Two Ways To Reduce Your Reliance On Migraine Pain Relievers

If you suffer from migraines, chances are good that you pop a lot of pain relievers to make life bearable. But pain relievers like ibuprofen and aspirin can have side effects including stomach bleeding and liver damage. For this reason, it's a good idea to find other means of managing your migraines so you can reduce your reliance on pain relievers. Here are some tactics to try.

Visit the Chiropractor

In many patients, tension in the neck contributes to migraine pain. Neck tension is so common these days, with people working desk jobs and staring at their screens for hours on end. A chiropractor can adjust your cervical spine – the vertebrae in your neck – which will help alleviate this tension. As a result, you will likely suffer from fewer migraines, and the ones you do develop may be less severe. Fewer migraines means fewer pain relievers.

Chiropractic care is safe and painless. For best results, make sure you're working with a chiropractor who has experience working with migraine patients. Note that it may take several sessions before you experience noticeable results, especially if your neck is very stiff and your vertebrae have been out of alignment for a while.

Try Aromatherapy

You may have noticed that certain scents or tastes can trigger a migraine. Well, certain scents can alleviate migraine symptoms, too. Aromatherapy relies on the use of scented oils to address various ailments. There are a number of essential oils that can help stop a migraine in its tracks or reduce your symptoms to the point that you really don't need to take a pain reliever.

• Eucalyptus essential oil is known to help ease headaches. It's a potent anti-inflammatory, which makes it useful since migraines are thought to be caused, in part, by inflammation.
• Chamomile has anti-inflammatory and sedative properties. It can help you drift off to sleep, which is often what you need to get over a migraine.
• Peppermint can help stop a developing migraine in its tracks and is useful for keeping you alert in the middle of the day when you can't afford to lie down and sleep.

You can use the essential oils above by placing a few drops on a warm cloth, and then inhaling through the cloth. You can also add them to a vaporizer filled with water, and let the scent fill the room.

By visiting the chiropractor regularly and turning to aromatherapy when you do have migraine symptoms, you can make pain relievers more of a last-ditch effort rather than a first-line defense against your migraines.

For more about this topic and how to relieve your migraine symptoms, talk with a chiropractor or private doctor.