Battling persistent headaches can leave you feeling defenseless but you’re not. It can take some time to find the headache treatment and prevention strategies that work best for you but relief is possible.
Set an appointment with your doctor to explore your treatment options.
Meanwhile, try these headache-fighting strategies for relief.
Keep a Journal
Write down what foods you eat every day and make a note of the days you have a headache. Remember to take your journal with you for your doctor’s appointment, and see if the two of you can find any foods that seem to trigger your headaches.
It may take a bit of time to grasp journaling, and it’s tempting to skip it, however, the practice is well worth the effort if it helps you find and avoid your headache triggers. Write down what you’re doing when the headache occurs too just in case your trigger is something other than food.
Try to Power Through
Reaching for pain medication is a natural response to a headache, especially when it’s severe. However, doing so can make your headaches worse because medication overuse headaches or rebound headaches are caused by regular, long-term use of medication to treat headaches.
Stopping the pain medication is the only way to stop the headaches.
Doing so may make your headaches more difficult to bear in the short-term but can greatly reduce the number of headaches you experience in the future.
Eat Right
If there truly is a cure-all that can fix most human ailments is a proper diet. Doctors and nutritionists claim that a healthy diet can fight everything from cancer to sleep apnea, and headaches are no exception.
A healthy diet can help reduce the number of headaches you experience. Try eating foods known to help ease headache pain. These foods include:
- Almonds
- Baked potatoes
- Bananas
- Carrots
- Sesame Seeds
- Spinach
- Yogurt
- Summer Squash
- Sweet Potatoes
Reduce Stress
Reducing stress often eases headache pain. Remember to work on both your mental and physical stress.
Stretch after long periods of sitting or standing. Consider practicing yoga, meditation, walking, running or find another outlet that exercises your body while quieting the mind.
You can also reduce mental stress by sticking to a schedule and planning ahead.
These ideas can help you get started on the path to headache reduction but are by no means an exhaustive list. Your doctor can offer more suggestions as can members of headache support groups.
Some people find relief with essential oils and others use acupuncture pressure points to ease their pain. Talk to as many people as you can and be open to any and all suggestions.
Getting relief is possible, keep the faith until you find what works for you.