Migraines put huge strain on society. According to the National Headache Foundation, migraine headaches affect a lot more than 28 million Americans and cost society over $13 billion every year. That’s just the tip from the iceberg though. Migraines frequently precipitate depression, which is 3 times as frequent among migraine sufferers than non-headache victims (Fasmer, O.B., The Prevalence of migraine in patients with bipolar and unipolar affective disorders. Cephalalgia, 2001. 21(9): p.894-899). Also keep in mind about the numerous people whose standard of living continues to be severely damaged by headaches.
Traditional treatment solutions are simply not working without side-effects. We have to examine alternative treating migraines. We need to attack headaches at the bottom, we have to stop treating the result and get rid of the causes of headaches. For years the common cry has been that headaches were caused by stress. From mine and others experiences too we are able to agree that stress can be a cause, but it’s hardly the only real cause. It is going much deeper and it is much more complicated than the usual simple platitude like this. Let’s take a look at some of the most common and promising vitamins for headaches, supplements for migraines, and alternative treating migraines.
Riboflavin Riboflavin can also be known as Vitamin B-2. It plays a key role to maintain health in humans and animals. It’s yellow or yellow-orange in color. And also being used as a food coloring it is also used to fortify foods such as baby-foods, breakfast cereal, pastas, processed cheese, fresh fruit juices and sauces. It is also popular in nutritional vitamin supplements.
For over 3 decades Riboflavin has been utilized as a part of the phototherapy treatment of neonatal jaundice. It has recently been used in a new treatment to slow or stop the progression of the corneal disorder keratoconus (corneal collagen crosslinking). There has been studies conducted on riboflavin and it is affects on headaches. Both in a European and American study riboflavin was shown to effectively treat migraines at a dose of 400 mg daily. (European study: C. Boehnke, High-dose riboflabin treatment methods are efficacious in migraine prophylaxis: an open study in a tertiary care center. Eur J Neurol, 2004, 11(7): p. 175-7. American study: A.J. Yee, Effectiveness of high-dose riboflavin in migraine prophylaxis, Neurology, 1999, 52(2): p. 431-2)
Inside a separate study performed by Sandor, Afra, Ambrosini and Shoenen riboflavin has shown that after coupled with beta-blockers it may be a good management of migraines. (Phophylactic treatment of migraine with beta-blockers and riboflavin: different effects on the intensity dependence of auditory evoked cortical potentials. Headache,. 2000, Jan). Within an open-label trial (no placebo control group), as reported by the Mother Earth News (MEN) site (Natural Health/2007-03-01/Natural-Headache-Remedies), 400 mg a day for 6 months cut migraine frequency in two and decreased medication use. MEN procedes to say that “another study demonstrated that three months of riboflavin resulted in a 50 percent improvement in almost 60 percent of the volunteers, versus a 15 percent improvement over the people taking a dummy pill.”
Coenzyme Q 10 (CoQ10) First identified in 1957, Coenzyme Q 10 can also be referred to as “Ubiquinone” because it is found all around the body. The greatest amounts have been in the heart, liver and pancreas. The cheapest amounts are in the lungs.
The very first applications for CoQ10 were in 1961, when it was discovered that cancer patients were deficient in the enzyme. Research has revealed CoQ10 to be a very versatile supplement for a number of other conditions such as cardiovascular disease and migraines. Recent reports also have shown that CoQ10 may help within the management of Alzheimer Disease (X.L. Wang, Co-supplementation with vitamine E and coenzyme q10 supplement reduces circulating markers of inflammation in baboons, Am J Clin Nutrition, 2004. 80(3): p. 649-55). Reports on CoQ10 and migraines happen to be very positive. From articles in the April, 2002 issue of the journal of the International Headache Society, Cephalalgia, encouraging results happen to be reported from a wide open label trial of CoQ10 like a Migraine preventative.
The content “Open label trial coenzyme q10 supplement as a migraine preventive” by Rozen, Oshinsky, Gebeline, Bradley, Young, Shechter and Silberstib from Cephalalgia 22 (2) p. 137-141 we’re told “At present there are not many efficacious migraine preventatives and much less without significant side-effects… Migraine could be a disabling disorder and migraine preventives have shown to not just reduce headache frequency, intensity and duration but also to enhance standard of living. Coenzyme Q10 is a naturally sourced substance and essential element of the mitochondrial electron transport chain. It has been the most extensively studied agent for the treatment of mitochondrial disorders and it has been proven to possess almost no identifiable side-effects in humans. There’s been a current interest in the role that mitochondria may play in migraine pathogenesis…The objective of this investigation would be to measure the efficacy of coenzyme q10 supplement as a preventative strategy to migraine.” The dosage utilized in the study was 150 mg of CoQ10 daily. Tips in the trial included:
61.3% of the sufferers within the trial achieved at least 1 50% decrease in frequency of Migraine attacks towards the end from the four-month trial.
It invested some time to achieve optimum results. Data from the study suggests that it takes 4-12 weeks to achieve a lot more than 50% reduction.
Coenzyme Q10 is effective for both migraine with aura (classic migraine) in addition to migraine without aura (common migraine).
Magnesium Magnesium is really a mineral that is used for many purposes. The hsbaltimore, Health Series Institue e-Alert (September 14, 2004) website lets us know a good intake of magnesium may promote bone flexibility, help prevent diabetes type 2 and cardiovascular disease.Recent reports reveal that magnesium is also required for keeping your teeth healthy. There have been studies on the relationship between magnesium and headaches. Research by A. Trauninger (Oral magnesium load test in patients with migraine, Headache, 2002, 42(2): 0, 114-9) showed magnesium deficiencies to be common in those who are afflicted by migraines. Another study with a. Bianchi (Vitamin Horm, 2004, 69: p. 297-312) finds sufficient, though not definitive, proof of magnesium’s ability to help treat migraines. Current recommendations are to take 500-1000 mg of magnesium daily.
Tha harsh truth The 3 natural treatments for migraine discussed here all show promising results as affective natural headache remedies. When examining alternative treatments for migraines, these three appear to be towards the top of charts. However the two biggest advantages alternative treatments have over prescription medications is their insufficient side effects, cheap you are not likely to go bankrupt trying these supplements for migraines. These points as well as the positive test results shown ought to be reason to incorporate nutritional supplementation to help treat migraines.