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Natural Relief for Headaches & Migraines

From the Show: Naturally Savvy
Summary: If you constantly suffer from migraines and headaches and aren't getting relief from medications, you might want to take a different approach.
Air Date: 4/9/14
Duration: 10
Host: Andrea Donsky, RHN and Lisa Davis, MPH
Guest Bio: Suzy Cohen, RPh
Suzy Cohen, America’s Pharmacist™ is the author of eight books including Drug Muggers and her latest one, Headache Free: Relieve Migraine, Tension, Cluster, Menstrual and Lyme Headaches. Suzy has been a licensed pharmacist for 24 years, and a Functional Medicine practitioner. She’s a syndicated columnist writing for 90 papers in the U.S.
  • Book Title: Headache Free: Relieve Migraine, Tension, Cluster, Menstrual and Lyme Headaches
  • Guest Facebook Account: https://www.facebook.com/SuzyCohenRPh
  • Guest Twitter Account: @SuzyCohen
Natural Relief for Headaches & Migraines
If you suffer from migraines or frequent headaches, you know how debilitating they can be.

Pain relievers and migraine medications may help a little, but if you're constantly suffering, you might want to take a different approach.

One such approach would be to identify the trigger(s) or your pain. Chlorine, artificial sweeteners, any sort of chemical compound can be considered a "migrenade" (combination of migraine and grenade).

Chlorine, specifically, can cause lower levels of thyroid hormones, which will make you fatigued and cause headaches. To combat this, you should be supplementing with iodine.

How much iodine do you need? It's best to do a urine test to determine. Many doctors use a skin patch test, but this method is not as accurate.

Kelp, seaweed, oysters are all good food sources of iodine.

Even though we all need it, and many of us are deficient in it, Vitamin D can also contribute to migraines. If you're recently upped your vitamin D intake and are experiencing more frequent headaches or migraines, you might want to visit your doctor.

What about other prevention and treatment options?

You need to identify and get rid of the trigger or the migrenade. MSG, gluten, dairy, soy, etc. can all contribute.

Magnesium and riboflavin are great options for treatment. Magnesium relaxes blood vessels and reduces blood pressure. Riboflavin will reduce the frequency of your migraines.

Menstrual migraines are typically due to excessive amounts of estrogen, such as from the Pill or hormone replacement therapy. A great supplement for counteracting these high levels of estrogen is I3C.

Want to know more about natural prevention and treatment? Special guest, Suzy Cohen, RPh, joins Andrea and Lisa to share her effective methods for addressing migraines and other types of headaches.