How To Treat Migraines

Maybe you just had your first migraine and you never want to have another, or maybe you've suffered migraines for years and gave up on the medical community a long time ago. Whatever your current circumstances, you should schedule an appointment with a doctor as soon as possible. Preventing pain is worth the cost and the time, and your treatment options have never been so promising.

MEDICATIONS

After reviewing your medical history and reaching a diagnosis, your doctor may recommend that you start taking over-the-counter medication or prescription medication to prevent or cope with migraines.

1. Best defense is a good offense? For debilitating migraines, doctors often prescribe proactive medications with the goal of preventing migraines from happening in the first place. These prescription drugs were designed to treat other conditions (ranging from depression to seizure, cardiovascular ailments and even wrinkles). For various reasons - known and unknown - they are often effective in preventing migraines, though these drugs are not without possible negative side effects. Sometimes migraines still occur despite taking these preventative medications, at which point a migraine sufferer can move to a responsive option.
2. What to do when you feel a migraine coming on? There are painkillers (both prescription and over-the-counter) that can help you cope with a migraine if you take the medication as you sense an emergent migraine. For the lucky ones, non-prescription NSAIDs (non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs) like Advil and Aleve are effective when taken immediately as you sense a migraine. For others, that level of pain relief is insufficient and they require stronger, prescription painkillers, be they pills, sprays or injections. Possibly the safest of these prescription medications are triptans, which relieve migraine symptoms fairly quickly by binding to serotonin receptors....

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Author: Staff Writer