The Role Alternative Therapies have in reducing Migraines

How many times have you found yourself at your wit's end? Your medicine cabinets are stocked with a variety of short-term solutions, and your head pain persists.

I stood precisely where you stand today, armed with seven different prescriptions and a drawer full of over-the-counter pills that just didn’t work.

I was eating a healthy diet with fruits and veggies, cutting out alcohol and caffeine, and yet, my migraines refused to bow out.

It drove me to think outside the pharmaceutical box.

What alternatives were out there that could offer even a sliver of relief?

Migraine Remedies I’ve Tried

Physical therapy was the first thing I tried because my doctor thought my neck, which hurt all the time, was the root of my migraines. Over $5,000 later, the pain was still there.

Chiropractic care came next. What started as twice a week became a weekly routine—until the financial strain grew too much to swallow. Moments of relief came, yes, but they were short lived, washed away as swiftly as they arrived.

Acupuncture seemed promising, and though over $1,000 flowed from my bank account, the pain reduction was always quick to depart.

I continued to venture further—Reiki, reflexology, a holistic practitioner, and not one but three different massage therapists who specialized in chronic pain.

Regrettably, that last experience left me in a worse state.

But Were These Alternative Therapies Worth It?

Have you, too, found yourselves tallying the cost of these alternative treatments for relief?

In my case, the total crept over $15,000—a figure from a decade ago. Adjust for inflation, and the sum becomes even more staggering.

What's the actual scoop on these alternative therapies we keep spending our heard-earned money on?

Are they just draining our wallets, or is there something to them?

The Alternative Therapy Catch

Now, I'm actually pretty into alternative therapies.

When the new drip house, body float and stretch lab opened near me I was one of the first in line to check them out.

But there's a catch.

These alternative therapies need to be used smartly, and we have to realize that they alone cannot perform miracles.

A chiropractor and a quick back crack will not sort out your health issues.

No amount of back cracking is going to magic away those migraines if your diet's off, you're slacking on exercise, you’re living in a toxic environment, or your electrolytes are all over the place.

Massage therapy will loosen your muscles, but if you're not figuring out why they're tight in the first place, you might as well be throwing your money away.

Inflammation's the real enemy here, and if that's not tackled, no chiropractic adjustment's going to stick.

A Different Approach to Migraine Relief

If you're living a health-focused lifestyle and your inflammation is under control, alternative paths could really bolster your journey to feeling better.

So, where do you start?

Take a look at how you're approaching your migraines. Are you getting to the root cause, or are you really focused on managing and masking the pain?

What are you doing to actually get better?

There is a difference between just getting by and getting to the root of the issue.

If you're curious about diving deeper into this, check out episode #6, "The Cost of Migraines." It's all about separating band-aid solutions from those that tackle the source.

Alternative Therapy Options

If you’re digging deep to tackle the root causes of your issues and want to mix alternative therapies into your routine, here are a few options to dial down the pain and fast-track your healing.

Acupressure and acupuncture -Results from studies are all over the map, but here's what we do know: both are about tapping into your body's pressure points to ease pain and stress.

Acupressure is like a strategic massage. You or a pro work on certain spots of your body that are known to help with pain and tension—similar to how you naturally rub your temples when you've got a headache.

Acupuncture is when a pro puts super-fine needles at specific points on your body. It's not just random; it's about hitting the spots that can kickstart blood flow and increase your endorphin levels to reduce pain.

Biofeedback- Some studies are showing that biofeedback can genuinely support a healthy lifestyle by lessening how often and how severe your migraines are.

Biofeedback is about tuning into your body without any surgical interventions. It uses sensors to keep tabs on things you don’t usually think about, like your heart rate, blood pressure, breathing, and muscle tension. This makes you more aware of these unconscious responses so you can consciously change them.

Biofeedback often pairs up with relaxation training. This combo aims to build deeper body awareness and teach you techniques to chill out your mind and body.

Relaxation training tackles slowing down your sympathetic nervous system, which kicks into gear under stress and is a well-known migraine trigger for many. By mastering relaxation, you can learn to keep your stress responses under control.

Yoga- Yoga isn't new; it's been around since ancient India. It's all about deep breathing, meditating, and moving at a pace that lets you connect with your body. You're holding positions, paying attention to how each move feels, and training your brain to stay focused on your body's movements.

Yoga might actually be better at cutting down stress and lifting your spirits than hardcore workouts. If you're thinking of diving in, gentle yoga is a great place to start.

Chiropractors- They use their hands and tools to adjust your spine and joints. These spinal adjustments might help reduce your migraine frequency, intensity, and duration short term when paired with a focus on diet, stress, electrolyte symmetry and exercise.

Gua sha- A technique that scrapes your skin with a tool that has a smooth edge. It's an old-school method aimed at easing pain and tension.

Also known as skin scraping, this therapy gets some attention for potentially helping with headaches. It breaks up stagnant energy in your body, which some believe is a trigger for inflammation.

Massage- Clinical trials haven't nailed down massage as a cure-all for head pain. However, it can be a tool for lowering stress and loosening up tension. If you've got that tight, achy feeling in the back of your head, neck, or shoulders, a good massage can bring some temporary relief. It pumps up the blood flow to those spots.

I will caution here sometimes massage does the opposite and makes migraine worse.

Hypnosis- This gets you into a super relaxed, trance-like state. The theory is that you're so chilled out and focused that you might become more open to suggestions, like dialing down how much pain you're feeling.

Daith piercings- This is a piercing in that little fold of cartilage right above your ear canal. It's supposed to press on a certain spot, kind of like acupuncture or acupressure, but sticks around permanently.

This piercing is near the vagus nerve, the highway from your brain to various organs that have a hand in controlling some of your body's hormones. There's a theory that stimulating this nerve is helpful for headaches in the past.

However, despite some migraine sufferers reporting success, there's actually no solid research or clinical studies backing up this piercing as a surefire migraine treatment.

Reflexology- A specialized massage where pressure is applied to your feet, hitting specific points that can ease pain in other parts of your body. Beyond potentially chilling you out and improving your sleep, reflexology might also dial down pain.

Finding Migaine Freedom

I've been down the migraine freedom road with pretty much every alternative therapy you can think of, hoping each time would be a miracle cure. Turns out, they weren't the quick fix I had been hoping for.

What did make a difference? Combining a few of these treatments with serious work on the six key areas of inflammation.

That strategy, with the occasional alternative therapy thrown in, turned out to be the winner for me.

Using these therapies by themselves probably isn’t going to completely kick your migraines to the curb.

But, if you pair them with a solid plan that tackles inflammation from all angles, you can actually start seeing some real, long-lasting improvements.

The icing on the cake? This approach is sustainable – and it’s not going to bleed your wallet dry week after week.

As always, if I can help in any way, don’t hesitate to reach out.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Debbie Waidl is the Owner of In The Balance Health Coaching LLC, and Founder of The Freedom From Migraines Method™ & The Migraine Freedom Protocol™
She supports busy moms living with Migraines.

Debbie will uncover what is holding them back from migraine freedom so they can live their life pain and symptom free, work productively, spend the time they want with family and friends, and stop missing out on the things they enjoy.

A message from Debbie:
"I was once right where you are now. 100% believing there was NO WAY to end migraines and my only option was to learn how to live with them or find that magic pill that maybe would work for a while. If anyone told me back then that I could end my pain once and for all, I would have called BS and popped another pill!

Skeptical times 10 was my middle name for sure because when you try it all and everyone tells you they can help you and they don’t. You stop believing… you lose HOPE!

I now realize I was approaching my migraines all backward.

I was trying to cover up symptoms versus trying to end my pain."

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