Do you ever wish for something natural to help prevent or treat your headaches? Here are some options you might try.
People who suffer from chronic headaches know just how debilitating they can be. Migraine, cluster, and even tension-type headaches can cause pain that is incapacitating. Although drug treatment can be highly effective for treating migraine headaches, not everyone responds fully. And conventional treatment approaches for cluster headaches and tension headaches are less than satisfactory.
If you suffer from frequent headaches but don't want to take pain medication on a regular basis, you might wish to consider alternative treatments. Alternative medicine doesn’t have any “knockout” treatments for headaches, but it does offer some methods that might be useful.
Please note, however, that chronic headaches can indicate dangerous medical conditions. It is important to see a physician to rule out such underlying causes before embarking on a course of self-treatment.
Migraine Headaches
The supplement magnesium has shown some promise for helping to prevent migraine headaches. For example, in a 12 week, double-blind, placebo controlled study, 81 people with recurrent migraines were given either 600 mg of magnesium daily or placebo. By the last three weeks of the study, the treated group's migraines had been reduced by 41.6%, compared to a reduction of 15.8% in the placebo group. The only side effects observed were diarrhea (in about one-fifth of the participants) and, less often, digestive irritation. Other studies have found evidence that magnesium might be helpful for menstrual migraines (migraine headaches that occur with the menstrual period).
Feverfew leaf has also shown promise for preventing migraine headaches, though the results have been mixed. It may be that whole feverfew leaf is effective while feverfew extract is not; however, more research must be done to know whether this is true.
Fish oil showed promising results for migraines in a widely publicized but small study. However, a much larger and longer study of fish oil for migraines failed to find benefit. In this 16-week double-blind, placebo-controlled study of 167 individuals with recurrent migraines, use of fish oil did not significantly reduce headache frequency or severity.
While some studies have suggested potential benefit with chiropractic manipulation, acupuncture, massage, and biofeedback, other studies have shown no benefit of these therapies for the prevention or treatment of migraines.
Homeopathy, a method that uses extreme dilutions of substances (so extreme that in many cases no physical material is left) has also been studied for migraine and other headaches. However, most studies failed to find it effective.
Tension Headaches
A topical ointment known as Tiger Balm is a popular remedy for headaches, muscle pain, and other conditions. Tiger Balm contains the aromatic substances camphor, menthol, cajuput, and clove oil, making it a form of aromatherapy. A double-blind study enrolling 57 people with acute tension headache compared Tiger Balm (applied to the forehead) against placebo ointment, as well as against the drug acetaminophen (Tylenol). Tiger Balm proved more effective than placebo. In addition, it was just as effective as acetaminophen, and more rapidly acting.
Another form of aromatherapy, peppermint oil applied to the forehead, has also shown promise, but current studies remain highly preliminary.
One study of 65 people with tension headaches found that 5-HTP did not significantly reduce the number of headaches experienced. It did, however, reduce participants' need to use other pain-relieving medications.
A study of 28 people with tension headaches compared one session of osteopathic manipulation to two forms of sham treatment and found evidence that real treatment provided a greater improvement in headache pain.
So called “cervicogenic headaches,” which result from tension in the neck, overlap closely with tension headaches. Chiropractic spinal manipulation has shown some promise for such headaches, but the evidence remains incomplete and somewhat contradictory.
Various techniques in the category of body-mind medicine have shown promise but no definitive benefit for the treatment of tension headaches. These include hypnosis, biofeedback, therapeutic touch, and relaxation techniques, often used in combination with each other.
Warning: The herb kava is sometimes suggested as a muscle relaxant and stress reducer for people with tension headaches. However, there is no meaningful evidence that kava is effective for tension headaches (or any form of muscle tension), and it has been taken off the market in many countries for safety reasons: a few patients have suffered severe liver damage while taking it.
Cluster Headaches
The hormone melatonin, sold as a supplement, might help prevent cluster headaches, or reduce their severity, but more research is necessary.
Intravenous use of magnesium has shown promise for cluster headache relief. However, use of oral magnesium has not been evaluated for this purpose.
RESOURCES:
National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine
http://nccam.nih.gov/
National Headache Foundation
http://www.headaches.org/
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Please be aware that this information is provided to supplement the care provided by your physician. It is neither intended nor implied to be a substitute for professional medical advice. CALL YOUR HEALTHCARE PROVIDER IMMEDIATELY IF YOU THINK YOU MAY HAVE A MEDICAL EMERGENCY. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health provider prior to starting any new treatment or with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition.
