Headaches and Migraines

Where does it hurt

Put your hand where the last one sat. Right now, before you read another line.

Across your forehead and around both temples, like a band pulled tight, is the tension-type headache, and it is the most common one there is. Behind one eye or down one side, throbbing, worse in bright light, sometimes with nausea or a shimmer in your vision first, that is migraine. If it starts at the base of your skull and climbs forward over the top, your neck is in the conversation. And if you reach for a painkiller most days of the month, stop and read this next part twice.

Painkillers taken on more than about ten to fifteen days a month can start causing the very headaches they are treating. The name for it is rebound, or medication overuse headache, and it keeps a lot of people stuck for years. Coming off is a job for you and your doctor together, and it is often the single biggest change on this whole page.

A few others are worth naming. Headaches that arrive on a schedule with your cycle are hormonal. Cluster headaches, rare and brutal and behind one eye in bouts, belong with a doctor from day one. Most people have more than one type. I did.

I have been where you are

I have had headaches bad enough that I ended up in the ER. They gave me what they give everyone, sent me home, and nothing changed. That visit taught me the thing I most want you to carry out of here. The ER is for the emergency, and it is very good at that. It was never built to find out why they keep coming back.

What finally moved mine was a stack of small things done every day. Stress work and meditation. Energy work. Far more water than I thought I needed. Pulling sugar and high glycemic food off my plate and eating more protein. And when one gets bad, to this day, I go get acupuncture.

Some of that has strong science behind it and some of it is my own experience. I will tell you which is which as we go, because I am not going to hand you a claim I cannot stand behind.

My mains

If you only do a few things, do these.

Acupuncture is my number one. When a bad one hits, it is where I go, and it has helped me every time I have needed it. The research backs it up better than almost anything else on this page: a Cochrane review of 22 trials found migraine frequency at least halved in 41% of people getting acupuncture, against 17% getting usual care alone. It held up about as well as preventive drugs, with fewer side effects, and a second Cochrane review found it helps the tension-type headache too. Your results can differ from mine, and that number tells you it does not work for everyone, but if you are going to spend money on one thing, start here. Expect about $75 to $150 a session, and plan on six to twelve sessions to judge it.

Water, and a lot of it. In a randomized trial of people with recurrent headaches, 47% of the group told to drink an extra 1.5 litres a day reported much improvement, against 25% of the group that did not. Headache days barely moved in that study, so here is the honest read. More water changed how bad the headaches were more than how often they came. For me it was one of the biggest levers on the list. Keep a bottle in reach and finish it twice before dinner.

The Apollo Neuro, every day. A wearable that sends gentle vibration your nervous system reads as safety. I wear it daily for headaches, and when I feel one building I switch it to Unwind or Calm. There is no migraine trial on it yet, so this is my experience rather than a study, and it is a strong one.

The Resona Health Vibe, every day. A pocket PEMF device. I run it daily for inflammation, and for grounding when I am wired, which is exactly when mine tend to start. Same honesty applies, this is my experience rather than a trial. Stress is the top trigger there is, and these two are how I keep mine from stacking up. Add both to your cart.

Free, starting tonight

You start at the bottom. You do what you can, where you are, and you only climb if you need to.

Stress practice and meditation. Stress is the trigger migraine patients report most often. In a trial published in JAMA Internal Medicine, an eight-week mindfulness program cut pain intensity by about 36% and improved disability and quality of life. Migraine days fell by about the same amount in the comparison group, so it changed how the headaches felt more than how many there were. Ten minutes a day, same time every day, did more for me than anything I could buy. I teach the exact practices I use, step by step, in The Anxiety Upgrade.

Ice on your head and over your eyes. This is one I reach for every time. An ice cap pulled down over the head, or a cold pack laid across the eyes and forehead, in a dark room. A 2023 meta-analysis found cold cut migraine pain sharply within thirty minutes, with a smaller effect a day later. Cheap, fast, and no side effects.

Walk every day, and stretch. In a Swedish trial, people with migraine who exercised for forty minutes three times a week cut their attacks by about as much as the group taking topiramate, a standard preventive drug, without the side effects. For the tension-type headache, a 2026 trial found a structured stretching and strengthening program worked about as well as aerobic exercise. So a daily walk and ten minutes of stretching your neck, shoulders and chest cover both. Go easy on hard exercise in the middle of a migraine, it can make that one worse.

Yoga. In a randomized trial of 114 people with migraine, adding yoga three to five days a week cut headache frequency more than medication alone. A mat and twenty minutes is all it asks.

Sleep on a schedule. In a Neurology study that tracked people night by night, poor sleep efficiency raised the odds of a headache the next day by about 39%. Same bedtime, same wake time, dark room, and a sleep mask if you need one.

Acupressure, on your hands, neck and ears. Press the web between your thumb and first finger, firmly, for a minute on each side. Then the two hollows at the base of your skull, where your neck muscles meet the bone. Then work the ridges of your ears between your thumb and finger. The research on acupressure for migraine is small and mixed, and one trial found no change in pain intensity. I use it anyway because it helps me, it costs nothing, and you can do it at your desk the moment you feel one starting. I teach these points in The Anxiety Upgrade.

Energy work and Qigong. I will be honest with you, because I always will be. I have felt energy work change a headache in my own body, and I have watched it happen for clients. It is part of what I do. The research on it for headaches is thin, and I am not going to put a number on it that no study has earned. What I can say is that it is gentle and it sits well beside everything else here. If you want to learn to work with this energy yourself, it is what I teach in Tao Tan Pai Level 2.

A headache journal. Two weeks of sleep, water, food, stress and headaches, written down, and the pattern usually shows itself. The Anti-Candida Kitchen app logs all of it for you.

Your plate

Pull the sugar spikes. In a study of 350 people with migraine, a low glycemic diet cut attack frequency about as well as standard preventive medication did, and by three months the diet group's headaches were less severe than the medication group's. A blood sugar crash is a trigger hiding in plain sight, and a steady plate takes it off the table.

Eat more protein. Protein at every meal, and first on the plate, slows how fast the carbohydrate beside it hits your blood, so the crash that follows a spike never gets going. I have not found a trial that tests protein on migraine by itself, so this one is my experience and the blood sugar logic behind it. For me it made a clear difference. It is the same way of eating the Kitchen app is built on, so the recipes are already done.

The ketogenic diet, with guidance. In a small study of people with migraine, a ketogenic diet dropped monthly headache days from about twelve and a half to about five. That is a big move, from a small study, and keto is a real change to your body. Do it with a practitioner who knows it.

A few dollars, in the moment

A hot Epsom salt bath. Two cups of Epsom salt in a hot bath, twenty minutes, lights low. Here is where I have to be straight with you. Whether much magnesium actually gets through your skin is not proven. What the heat does for tight neck and shoulder muscles is plain to feel, and a quiet dark room is half of what a migraine is asking for. It is one of my go-tos. I walk through exactly how I take mine, step by step, in my post on heat.

Caffeine, short term. Yes, it can help. A Cochrane review found adding about 100 mg of caffeine, roughly a cup of coffee, to a standard painkiller gave good relief to 5 to 10% more people than the painkiller alone. Here is the catch. Daily caffeine, and skipping it once you are hooked, are both headache triggers of their own. Use it as a tool on a bad day, not a crutch every day.

PEA (palmitoylethanolamide). A fat your own body makes to calm pain and inflammation. In a double-blind trial, 600 mg taken at the start of a migraine cut pain, shortened the attack and reduced rescue medication more than placebo. I keep PEA on hand for exactly this.

Ginger. In a double-blind trial, ginger powder at the start of a migraine worked about as well as sumatriptan, a prescription migraine drug, with fewer side effects. A quarter teaspoon of ginger powder in warm water is where I would start.

Peppermint oil on the temples. For the tension-type headache, a 10% peppermint oil solution rubbed on the forehead and temples has held up about as well as aspirin or acetaminophen in trials. Dilute a few drops of peppermint oil in a carrier oil, and keep it away from your eyes.

Lavender. In a placebo-controlled trial, breathing lavender essential oil for fifteen minutes during a migraine dropped pain more than twice as much as placebo. A few drops of lavender oil on a cloth, and breathe.

About $10 to $30 a month: supplements

These have the strongest placebo-controlled evidence among the natural options. Give each one about three months before you judge it, and talk to your doctor first if you are pregnant, take medication, or have kidney disease.

Magnesium. Attack frequency fell 41.6% on magnesium against 15.8% on placebo. About one person in five got loose stools, which a glycinate form tends to avoid.

Riboflavin (vitamin B2), 400 mg a day. 59% of people cut their migraine days at least in half, against 15% on placebo.

CoQ10. 47.6% cut their attacks at least in half, against 14.4% on placebo.

Fish oil, at a high dose. A 2024 network meta-analysis of 40 trials and over 6,600 people found high-dose EPA and DHA gave the biggest drop in migraine frequency of every preventive option it compared, drugs included, and was the easiest to tolerate.

Want the four I would start with in one click? Add magnesium, CoQ10, fish oil and PEA to your cart.

Melatonin, 3 mg at night. In a randomized trial, melatonin prevented migraines better than placebo, about as well as amitriptyline, and was easier to tolerate.

Vitamin D3. A 2021 meta-analysis of randomized trials found supplementing cut about 2.7 migraine attacks a month. Test your level first, it tells you how much you need.

Butterbur, PA-free only. In a trial published in Neurology, 75 mg twice a day cut attack frequency 48% against 26% on placebo. Raw butterbur carries compounds that can damage the liver, so only buy a product certified PA-free, and talk to your doctor first.

Feverfew. A traditional migraine herb. A Cochrane review found the trials too mixed to call. I list it because you will hear about it, not because I would start here.

About $50 to $510: devices and testing

Test instead of guess. If the cheap rungs have not moved it, find out what your body is actually short on. Magnesium, vitamin D3, ferritin and B12 are where I would look first, and a food sensitivity test can catch triggers a journal misses.

Cefaly. A band that sits on your forehead and stimulates the nerve above your eyes. In a sham-controlled trial, 38.1% of people cut their migraine days at least in half, against 12.1% on the sham. About $509, no prescription.

Nerivio. An armband you wear at the start of an attack. In a double-blind trial, 51.6% cut their moderate to severe headache days at least in half, against 35.7% on placebo. It needs a prescription, and insurance savings programs can bring it far below full price.

Biofeedback. Training that teaches you to read and settle your own muscle tension, skin temperature and heart rate. A meta-analysis of 55 studies found a solid, medium-sized benefit for migraine that held over time. A practitioner teaches it, and some home devices do too.

About $75 to $250 a session: bodywork

Massage. In a controlled trial, people who got weekly massage had fewer migraines and slept better than those who did not, and their cortisol and heart rate dropped during the sessions.

Craniosacral therapy, about $100 to $250 a session. Very light hands on the skull, spine and sacrum. A 60-person trial found headache frequency and impact both fell after it. It helped me, and a practitioner with real training makes all the difference.

The big investments

Tinted lenses, about $600 to $1,500. If light sets yours off, this one is worth knowing about. Precision tinted lenses, the best known being Irlen, are coloured glasses matched to your eyes. In a brain imaging study, the right tint calmed the overactive visual cortex in people with migraine and reduced their visual discomfort. The study was small. I wore them, and for light-triggered headaches they helped.

Rolfing, about $1,000 to $2,000. Deep structural bodywork, done as a series of ten sessions at about $100 to $200 each. My full series ran over a thousand dollars. There is almost no research on it for headaches. It helped me, and I would call it an experiment for when the cheaper rungs have not been enough.

Upper cervical (C1) care, about $1,000 to $2,500. Upper cervical chiropractic, such as NUCCA or Atlas Orthogonal, works on the atlas, the top vertebra, right where your skull sits on your neck. The first visit usually includes imaging and costs the most, then follow-ups run about $60 to $150, and a full care plan typically lands between $1,000 and $2,500. Mine was at least a thousand. A lot of people with neck-driven headaches swear by it. The research is early, a pilot of eleven people where headache days fell and quality of life improved over eight weeks, with no control group. That is a reason to be curious, and it stops well short of proof.

None of this has to happen this month. But tonight you can drink a big glass of water, take a walk, run a hot bath, and press the web of your hand.

Prices are rough US costs as of 2026, from provider price pages and cost guides, and they vary by city.

When it belongs with a doctor, now

I am not a doctor and I am not diagnosing anyone. Go today if a headache is the worst of your life or hits like a thunderclap, comes with a fever and a stiff neck, follows a knock to the head, brings weakness, numbness, confusion, trouble speaking or vision loss, or is new and different after fifty. Nothing on this ladder is for that.

Your body is not broken

Your body is not broken. It is blocked. And for so many people with headaches, the block is three quiet things stacked on each other every single day: too little water, a blood sugar rollercoaster, and stress with nowhere to go.

Your head has been telling you something for a long time. Start listening at the bottom rung.

I will see you in the next one.