How are migraines treated?
There are 2 types of migraine treatments. Some treatments are used to relieve the headache pain. Most of these treatments should be started as soon as you think you're getting a migraine. The other type includes treatments that are used to prevent headaches before they occur.

Can nonprescription medicines help relieve the pain?
Yes. Nonprescription medicines can help migraine pain. They include aspirin, acetaminophen (one brand name: Tylenol), an acetaminophen, aspirin and caffeine combination (one brand name: Excedrin Migraine), ibuprofen (one brand name: Motrin), naproxen (brand name: Aleve), and ketoprofen (brand name: Orudis KT).

What about prescription medicines?
People with more severe pain may need prescription medicine. A medicine called ergotamine (brand name: Ergostat) can be effective alone or combined with other medicines. Dihydroergotamine (brand names: Migranal, D.H.E. 45) is related to ergotamine and can be helpful.

Other prescription medicines for migraines include sumatriptan (brand name: Imitrex), zolmitriptan (brand name: Zomig), naratriptan (brand name: Amerge) rizatriptan (brand name: Maxalt), almotriptan (brand name: Axert), eletriptan (brand name: Relpax) and frovatriptan (brand name: Frova).

If the pain won't go away, stronger medicine may be needed, such as a narcotic (brand name: Stadol nasal spray) or medicines that contain a barbiturate. These medicines can be habit-forming and should be used cautiously.

Can medicine help prevent migraines?
Yes. Medicine to prevent migraines may be helpful if your headaches happen more than twice a month or if your headaches make it hard for you to work and function. Examples of medicines used to prevent migraines include propranolol (brand name: Inderal), timolol (brand name: Blocadren), divalproex (brand name: Depakote) and some antidepressants.

What else can I do to prevent migraines?
Try to avoid foods or other things that seem to cause migraines for you. Get plenty of sleep. Try to relax and reduce the stress in your life.
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Tips on reducing the pain
Lie down in a dark, quiet room.
Put a cold compress or rag over your forehead.
Massage your scalp using a lot of pressure.
Put pressure on your temples.

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I have Migrane accompaine. No fun but since I found out about my food allergies, they got really rare. Migranes are a lot of times related to food allergies. What is migrane accompaine? You have an "Aura" before the headache. Mine started with feeling weird and kind of half or you body feels numb. Pretty scary. I thought a lot of times I die or have a stroke. But when the worse part was over and the mild headache kicked in I kind of felt relieved. My headaches were not that bad, just that aura. But it's the question, what is worse? Probably either way not comfi at all. I was worrying a lot and stopped taking the pill, helped a little but not much. My mum suffers from the migrane with bad headaches. She has to vomit and can't stand being up or have bright light. So I guess it runs in the family. She has a medication for it I don't know, but if she doesn't take it early enough it doesn't work. Kind of hard telling sometimes if the headache goes into migrane or it's just a normal headache.

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