When stricken with a migraine headache, it can feel like you just awakened a sleeping dragon. Migraines typically last about four hours but can last up to three days if untreated.
The location of the pain and its intensity can vary and the headache pain may affect one side of the head or both, it can also spread to the face or jaw.
Migraine headaches are one of the most common medical conditions in the United States, affecting about 20% of the population. It's also commonly misdiagnosed since migraine triggers can seem like an allergic reaction or a sinus infection. And it can take up to two years to receive a proper diagnosis from your doctor.
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You may be part of a growing trend of migraine sufferers preferring natural at-home remedies over being medicated to treat their migraines. Migraine sufferers with more severe pain report disruption to their daily lives leaving them frustrated with misdiagnosis or ineffective treatment, so natural remedies become their go-to sources.
If so, you may be familiar with using cold or hot therapy treatments to ease symptoms, as one TikTok user swears by.
Paige More, who has gone viral with over 410k hearts and nearly 54k shares has a remedy she says helps her instantly relieve her migraine pain. The secret sauce? More uses both heat and cold therapies at the same time.
According to Healthline applying cold or frozen compresses to the neck or head area decreases inflammation and constricts blood vessels, all of which help reduce headache pain.
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And when using heat therapy, it stimulates nerve endings called thermoreceptors, which may block the pain signals from that area to the brain. Migraine.com reports that heat therapy also increases blood flow to the area and relaxes muscles.
Combining techniques, TikTok user paigeandbroch fills a bowl or sink with hot water to soak her feet while at the same time, putting an ice pack on the back of her neck. She says, if you don't have ice? That's not a problem -- any bag of frozen food will work fine.
@paigeandbrochI wish I knew about this sooner 🥲 #headache #headacherelief #migraine #migrainerelief #naturalremedy #tiktoktips #healthtok #healthhack♬ FEEL THE GROOVE - Queens Road, Fabian Graetz
Heat and cold therapy are frequently used methods used to minimize migraine pain but there are precautions. While heat can be a trigger and make migraine pain worse for some, others find that heat therapy can be soothing when they have an attack. There are different products you can substitute for heat therapy such as:
- Heating pads or moist heat pad
- Heat lamps
- Warm baths
- Warm showers
- Heated, moist washcloths or towels
- Hot water bottle
- Heated pool
- Hot packs
- Heat wrap
- Warm bath or shower
- Warm whirlpool or hot tub
- Saunas
- Parrafin baths
Cold therapy has minimal side effects but people who have cold intolerance or sensitivity to cold may not be able to use cold therapy. If you're under doctor's care, you should talk to your doctor about what to expect with treatment with both cold therapy and heat therapy.
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Cold therapy techniques to try include:
- Ice bag
- Cold pack
- Fluids used on the skin, like ethyl chloride, that cool by evaporation
- Cooling pads
- Gelcaps worn on the head
- Cold compression wraps
- Frozen gel packs inserted into headbands
While the combo technique isn't a guarantee to cure your migraines, it is a free way to try to ease the pain. Just be sure to consult your doctor before starting any treatment.
If you decide to use a different combination, you can share the results of your technique if the one suggested isn't effective.
Another TikTok user @annnieebunny shared a natural hack to ease a headache.
She fills a wine glass up with water and tightly holds a towel on top. You then want to carefully turn the glass upside down with the towel still tightly secured so the water doesn’t spill out, and place the towel side on your head. She shows the bubbles in the water rising to the surface of the glass. This headache hack is supposed to quickly relieve a headache.
While this may seem completely out of the box, and plenty of TikTok users fled to the comments to figure out why this was happening and if it was actually worth trying. Some users suspected that micro air bubbles rushed through the cloth and into the glass, and others said it’s just air coming into the glass as the water goes into the towel. While there is not much scientific evidence on this hack, some people have confirmed that they felt better after trying this hack.
As always, the best source for advice on treating migraine is to consult a professional. These suggested natural remedies are provided only for informational purposes.
