Migraines are an extraordinarily prevalent neurological disease, affecting 39 million men, women, and children in the U.S. and 1 billion worldwide. 90% of migraine sufferers have it in their families and 85% of all migraineurs are women.
Having a migraine is more than a bad headache as it is often accompanied by other disabling symptoms such as visual disturbances, nausea, vomiting, extreme sensitivity to light, sound, and smell, and tingling or numbness in the face or extremities, dizziness, insomnia, poor concentration, memory problems, fatigue as well as mood and personality changes like depression, anxiety and nervousness.
It is thought that migraines come from increased excitability of the central nervous system. They can also be a consequence of a concussion. In any case, people who have migraines have an increased susceptibility to a variety of “triggers” that make their brain hyper excitable.
Here are four things that may help with migraines:
#1 Limit the Triggers
The most common triggers are stress, smells, flickering lights, certain visual patterns, irregular meals, changing sleep patterns, excessive heat, changes in hormones and noise. A food sensitivity test or a rotation and elimination diet can be helpful in determining your own potential food triggers for a migraine.
Regardless of the trigger, the frequency and the intensity of migraine headaches can be reduced by making lifestyle changes.
#2 Colored Lenses and Light Therapy
Using colored lenses and light therapies can reduce the frequency and intensity of migraines by changing how light coming into your eyes effects your brain. Specific colored frequencies of light can change how your neurons fire, helping to calm the brain. In addition, it can calm the fight or flight stress response.
Colored lenses effectively dampen the effects of what is called pattern glare. Pattern glare is a form of visual discomfort, arising from viewing repetitively striped patterns. Instead of the patterns appearing as they are, they may appear to move, to shimmer or to vary in shape over time. This can trigger a migraine.
Certain visual stimuli produce visual stress. Migraine sufferers are particularly susceptible to visual stress. This can be reduced with precision‐tinted lenses.
The colors are highly specific and personalized. No one color works for everyone. However, by finding the right tint you can reduce visual stress thereby reducing migraine frequency.
#3 Unique Glasses
Uniquely personalized glasses that quiet down an overactive nervous system can really help with migraines.
These are highly specialized, custom glasses that take advantage of the wiring between the retina and brain. Much of the brain is accessible to light frequencies through the eye-brain connection.
Properly prescribed eyeglasses should not only sharpen the image of distant or near objects as their goal, they should also direct light to the different parts of the retina that connect to different parts of the brain. This prescription modification can have a calming effect on the brain and make migraines less likely to occur.
#4 Resolve Nutritional Deficiencies
Certain nutritional deficiencies predispose a person to having migraines. The most common nutritional deficiencies are magnesium, riboflavin, pyridoxine (B6), CoQ 10, alpha lipoic acid, vitamin D, carnitine and cobalamin (B12).
Evidence indicates that supplementation with these important nutrients can lessen the frequency of migraines and shorten the duration in migraine patients.