Herbal therapy to treat migraine headache
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Hi, my wife is a 34-year-old woman with chronic migraine headaches. She has tried numerous OTC products for symptom relief and is looking for something she can use on a consistent basis to prevent her headaches from occurring in the first place. She has done extensive research on prescription products for headache relief and is scared by their potential side effects. Now she would like to try something herbal before moving on to a prescription product. She has no known allergies and she takes an oral contraceptive daily. Are there any herbal alternatives that you can recommend for migraine relief?
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@Farhid l Migraine headaches account for a significant burden on sufferers due to lost productivity, impaired quality of life, and increased health care expenses. Foods, medications, stress, and hormonal fluctuations around the time of menstruation are all possible triggers for migraine symptoms in women. Several herbal products, including butterbur, feverfew, coenzyme Q10, and magnesium, have been tried for migraine prevention. According to the 2012 update to the migraine prevention guidelines from the American Academy of Neurology and the American Headache Society, all of these agents provide some benefit in migraine prevention. Of these agents, butterbur has the most clinical support for its efficacy in reducing the frequency and severity of migraines and could be recommended for your wife. Butterbur contains 2 pharmacologically active compounds: petasin, which is thought to inhibit leukotrienes and reduce smooth muscle spasms, and isopetasin, which is thought to decrease prostaglandin synthesis and inflammation.