More on drug-resistant migraines and chronic pain
So this time last year I posted about using various herbs and foods to prevent migraines. As a quick recap, I turned to herbs because my migraines do not respond well to any of the traditional migraine treatments. I have tried the triptans, such as Imitrex and the like, and they do not consistently help. The side-effects from Maxalt were overwhelming and Relpax is just too expensive. Feverfew was quite helpful in cutting down on my migraines and I mentioned this to my neurology specialist at my next appointment.
What he told me was that it was a great way to start, but that he would actually recommend Butterbur for even better prevention. I did some research and it sounds quite promising! In fact, the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NCCIH) has found that it helps with migraine prevention and hay fever treatment! Unfortunately, all of my sources also state that those who are sensitive to ragweed are not good candidates to use it, so that counts me out. If any of you try it and find it helpful, I would love to hear about it in the comments.
I have stuck with using the feverfew for prevention and treatment of migraines and it has worked fairly well. I added magnesium as well for prevention and together they have cut my migraine days down to 2-3 per month. If you find that magnesium doesn't help you, have your doctor check your vitamin D levels. There is evidenced that magnesium only helps in this way if your vitamin D levels are up to snuff.
The other thing I tried last year was bromelain for chronic knee pain. This was a quite enjoyable experiment as bromelain is found in pineapple, which is one of my favorite foods. I tried eating pineapple with three meals per day and drink pineapple-containing teas from Teavana (I am such a tea junkie!). While the experiment was enjoyable, it was less than successful for my chronic knee pain. I felt much less of my usual wide-spread fibromyalgia pain, but the knee pain remained. My latest experiment to help the knee pain is wearing actual running shoes that are designed for my weird gait. We'll see how that goes.
I hope this helps some of you out there. If you've tried some of these therapies or others and found them useful, please post in the comments!
What he told me was that it was a great way to start, but that he would actually recommend Butterbur for even better prevention. I did some research and it sounds quite promising! In fact, the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NCCIH) has found that it helps with migraine prevention and hay fever treatment! Unfortunately, all of my sources also state that those who are sensitive to ragweed are not good candidates to use it, so that counts me out. If any of you try it and find it helpful, I would love to hear about it in the comments.
I have stuck with using the feverfew for prevention and treatment of migraines and it has worked fairly well. I added magnesium as well for prevention and together they have cut my migraine days down to 2-3 per month. If you find that magnesium doesn't help you, have your doctor check your vitamin D levels. There is evidenced that magnesium only helps in this way if your vitamin D levels are up to snuff.
The other thing I tried last year was bromelain for chronic knee pain. This was a quite enjoyable experiment as bromelain is found in pineapple, which is one of my favorite foods. I tried eating pineapple with three meals per day and drink pineapple-containing teas from Teavana (I am such a tea junkie!). While the experiment was enjoyable, it was less than successful for my chronic knee pain. I felt much less of my usual wide-spread fibromyalgia pain, but the knee pain remained. My latest experiment to help the knee pain is wearing actual running shoes that are designed for my weird gait. We'll see how that goes.
I hope this helps some of you out there. If you've tried some of these therapies or others and found them useful, please post in the comments!
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