I've had migraines since I was a child. My earliest memories of migraines was when I was about 3 or 4. My grandma woke me up every morning with a song that went something like "Wake up little chickadee" and then she would pull open the curtains next to her bed to let the morning sunshine into the room.
On some mornings, the sunshine would bring excrutiating pain and I would scream and cry. As a small child, I didn't understand why some mornings were fine and others brought pain (and this might be why I am not a morning person!). Neither did my grandma, but she always immediately went to work to remedy the situation. Most of the time, I spent the rest of the day in bed in a dark room...
And that's what still happens today. I've tried all the prescription migraine medications, which actually werent available to me until 20 years ago. Every single one of them stopped working eventually and made me feel like I was having a stroke. Before that, I was prescribed heavy narcotics which just really knocked me out. You can't be knocked out when you're a mom!
The last week of January this year, I had a migraine the lasted for 5 days. The first three days was headache pain that was there when I woke up and still there when I went to bed. The fourth day, I woke up with it again and then it quickly progressed to a major migraine episode that brought on sudden shaking, nausea and vomiting. I still had it on the 5th day and thankfully that was the last day.
The week after that, I had another one. It didn't last as long, but it was equally as debilitating. When you have to spend the whole day in bed and in a dark room, that's a day you don't get back
Regular exercise and learning what your triggers are helps a lot, until it doesn't. And when someone is dealing with a migraine, the pain is so intense and over the counter pain killers do not work. However, there are some excellent herbs that work!
I formulated this Migraine Tea and made it ahead of time so that I would have it on hand when I get another migraine. It can also be easily measured and made into an infusion by anyone in my house if I am unable to do so.
This 4 ounce jar holds about 40 teaspoons of tea. Each tea ball holds about 2 teaspoons. So we have about 20 cups of Migraine Tea ready to go!
The main ingredient is WIllow Bark: 6 - 8 tablespoons
Willow Bark is an excellent pain reliever. It contains Salicin, which is the active compound in Aspirin - Willow Bark is nature's aspirin!
Then I added the following herbs (these measurements are approximate):
2 teaspoons of Peppermint - pain relief, nausea
2 teaspoons of Lemon Balm - calming, relaxation, nervous system support, relieves tension
2 teaspoons of Lavender - pain relief, calming, nervous system suport, relieves tension
2 teaspoons of St. John's Wort - pain relief, especially for nerve pain
1 teaspoon of Ginko - to improve blood circulation
1 teaspoon of Rosemary - overall mental and cognitive clarity (migraines often create a mental fog that sticks around - especially the day after an attack)
1 teaspoon of Ginger - pain relief, nausea (this is a blood thinner, do not use if you're already on blood thinners or plan to have surgery)
You'll notice that I initially planned to use turmeric which is an excellent herb for pain support and inflammation. I decided against it because in order for turmeric to actually work, it needs to be paired with black pepper. I don't think black pepper would work well in this migraine tea for me because when I have migraines, I don't feel like eating or even have an appetite. Black pepper on an empty stomach might cause nausea and I definitely don't want any more of that...please take note that Turmeric is also a blood thnner!
Some other good headache/migraine herbs are: Meadowsweet, Feverfew, Wood Betony and Jamaican Dogwood. I didn't have these on hand, and it's important to learn how to heal with what is already available to you...so I will try this blend to see if it works well.
If not, I will reformulate it and if needed, set the intention to grow Feverfew and Wood Betony. I already have the seeds so I'm half way there!
If you aren't into making your own Migraine remedy, we carry an excellent Migriane tincture. You can check it out here: Migraine Elixir
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