Migraine Prevention: What You Can Do

Migraine Prevention: What You Can Do

Preventive Migraine Medications
Lifestyle Changes
When you’ve had the throbbing pain of a migraine, you want to do what you can to avoid another one.

If you get these headaches often or have severe ones, avoid the things that you know set them off, called triggers, like specific foods, smells, and alcohol, for example.

You might be able to keep migraines away with a couple other tactics, too:

Use preventive medications or devices.
Make lifestyle changes.


Preventive Migraine Medications
These meds can:

Help you have fewer migraines.
Make your headaches less severe.
Make them shorter.
This type of treatment can help if you get migraines often. Medications can reduce them by half or more.

You may want to consider preventive medications if:


Do These Foods Cause Migraines?
Many people say chocolate, wine, and coffee -- among other things -- trigger their migraine headaches. Let’s investigate.

The drugs you take to relieve your migraines don't help or you have bad side effects from them.
You have them more than one a week.
The latest guidelines say these drugs can prevent migraines:

Anti-seizure drugs. These meds may work by calming nerve cells in the brain.

They include:

Topiramate (Topiragen, Topamax)
Valproic acid (Depacon, Depakote)
Beta-blockers usually treat high blood pressure and heart disease. It's not clear how they help prevent migraines. But it may be because they improve blood flow. Some that work for these headaches include:


Metoprolol (Lopressor, Toprol XL)
Propranolol (Inderal, Innopran XL)
Timolol (Blocadren)
Antidepressants . These medications affect the level of the brain chemical serotonin, which may be linked to migraines. Some of them, such as amitriptyline (Elavil) and venlafaxine (Effexor), can help keep the headaches away. Other kinds may work, too.

Triptans for menstrual-related migraines. These drugs treat migraines when they’re already happening, but one -- frovatriptan (Frova) -- can prevent migraines that women get because of their menstrual cycle. The medicine affects serotonin levels and may also relieve pain in other ways.

Botulinum toxin ( Botox ). Often used to treat wrinkles, it also helps some people who get migraines at least 15 days per month, called chronic migraines. It’s for people who have long-term migraine headaches, with the attack lasting 4 hours every day or longer. Doctors think Botox may keep the brain from giving off chemicals that the body uses to send pain signals.

When you take medication to prevent migraines, keep these tips in mind:

Your doctor will likely start you on a low dose and gradually increase it over time. It may take several months to find the best dose with the fewest side effects.
Don't suddenly stop taking preventive medications. That could trigger a rebound headache. If you do need to stop taking them, you’ll need to gradually taper off under your doctor's care.
These meds probably won't completely get rid of your headaches. You may still need to take medicine when you do have one.
If you can't take medications or don’t want to, you might want to think about using a device to keep migraines away. Cefaly is the first FDA-approved device for preventing migraines in people over age 18. It’s a portable headband-like tool that gives electrical pulses through the skin of the forehead. They stimulate a nerve that’s linked with migraine headaches. You use it once a day for 20 minutes, and when it's on, you'll feel a tingling or massaging sensation on your forehead.

Lifestyle Changes
Your everyday habits can go a long way to help you have fewer, less-severe migraines. Some things that may help include:

Sleep . Go to bed and get up about the same times every day, including on weekends and holidays. When you hit the sack at random times or you get too much or too little shut-eye, that can trigger a headache.

Learn about the many different symptoms, triggers, and treatments for these severe headaches. Pictures show the visual problems (aura) and brain structures affected.

Exercise regularly. You may be tempted to avoid being active, afraid it might trigger a migraine. Overdoing a workout may trigger a headache for some people, but research suggests regular, moderate aerobic exercise may make migraines shorter, less severe, and happen less often for many people. It also helps control stress, another trigger.

Eat regular meals. A drop in blood sugar can set off a migraine, so keep it steady by not skipping meals. Also, drink plenty of water to avoid dehydration, which can trigger the headaches.

Limit stress. Tension's a common trigger. So, take time each day to relax. You could:

Listen to calming music.
Take a short walk.
Meditate.
Do yoga.

Try complementary techniques. Along with your prescribed treatment, you might want to try one of these to help prevent migraines, such as:

Acupuncture
Massage
Talk therapy
WebMD Medical Reference Reviewed by Neil Lava, MD on March 12, 2017
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