Migraines and alcohol
I suffer from migraines and have given up alcohol, which appears to trigger them. I still get an attack once every three months or so and was keen to try a feverfew tincture. However, I am worried the alcohol solution could trigger an attack. Are there other forms in which I could take this and other herbal remedies?
The immediate cause of a migraine headache is a constriction and then a swelling of the arteries that supply the brain. Why this should suddenly happen between the ages of 10 and 30 and why these headaches are three times more common in women than men is anybody’s guess, although abnormally low levels of the neurotransmitter serotonin have been identified in sufferers.
There is also strong evidence of a genetic risk - if, for example, one parent is a sufferer then a child has a 40% chance of getting migraines too - but they can also disappear, as suddenly as they started, in middle age.
Although one of the best documented of all the migraine remedies and although you can buy an alcohol-free tincture made by Nature’s Plus, feverfew is not the only alternative remedy that can help. In fact, there are others that act much more quickly than feverfew, which can take up to a month to kick in.
Homeopathy can help; not least because it makes a virtue of the fact there are different types of migraine headache. A homeopath will prescribe according to both the type of pain and how it starts. If, for example, the headache is worse on the right side and if trying to concentrate makes the pain worse, you may be prescribed Lycopodium 6c (this figure denotes the strength or potency of the dilution.) Blurring of the vision and vomiting would suggest Iris 6c, while a throbbing, blinding headache with a feeling of congestion in the head would probably be best treated by Natrum mur. 6c.
Fish oils can also help. In one study by scientists at the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, taking fish oil capsules daily was also shown to not only halve the number of migraine attacks but reduce the pain and the severity of those that did occur. In the trial, 60% of subjects benefited from the supplement, which reduced the number of attacks from two a week to two a fortnight.
Nutritionists claim food triggers are responsible for up to 90% of migraine cases but even they accept it is difficult for a sufferer to identify which foods they are reacting to. One woman, for example, discovered her headaches were triggered by cinnamon, which is unlikely to be on the list of foods your doctor suggests you avoid. Elimination and rotation diets can help pinpoint more obvious culprits but the entire task is also made more problematic by the fact it can take more than a week to react to a particular food you may have eaten.
*Do not take Feverfew if you are already taking Warfarin or during pregnancy