couple of years. I was getting around 5 migraines a week and honestly felt as though they were ruining my life. In the last 5 months I have had botox in my scalp and neck for migraines from a neurologist and have gone up to two weeks migraine free for the first time in my life. The side effects are pretty full on for me but it is so much better than a daily headache. I feel so grateful and blessed. I paid for the botox privately but I know in some cities they do have a free scheme at hospitals.
KEEPING A DIARY IS EXTREMELY IMPORTANT!! Log the foods you ate, your sleep pattern, the weather, activity level, emotional events and your migraine attacks. You’d be surprised at the correlation you’ll make between migraines and your daily routine! It can help you to recognize your triggers and, if possible, avoid them.
READ THE LABELS on food items! MSG & other preservatives can be triggers. (If it’s ‘quick food’, it most likely contains many preservatives) Cheese, nuts, red wine & chocolate are also common triggers.
STAY ACTIVE. We all love and need a sleep-in day every now and then; however, too much sleep can be as much a trigger as too little sleep.
That last migraine you had may have resulted from the bag of Doritos or candy bar you picked up during lunch on a busy workday, rather than the day itself.
The creme of tartar should be 8 drops, not 8 ounces, I’m guessing?
Migraine sufferer for 30 years! Horrible, my doctors recommended taking the magnesium along with a folic acid tablet once a day to help prevent them. It has helped for several years, but now I have to add Maxalt tablets for the real bad ones. Plus cut out all diet drinks and red sauce.
Execedrin migraine works occasionally.
I suffer from migraines and have been using ice packs for years to get rid of my migraines. I can attest to the fact that the use of ice packs on the back of the neck, where the brain meets the spinal cord, and the use of the ice on the face does in fact work to get rid of migraines. It’s not instantaneous relief, but it always works and it doesn’t take too long to take affect. I’d say after approximately 20 minutes you should start to feel relief from the migraine. I’ve also used Excedrin or, if I don’t have any Excedrin or ice around, I will drink a caffeinated beverage. It too works to get rid of my migraines. Both Excedrin and most sodas contain caffeine and that seems to be a key ingredient in helping to get rid of a migraine.Â
I notice sometimes I get a migraine if I am dehydrated, if I drink a couple small bottles of Gatorade kind of fast, not cold, just room temp, it helps.
I do the same. It was my former boss the taught me Gatorade trick. If I had go home or couldn’t make it to work she ask if she could drop some by (we were a small office and I lived less than 10 mins from work).